Since March 2020, Planète Enfants & Développement has been doing everything possible with its local teams and partners to pursue its projects. Here is an update on the situation in our 4 countries of intervention.
In Burkina Faso : The number of Covid-19 cases is slowly increasing, subject to the transparency of the numbers. Indeed, the coronavirus is not in the news much in the run-up to the presidential elections in November. Growing insecurity is a greater concern in the country where more than 1 million people have had to flee violence.
The schools and nurseries were nevertheless able to reopen following the Covid crisis. All of our projects are continuing for the moment.
Vietnam: The virus circulates very little, and borders remain closed to foreigners except in exceptional cases. For this reason, our civic service employees and our Volunteers of International Solidarity (VSI) work from France while waiting for their departure.
We are working with our teams and partners to set up training activities for early childhood educators and are developing our new project to combat violence against women, Hy Vong.
Cambodia: The number of people affected by the virus seems to be quite low. The implementation of strict controls for the arrival of foreigners on the country's soil is still in place. The projects are resuming their rhythm with the possibility to gather people, the progressive reopening of schools...We were able to organize the open doors of our new nursery Kidora last week.
Nepal: The health crisis is intensifying with an average of 3000 cases per day in a country with half the population of France. The numerous confinements and restrictions have had a strong impact on our projects. We have set up virtual classes for the pupils of the Maternelle de l'Espoir in Kathmandu to compensate for the closure of schools. The construction of the boarding school for the Chepang girls is still in progress and work is scheduled to begin in November.
While the health situation appears to be under control to date in Cambodia, Vietnam and Burkina Faso, Covid-19 is having a clear economic and social impact. Domestic violence jumped during the containment. Between the absence of tourists and the increasing number of job cuts, unemployment is rising. Nepal is at a complete standstill.
We need to support these countries more than ever!
October 21, 2020
