This short podcast takes a closer look at the impact COVID-19 has had on civil society working overseas, and particularly UK Aid Direct and UK Aid Match funded projects, and the steps charities have taken to be able to continue to respond and support the vulnerable and marginalised people the fund is designed to help. Laura Else, Communications Specialist for UK Aid Direct, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s challenge fund for small to medium sized charities managed by a MannionDaniels-led consortium speaks to Karen Stephenson, the Fund Director for both UK Aid Direct, and UK Aid Match
For more information on the funds visit www.ukaiddirect.org and/or www.ukaidmatch.org and follow UK Aid Direct on Twitter.
[0:00 – 1:34) Introduction
Hello, I’m Laura Else and I’m the Communications Specialist for UK Aid Direct, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s challenge fund for small to medium sized charities managed by a MannionDaniels-led consortium.
This short podcast takes a closer look at the impact COVID-19 has had on civil society working overseas, and particularly UK Aid Direct funded projects and the steps charities have taken to be able to continue to respond and support the vulnerable and marginalised people the fund is designed to help.
The podcast also looks at the work of UK Aid Match charities, the FCDO’s other major civil society challenge fund, managed by a MannionDaniels-led consortium. UK Aid Match encourages the British public and UK government to work together, giving the UK public a say in how development money is used, matching every £1 donated to a Match charity appeal in the UK, by contributing £1 of UK aid to help these projects go further in changing and saving lives.
Karen Stephenson, the Fund Director for both UK Aid Direct, and UK Aid Match has joined me to talk about the pandemic, the challenges that the development sector has faced, and how our grant holders are managing to overcome these challenges.
[1:34 – 2:14] Question 1. Welcome Karen and thank you for joining me. What kind of impact did you see the pandemic having initially?
Most organisations were instantly affected, restrictions due to lockdown and remote working made implementation challenging. We also realised that the situation would vary hugely and vary by context. And that it would continue to evolve over the coming months.
With the support of the funds’ donors, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, here at MannionDaniels, we have been as committed as ever to supporting our inspiring grant holders and projects, allowing them to address the immediate impacts of the pandemic.
[2:15 – 2:54] Question 2. In what way were the two funds able to support grant holders?
UK Aid Direct and UK Aid Match grant holders were positively encouraged to adapt their activities to the context, either by adjusting their existing projects if they needed to or pivoting to specifically respond to the immediate needs of the COVID-19 crisis.
We worked with grant holders to understand what those specific, immediate needs were and together agree what would be the best approach for individual grant holders to take. Consequently, we adapted our systems and processes to allow them to respond to the needs they had identified.
[2:54 – 3:27] Question 3. And did many of the existing projects within the portfolios have to adapt what they were doing in-country?
Some grant holders found they could still deliver as intended, perhaps with slightly revised ways of working but managing to still deliver their proposed activities. However, unsurprisingly, most had to adapt their project activities. For example, for UK Aid Match, 48 projects (which is 92% of the portfolio) to date, have adapted their approach across 21 countries.
[3:27 – 4:56] Question 4. Can you give an example, Karen, of the type of activity a charity might have changed to undertake?
Yes, so UK charity, Hope for Children, [through their implementation partner, RAINS (Regional Advisory and Information Networks System] launched a public engagement and awareness campaign in Ghana using local languages to help dispel harmful myths and misinformation that was circulating locally. Women’s livelihoods were being negatively affected as they were unable to travel to nearby markets. And although the Ghanaian government was sharing key messages about the virus, it wasn’t being shared in local languages.
In the UK Aid Direct portfolio, 105 projects have adapted so far (which is 74% of the portfolio) in 25 countries. And an example I can give you of adaption here would be Dolen Cymru, a Small Charities Challenge Fund grant holder, whose handwashing project in Lesotho was adjusted to train community volunteers to supply tippy-tap facilities and train those volunteers in their use. It also engaged in radio broadcasts to share key messages about the virus.
Existing Community Partnership and Impact grant holders were also given the opportunity to apply for additional rapid response funding from UK Aid Direct allowing them to scale up their responses. This money was designed to help the charities to respond with immediate health support, but also allow them to address the economic and social impact COVID-19 was having and would have on already vulnerable populations.
[4:56 – 6:26] Question 5: How many charities are receiving this funding, Karen?
33 applications were approved for delivering projects across 16 countries over a six-month time period.
With this funding, PHASE Worldwide, for example, a Bristol-based UK charity delivering in Nepal are placing health staff into eleven different primary healthcare centres to improve health provisions for around 31,000 people in three districts. Medicine and supplies will be provided to continue basic primary healthcare and maternal and child health services, as well as COVID-19 specific support. The charity is also delivering COVID-19 specific awareness workshops that adhere to social distancing protocols and increase public awareness of the virus. Radio again, will also be used to broadcast the key messages and information.
And in Rwanda, the median age of the population is 20, a UK-based charity, World Jewish Relief are working with partners in Eastern Rwanda by recruiting young mobilisers – believing they hold the key to the successful fight against COVID-19- to improve the flow of information about preventative hygiene practices, and enable access to clean water at the local, village level. The youth mobilisers jobs will also be to identify especially vulnerable members of the population to help them and to help them respond to the secondary, economic impacts of the pandemic.
[6:26 – 8:02] Question 6: Thank you, Karen. Do you have any words of support or thoughts on what the future may hold for international development charities, bearing in mind we don’t know how long the pandemic will continue to affect us and our communities abroad?
Yes, it’s clear that the longer-term impact of COVID-19 is going to affect all our work for some years to come. We know already that many are already feeling the economic impact of the pandemic and the most vulnerable and marginalised are likely to become even further affected.
I think organisations and projects are going to have to be able to listen carefully to the needs of communities to adapt or design projects that are relevant for the communities they are supporting but equally are able to bring about sustainable change and represent good value for money. Coordination and collaboration with others will be key to maximise the collective impact of the excellent work done by charities.
We have some short films available to watch on our website also from grant holders out in the field, sharing their experiences and what’s working for them.
They are on both websites.
For UK Aid Match, visit www.ukaidmatch.org/news
And for UK Aid Direct, visit www.ukaiddirect.org/news.
I would just like to say thank you to anyone working in international development really, especially our grant holders, for their continued efforts to keep the most vulnerable populations safe at this difficult time.