Positive pandemic projects: looking at what's gone right
This article is part of a feature series exploring how the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures to prevent its spread are impacting the human rights of under-18s.
This feature takes an unashamedly positive view of things. Coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic has understandably focused on the negative impact it and the measures to prevent its spread have had on citizens worldwide, but less attention has been given to the creative and considerate initiatives that have also come out of it. So today we’re swapping a ‘what’s gone wrong’ attitude with a ‘what’s gone right’ one, as we take a brief look at positive examples of responses to the impacts of the pandemic on children and youth in education, mental health and the right to peaceful protest.
Disclaimer: The examples cited below are hardly panaceas for the problems they respond to, but you may notice that they all have three things in common: adaptation, collaboration and ideas sharing, which, when combined, suggest a way of working that could potentially outlive the pandemic.
Education
With schools forced to shut and online learning becoming the norm, it was quickly pointed out that children without access to the internet would become children without access to education. To keep children learning - albeit without fixing the issue of internet access - governments and educators in multiple countries teamed up with radio and TV stations to offer classes remotely, despite some limitations. This has included Bangladesh, Mexico and Mozambique offering lessons on TV, while multiple other countries across Africa and Latin America have broadcast lessons mainly via radio because of countries’ low rate of TV ownership. For many more examples, see this list of case studies by the World Bank.
Education also includes understanding what Covid-19, social distancing and lockdowns are and how to prevent contagion. While most of us hear about it in the news, its main audience are adults, and even then many of us have to switch off to preserve our sanity. So educating children about the pandemic won’t come from the news. Instead, scientists and child psychologists have teamed up with educators and animators to design an array of child-friendly comics and cartoons meant to inform, not to frighten, as the news often does. These include Baffled Bunny and Curious Cat, Dr Panda, the COVIBOOK and a free online book by the illustrator of The Gruffalo. For more examples, see this list by The Conversation.
Mental health
Staying positive during a pandemic and lockdown can be a struggle for anyone, especially children and youth whose particular need for routine and the ability to meet with friends is compromised. It’s easy to slide into negative thinking, for which we’re encouraged to talk about how we’re feeling. In India, for instance, the HAQ Centre for Child Rights started a child helpline during the pandemic in collaboration with the Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights after staff and public servants started working remotely. Meanwhile over the summer in the UK the Lewisham Young Writers programme invited 8- to 19-year-olds to use creative writing to address their feelings of social isolation.
Let’s not forget, though, that good moods can be contagious too, and when the vibe is right, fun and constructive activities can be a great remedy. During the pandemic one parent shared a list of 68 activities to keep children entertained and active at home, from den building and science experiments to producing a quarantine survival guide. CRIN also shared a stay-at-home imagination kit designed to help prevent boredom and frustration and keep children and adults alike thinking creatively and staying entertained, which includes exercises on how to create your own superheroes and build your own sustainable city.
Right to protest
After the first lockdown measures were imposed and large public gatherings such as protests were no longer safe, youth climate organisers moved their work online. But the lack of street protests didn’t mean that they (conveniently for some) went quiet; it spurred them on as they adapted to the new circumstances. Since March, they’ve organised an international 24-hour live stream and a physically distanced global climate strike; co-produced the Talks for Future series that brings together researchers, campaigners and youth activists; and sued a government at the Constitutional Court for not guaranteeing their right to live in a clean environment - all while not being able to organise street protests.
Send us your examples
The cases above are just snippets of what’s gone right since the pandemic emerged, but we’d love to hear of more positive responses to the pandemic where you live, including on different children’s rights issues, in order to hopefully produce a follow up feature with your examples from around the world.
Email us your examples to info@crin.org
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