In Guatemala, Covid-19 has brought about high levels of unemployment, reports of increased domestic violence, and limited access to health, education and protection services. Teresa lives with her 11-year-old grandson, Bautista, in Guatemala City. Working in the cemeteries provided Teresa with a steady income until the pandemic came, and the government closed the area. Teresa […]
Tag: Covid-19
Courage, peace & inspiration
As Covid first spread and affected the daily lives of people during 2020, Viva’s seven partner networks in India responded with emergency food relief to vulnerable communities in their cities, and began to run Viva’s Phone Mentoring Programme. In Dehradun, the capital city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand 271 families received the support of […]
Supporting families through the Covid crisis
Lucy Cox reports on how the first phase of Viva’s family phone mentoring programme reached thousands of families during 2020. Viva’s family phone mentoring programme was designed about a year ago as a response to the growing and alarming Covid-19 crisis – specifically to reduce violence and abuse of children and to provide psychosocial support, […]
Lie low to the wall
As lockdown drags on and deepens, Youth worker Hannah Woods says we all need to create safe spaces for ourselves and our loved ones. As we started Lockdown 3.0, I was filled with so many emotions (I’m sure we all were!) Then school closures were announced. Anxiety, fear, claustrophobia – the thought of home schooling […]
5 ways Community Centres are helping families
BY LUCY COX In Latin America many families have been hit hard by the pandemic. Viva’s partner networks are coming alongside these families to help them pursue a brighter future. Community Centres are a new initiative which have been set up by our partner networks in Costa Rica and Mexico, offering holistic support to families […]
“It’s good to talk”
Jo Dowds looks at how Viva’s phone mentoring is helping families in Nepal reconnect again during the pandemic, thanks to the commitment of our partner network there. Here in the UK, back in the 90s, a big phone company made billions with its advertising slogan – “It’s good to talk”. The advertisers uncovered a universal […]
Zoom youth work takes off
Hannah Woods writes about how our Oxford-based partner network’s experiences of virtual youth work have gone global and led to greater collaboration than ever expected. “The impact of the pandemic on some children and young people will be far-reaching, and it will be essential that the right services are there to support them. The crisis […]
Adapting to change and increasing our impact
2020 has been a year like no other. Viva’s Chief Executive, Mark Stavers, reflects on our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, outlines our next steps and shares our strategy for the coming five years. When I look back over the last eight months or so, my overall feeling is one of great pride in the […]
Pressing on
Mim Friday, Viva’s Africa Director, reflects openly on more than 200 days of COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda, and describes how Viva and our partner network, CRANE, are responding in new ways to the many needs of vulnerable children in Kampala to keep more of them safe from harm. The moment one COVID-19 case was reported […]
Thousands reached by mentoring phone calls
Viva’s phone mentoring programme is exceeding expectations, as it positively impacts thousands of children and families worldwide facing increasingly desperate times because of COVID-19. The initiative has been developed collaboratively by Viva’s global team over the past six months in response to the emerging realities of the pandemic. Restrictions have made it difficult for Viva’s […]