To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. These Better Stories cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights.

This Better Story was collected by Nathalie Wuiame

The Fédération des services sociaux (FDSS) operates in Wallonia and Brussels. It has an ambitious vision of supporting social actors through developing projects and providing training and expertise, particularly in the right to food, water, and energy. The project also contributes to social work through its research projects through formulating recommendations to the attention of policy maker, administrative and associative actors.

A free phone line to reduce the challenges

The COVID crisis along with the digitalisation of services have exacerbated the lives of vulnerable populations; many people do not find the assistance they need. To reduce the challenges that the communities are facing, the FdSS set freephone number to listen to and redirect them.  In Wallonia, a free phone line was already existing but was reinforced due to covid in partnership with the network fighting against poverty.

A model that defends fundamental rights

The initiative has several other objectives. Among these:

• Fighting against social inequalities through questioning the system and advocating to strengthen social protections and better tax justice.
• Ensuring fundamental rights via defending and promoting access to these rights; the rights to social protection, justice, privacy, health, food, energy and water, a healthy environment, culture, citizenship, etc.
• Defending social work by ensuring that the code of ethics is respected and fighting against the instrumentalisation of social work for security, control or repressive purposes.

Find out more about the initiative

Photo by Freepik

To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. These Better Stories cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights.

This Better Story was collected by Nathalie Wuiame

The ” Ça vaut pas l’coup ” service is a reception, orientation and support system for victims of domestic violence and their entourage. The initiative started in early April 2020, shortly after the first lockdown/confinement started.

A solution for victims of domestic violence

The ” Ça vaut pas l’coup ” project, in collaboration with the regional branches of the FPS and Vie Féminine, took the initiative of writing a letter to all the mayors of the 38 municipalities in the province asking them to make hotel rooms, gîtes and/or transit accommodation available for victims of domestic violence and their children, in compliance with health measures. In response to this request, the city of Namur has set up a temporary emergency shelter with 25 beds. To raise awarness about gender based violence and to attract more hotels to host the victims, the team launched a campaign.

Find out more about the initiative

Photo by  Marcus Loke  on Unsplash

To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. These Better Stories cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights.

This Better Story was collected by Nathalie Wuiame.

A Belgian pilot project

Community Health Workers is a pilot project aiming to improve access to primary health care for vulnerable groups in lower middle-income neighbourhoods in Belgium.

This project aims to inform, raise awareness and support people experiencing poverty and vulnerability in the broadest sense of the term about health issues. In this context, vulnerable groups are defined as people in socially vulnerable situations who, because of their socio-economic status, encounter all kinds of obstacles in accessing health care. These groups are at the crossroads of various vulnerabilities that are intertwined and can reinforce each other. Because of this socially precarious situation they face various barriers in their access to first-line healthcare.

Defining the roles of Community Health Workers

The project is about the design and implementation of a system of community health workers. The objective is to improve access to first-line healthcare for vulnerable and isolated groups in deprived neighbourhoods through the outreach work of community health workers, who are themselves members of the community for which they work or who have an established relationship of trust with, or knowledge of, that community.

The approach of CHW is to be visible. They visit people in their own environment and are present in the streets, in local associations and events in order to be seen by the most vulnerable. They raise awareness and relay information to first-line services. The roles of CHW are to:

• build bridges between individuals, communities and health and welfare professionals,
• provide support to navigate in the health system,
• provide concrete solutions to overcome difficulties (E.g., mobility or getting a health appointment, etc) and empower people

Measuring the pilots’ impacts

The project started in March 2021 and is still ongoing. The federal Minister in charge of health allocated a budget to hire 50 full-time community health workers dispatched in the four regions/communities (Wallonia, Flanders, Brussels and German community). While the project is driven at federal level, each region and local cities have autonomy to be as close as possible to local needs.

The initiative is supported by a number of partners in the different regions, mainly associations active in combatting poverty.

As of 2022, 50 community health workers are active. From January 2022 to September 2022, around 10 000 persons have benefited from the initiative

Find out more about the initiative

Photo by Mykyta Martynenko on Unsplash

To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. These Better Stories currently cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights.

This Better Story has been collected by Igor Živković.

On 26 January 2021, the National Labour Council (NAR) concluded a national interprofessional collective agreement on teleworking during the COVID-19 crisis, which provides a clear framework for the minimum arrangements to be made at company level.

This was done to safeguard the rights of teleworkers. The new collective agreement applies to government-recommended or compulsory teleworking to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

The agreement mainly aims at forcing companies that do not yet have a solid framework for telework to make agreements on this issue now. It was agreed upon until 31 December 2021.

The principles of the agreement are related to: 

• Terms of employment
  The provision of equipment and technical support; the use of own equipment and the reimbursement or payment by the employer of related costs.

• Organisation of employment
  The teleworker organises his/her own work, while respecting the agreed working hours.
  

• Control
  The employer shall exercise control over the work of his employees in an appropriate and proportionate manner.

• Collective rights
  Teleworkers have the same collective rights as when they work at the company site.

• Wellbeing at work
  The teleworkers are informed about the company’s policy on well-being at work specifically related to telework. The employer must ensure that the teleworkers are connected to their colleagues and the company, with specific attention to vulnerable teleworkers.

Find out more about this Better Story