COVID-19

A distinct Community Engagement and Social Protection pillar is essential for targeting delivery of health services and addressing the social needs of the population—especially the most at risk and vulnerable. Beyond the immediate public health aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease will also have humanitarian and socio-economic consequences, as already seen in the global economic slowdown. Given the high degree of vulnerability for the bottom 40 percent of the population, particularly in rural areas and refugee-host communities, the COVID-19 pandemic is bound to disrupt essential health and social services and exacerbate gender-based violence (GBV). The GoU needs to take a number of measures to minimize the multi-faceted impacts of this rapidly evolving situation.

Communities are an integral platform for delivery of key basic services and essential public health functions. Community engagement—in planning, research, financing and implementation, and empowerment is critical to ensure ownership and uptake of targeted interventions. There is need to increase close to community cross sectoral, catalytic and synergistic actions, for example - environmental sanitation and hygiene, nutrition, family planning, reproduction and child health, sexual and gender-based violence, and social protection—including health financing, social security measures—among others.

The MoH in collaboration with key stakeholders will engage all communities physical and virtual—social networks. Physical communities include: households; villages; schools; places of worship; cultural and professional groups; and, work space spaces—factories, workplaces, markets, health facilities; and others, to take charge of Community based interventions. The key stakeholders will include: Government— MoGLSD, MoLG, MoE&S, MoICT&NG, MoW&E, MoT&I, MoFPED, MoIA, MoD and MAAIF; Religious and Cultural Institutions, Private Sector, Development and Implementing partners, and CSOs. They will work through existing Local Government (LG) and community structures and self-help programmes to build voluntary actions at the community level. The same community system will be supported to intensify social protection mechanisms.

Strategies

• Establish a community engagement and social protection committee for COVID-19 at National level.
• Strengthen community engagement and social protection structures for COVID-19 in Communities.
• Strengthen capacity for IPC and WASH at community settings underscoring schools, workplaces, institutions, public places, commercial places like shops, markets, households, shopping malls along the trunk roads, etc.
• Develop School Program for prevention and mitigation of COVID-19 in schools.
• Establish COVID-19 quarantine facilities.
• Facilitate self-quarantine and continuation of essential services for COVID-19 in the community and homes.
• Strengthen leadership, management and coordination of stakeholder response to the emerging and escalating cases of GBV, VAC, Emergency Alternative care and children in detention during and post COVID-19.
• Provide timely prevention and response to the identified needs in GBV, VAC, Emergency Alternative Care and Children in detention during and post COVID-19.
• Support implementation of social protection interventions for the vulnerable populations.
• Develop mechanisms for oversight and monitoring effective delivery and effectiveness of the community interventions.