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 Alexis Still

An innovative solution for children

Happy Days is an organization aiming to assist children facing physical, mental, and emotional challenges, and young carers and their families. During the crisis, the COVID Project helped sustain support for families and maintain operational continuity. This involved organizing various activities, holidays, and day trips for children.

A project for the vulnerable ones

Notably, the project focused on extending aid to those struggling with mental health issues, those who had experienced the loss of a family member, and individuals facing financial hardships.

From the initial lockdown in March 2020 until the easing of restrictions in July 2021, the project achieved a milestone by assisting 14,728 children.

The initiative strived to help children with disabilities, life-limiting conditions, and abuse. Also, it targeted the ones:

• Impacted by the effects of the coronavirus
• Coping with the loss of a parent, grandparent, sibling, or another family member due to COVID-19
• Whose families had been severely hit financially due to job losses
• Struggling with a notable decline in mental well-being because of the pandemic.

Image of Marisa Howenstine from Unsplash

Find out more about the initiative

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 was collected by Claire Stovell, Charoula Tzanakou, Alexis Still, and Anne-Laure Humbert. 

An Equity Audit to understand the impact of the pandemic on young people

On 20 March 2020, the Scottish Government decided to issue a statement, advising that schools should close to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19 virus. This led to (even more) educational difficulties for children and young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. To respond to these issues, the government announced the implementation of an Equity Audit that would “deepen [their] understanding of the impact of [the pandemic] on children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and set clear areas of focus for accelerating recovery”. To compile this Equity Audit, Education Scotland (the educational body of the government) cooperated closely with teachers’ unions and got their extensive input on the new or worsened issues that disadvantaged children and young people faced during the pandemic.

The audit was undertaken through two complementary phases from September to November 2020: 1) an evidence review of local, national and international literature and 2) a detailed analysis based on a sample of 54 schools across all 32 local authorities.

Two sketchnotes to illustrate the key findings

Education Scotland released their equity audit near the end of 2020, containing findings and support recommendations that were thoroughly informed by the experiences and input of teachers and teachers’ unions.

Five key themes emerged from both the evidence and lived-experience, highlighting the need to focus on the following in the context of intensified support for learning:
I. Health and wellbeing support
II. Digital infrastructure and connectivity
III. Support to parents and families
IV. Teaching provision and the quality of learning
V. Support for teachers and the wider workforce

Two sketchnotes have been produced to help share the key findings. The first focuses on the impact school building closures has had on children and young people and is organised in three areas: health and wellbeing, education and learner experiences, educational attainment (see above). The second illustrates the support available for children, young people and their families to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 (see below).

Images by Education Scotland Foghlam Alba & The Scottish Attainment Challenge

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 was collected by: Claire Stovell, Charoula Tzanakou, Alexis Still, Anne Laure Humbert. 

A group of black fathers in London have started their own podcast to challenge stereotypes and share their experiences of fatherhood. 

How it all started 

Marvyn, a black British father decided to send on Father’s Day 2018 a WhatsApp message to friends who are fathers saying thank you for their great work in raising the next generation. Every man replied quickly, and the group started discussing what it means to be a black dad in the UK today. The conversation being so rich and honest, they wanted to share them with as many people as possible and so they created a podcast. 

Calling themselves “Dope Black Dads”, they speak about the added pressures of being a black male parent: “the parenting part is the same, but what you’re trying to teach your child is much more layered. You’re trying to show them that having a different skin tone and hair might mean they are judged differently”.   

Launched in October 2018, the podcast has 60 regular contributors from around the globe. Episodes cover varied topics and some have explicitly referred to issues linked to the pandemic, for example, Get fit with Dope Black Dads; The mental load of masculinity and male parenting; Are you sending your kids back to school?; Back to school post covid. 

The impact of the podcast 

Dope Black Dads, a digital safe space for fathers who wish to discuss masculinity and their experiences of being a black parent in the modern world, is a success among women too. “We have had a fantastic response to the podcast from real people. Women are our biggest audience – there is a 60/40 split – and we have a global audience from different cultures.” 

The hopes are that this podcast will be a step in the right direction and might stop black dads from feeling alone. The aim is to celebrate, heal, inspire, and educate black fathers for better outcomes for black families. 

Learn more 

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. The initiatives 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 societal initiative has been collected by: Claire Stovell, Charoula Tzanakou, Alexis Still, Anne Laure Humbert.

Building a partnership to support survivors of domestic abuse

For people experiencing domestic abuse, home is often the most dangerous place. Safe and stable housing is a core need for families and yet it can be the most difficult need to meet. Women and children often face years of housing insecurity after leaving refuge.

Housing Providers & Refuges: Tackling move-on together during COVID 19 is an initiative aiming to bring the housing sector and refuges together to get survivors who are ready for move on right now into a safe home.

The goal of this project, a collaboration between Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance, Women’s Aid Federation of England, National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing, is to ease the transition of survivors of domestic abuse into new and safe homes. Although specifically mentioning women and children, the initiative is for anyone experiencing domestic abuse whether that be on the basis of their gender or any other characteristic.

Responding to an urgent need, now more than ever before

The lockdown increased physical and emotional harm to women and children experiencing domestic abuse, and early reports found that the number of domestic abuse homicides over the first three weeks of lockdown was three times higher than last year.

The pandemic is also making resettlement harder; many refuge services are full but unable to move women on, blocking spaces for survivors who need to escape. The average number of refuge vacancies in England during the first 7 weeks of lockdown was 97, compared with an average of 183 for the same period in 2019.

Some housing providers are advising that they have a number of homes that are currently empty as the usual nominations and lettings procedures were paused during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic. They want to ensure they are playing their part in providing homes for people who are particularly vulnerable, including survivors of domestic abuse. 

In the short-term, the initiative is asking housing providers, local authorities and refuges to work together, to coordinate need for move on accommodation with the availability of suitable homes. They will also be working together to ensure they can provide sustainable move on from refuges over the long-term.

The Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance is a partnership of three agencies: Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, Peabody and Gentoo.
Women’s Aid Federation of England aims to end domestic abuse against woman and children.
National Housing Federation brings together all of the housing associations around England.
Chartered Institute of Housing has over 17,000 members working in the housing profession in the UK.

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