How can we support SELCO’s urgent COVID-19 response efforts in India? Here’s how

SEWF is appealing to the international social enterprise community to assist our partner, SELCO Foundation with its urgent response to the COVID-19 crisis in India. SELCO has been at the frontline during the first and second waves of the pandemic and is working with a network of 200 regional social enterprises to deliver a “Relief, Recovery and Resilience” response to benefit 500,000 families. SEWF is encouraging the social enterprise community around the world to support this critical programme at such a critical moment in time, and donations to SELCO can be made via PayPal or Danamojo.

Introduction: SELCO 2021 COVID second wave response programme

April and May 2021 have been catastrophic for communities throughout India. Unending sirens of ambulances and long lines at cremation centres have been the two most widely recognised images of this never-ending crisis. The focus, understandably, today is on the most urgent healthcare needs of serious patients who require access to oxygen and ventilators. The urgency will change in the coming two quarters and SELCO has made specific plans while prioritizing the needs according to sectors where it can have the most impact because of its prior experience in phase one of the COVID crisis.

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In the first phase of the crisis, between March 2020 and July 2020, some of the actions undertaken by SELCO included:

1.  Building over 60 COVID care hospitals, isolation centres, therapeutic care units and health staff quarters in partnership with public and civil society organizations like Doctors for You, Ashwani Gudalur, Seba Jagat etc. These centres were constructed via social enterprise and their innovations around sustainable building material, solar-powered solutions and efficient equipment and are being extensively used during the second phase of the crisis.
2. Designed and installed 500+ solar-powered swab collections centres in remote areas, thus leading to decentralized testing process during critical periods of the 1st phase.
3. Provided basic rations and other essential supplies to numerous poor families, who were stranded during the country-wide lockdown, and more.

SELCO had internally restructured and created a COVID Taskforce to overlook all the operations. The ongoing crisis is at a much larger level than the first one. On top of the existing core task force, it has created 3 more at regional levels, considering the amount of work that would have to be carried out in this phase. The learnings from the 1st phase will be critical, but the team is well-versed and aware of the magnitude and breadth of this catastrophe.

In the second phase of the programme, SELCO is focusing on these three areas:

1. Health: Complementary efforts needed in the health sector.
2. Social Enterprises and Related Organizations: Partnerships and Crisis Management.
3. Relief Work.

As an important social enterprise response to the second wave of the pandemic in India, the cost to deliver this programme is €2.9m and SEWF is encouraging the social enterprise community around the world to support this critical programme, as every form of donation or support matters in curbing the ongoing crisis.

If you wish to make donations and support the vast efforts of SELCO, you can make donations either through PayPal or Danamojo.

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You can also click here to read/download further information on SELCO’s COVID-19 efforts during the first and second waves in India. And also click here to contact SEWF if you have any further enquiries. Your support and donations are highly appreciated and will go a long way in supporting SELCO’s COVID-19 response efforts in India.