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 Stine Thidemann Faber; Lise Rolandsen Augustine

Red Cross Ready [Røde Kors Parat] is a nationwide network of volunteer helpers who step in when someone needs a helping hand to pick up medicine, go grocery shopping, walk a dog, or would like to be accompanied to go to the doctor, get a vaccination or examination in the hospital.

Reaching socially disadvantaged citizens in need

Red Cross Ready [Røde Kors Parat] is a nationwide network of volunteer helpers who step in when someone needs a helping hand to pick up medicine, go grocery shopping, walk a dog, or would like to be accompanied to go to the doctor, get a vaccination or examination in the hospital.

Supporting in times of crises

As the pandemic evolved, people’s needs changed. In the beginning, many received help with grocery shopping. Either because they fell ill, or because they found it risky to go out. Today, there is still a need for helpers, but nowadays most people are asking to be accompanied to go to the doctor or the hospital. In December 2020, Red Cross Denmark received DKK 4.5 million from the Ministry of Social Affairs to set up a vaccination helpline, so that people can get help to get out and get their third COVID-19 vaccine injection.

To join this initiative, participants fill out a form. After that, they will be asked for help when a need arises in their areas; It can be assisting another person in an acute situation or intervening during crises. The volunteer decides which activity to accept according to their desires and abilities and all tasks are time limited. Some activities include:

• Helping someone in a vulnerable situation.
• Aiding in crisis-related task
• Supporting local/national activities or events
• Sharing knowledge and expertise in an online task

Find out more about the initiative

Photo from Jem Sahagun from 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 Stine Thidemann Faber; Lise Rolandsen Augustine

To mitigate the negative consequences of the corona crisis, the KFUM’s Social Work created a mobile café concept – called urgent social drive – focusing on the socially disadvantaged living in the peripheral areas of Denmark.

An innovative concept

The concept relies on the idea of driving out to local communities to create help and support for 5-7 people at a time by way of 1-2 volunteers at each location. The mobile cafes are open for 1-2 hours at each location and visit the same location 1-2 times a week. The concept is targeting 180 smaller local communities in peripheral areas. The core of the idea is to bring help, advice, and support to the socially disadvantaged aged 18-75 who have limited or no network, including people with mental disorders, abuse, in loneliness, vulnerable families, economically disadvantaged, etc.

An unexpected outcome

The project’s aim was initially to involve a total of 1,260 socially vulnerable people per week, spread over 15 peripheral areas with 12 mobile cafes sessions in each location over a 3-month period. The concept proved to be a huge success. Project ‘Urgent Social Drive Out’ has met one and a half times more citizens in the mobile cafes than expected.

Find out more about the initiative

Photo frpm 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 Stine Thidemann Faber and Lise Rolandsen Augustine.

Reden (‘The Nest’) is a shelter for women in substance abuse and prostitution located in the inner city of Copenhagen and established in 1984. When public life effectively closed down due to the pandemic, the shelter decided that extraordinary measures had to be taken to protect the most vulnerable women and substance abusers.

Protecting the most vulnerable

Women who come to Reden often already had a fragile health and they ran an increased risk of COVID-19 infection because they still were/felt compelled to make money and buy illicit substances because of their addiction. Moreover, the often cannot meet the normal treatment conditions of the municipality: there are rules and criteria they have to adhere to (for instance, having to be at a specific place at a specific time), with sanctions involved if they cannot meet these.

When crises lead to creativity

With the urgent need to find a solution in the hectic days after the lockdown, those responsible for the substance abuse treatment decided to introduce a much more flexible treatment regime: instead of the women having to come to the municipal treatment centre, the treatment moved out to Reden’s premises to meet the women. This outreach approach proved to be much more effective than the alternative because the women felt more secure, and it became easier for the outreach team to build a durable relationship with them. They were able to reach women that they had never had success in reaching previously.

A successful initiative

This initiative was made possible by a successful collaboration between the local drug treatment centre and the municipal authorities of Copenhagen.

Apart from the obvious positive human impact, the new flexible substance abuse treatment also seems to be using fewer resources, as physicians are not waiting for people not showing up to their appointments.

The initiative has been such a success that the Municipality of Copenhagen has chosen to allocate extra money towards them, initially until the end of 2020 and subsequently until 2024 as part of the municipal budget negotiations.

Find out more about the initiative

Photo by Rene Böhmer on Unsplash