COVID-19 Pandemic

In Southeast Asia, Aide et Action is committed to supporting marginalised children and vulnerable groups impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to over 1.6 billion children around the world being out of school. The crisis has impacted children globally, changing the environment in which they learn, develop, and grow.

In Southeast Asia, to curb the spread of Covid-19, all our countries of operation – Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam –  imposed strict social distancing measures, closing businesses, schools and other institutions. While hygiene education and emergency aid was at the heart of many of our responses, we also found opportunities to develop innovative solutions to address inequalities between urban and rural populations, between people and technology, between marginalized populations and un-marginalized.

Before Covid-19, one in two children with disabilities in Cambodia was not in school, an inequality likely to be exacerbated as online and televised learning programmes failed to account for children with intellectual disabilities during school closures. In response, we developed a series of online content to teach parents how to teach children with disabilities at home. Aware that accessibility of such content depended on parents having a device that could connect to the internet, we also supported teachers to print out homework and exercise sheets and distribute them during house visits.

In rural Laos, patchy internet connectivity and a lack of digital literacy threatened to jeopardise education as learning moved online during school closures. In the areas we work in, many teachers didn’t know how to teach online or have enough ICT equipment. To better prepare teachers and students for distance learning, we developed a learning app for primary school students and teachers which could store offline content and we installed ICT equipment in schools as well as trained teachers on how to use it.

In Vietnam, we ran many activities to support ethnic minority entrepreneurs living in rural areas to set up their own businesses and build sustainable livelihoods. Our Business Incubator encouraged young entrepreneurs to explore new options and opportunities other than traditional career paths to realise their entrepreneurship aspirations, as well as to inject new impetus into economic development. For many that had relied on tourism before Covid-19, support and investment in new business ideas may provide a lifeline out of poverty during these challenging times. 

Our response updates:

Vietnam: Giang finds her voice to help her friends

In Seo village, a small rural village tucked in the lush green fields surrounding Cao Son commune, Da Bac district, Hoa Binh province, primary school student Giang bears many responsibilities beyond her young age. Although from a farming background, Giang’s family don’t ...
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Cambodia: Protecting children’s rights to education during Covid-19

As Cambodia’s primary schools opened their classroom doors nationwide from 1 November 2021, The Cambodian Consortium for Out of School Children was working behind the scenes for the past eight consecutive months of the country’s school closures to ensure children’s rights to ...
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Children’s rights: a long-term job

Thirty-two years after the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a text guaranteeing the rights of the child, they are still struggling to be respected in the world today. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and associations, including Aide et Action, are mobilising ...
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Cambodia: Building Back Small Businesses During the Covid-19 Pandemic

In Cambodia, as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, it also continues to affect societies and economies at their cores. In the country's rural, central province of Kampong Thom, 48-year-old Sreyneth*, a street vendor selling desserts shares the same fate as many workers ...
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International Day of the Girl Child: The risk of losing 20 years of progress

Since the unanimous adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for the Empowerment of Women in 1995, significant progress has been made for the rights of girls and women around the world. However, today, multiple crises and conflicts coupled with ...
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Aide et Action Magazine: Celebrating 40 years of action

DOWNLOAD MAGAZINE ‘Setting up Aide et Action was a project that was certainly crazy at the start, but which took shape little by little since the beginning of the year and which has now become a very concrete reality thanks to all ...
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Vietnam: Looking forward to a new school year

In the remote and northern province of Lai Chau, eight-year-old primary school student Ma Thi Mai Huong is currently enjoying her summer holidays and looking forward to a new school year on 1 September 2021. Like many students in her school, Mai ...
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Laos: Innovative learning prioritised during Covid-19

In KohnKaen village, a rural settlement in Vientiane province home to approximately 1,400 inhabitants mostly from ethnic minority groups, internet access, and smartphones are a recent, but very welcome, arrival. Souphaphone Jalernsouk borrows her parents’ smartphone whenever she can to listen to ...
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Vietnam: The entrepreneur shattering gender stereotypes

"It is difficult even for a man from an ethnic minority group to start a business, not to mention a woman like me but nothing can stop me from following my dream.” In the small scenic rural town of Sapa, tucked high in the mountains Vietnam’s northern Lao ...
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Laos: School meals boost children’s attendance

In the remote and rural village of Somsavath Tai village, in Vientiane province, Mrs. Thord, a 54-year-old farmer looks after her two grandchildren while their parents work long days in the rice fields. Like many women her age, Mrs. Thord didn’t receive ...
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Aide et Action Magazine: Inclusive Education, Equal Chances

DOWNLOAD MAGAZINE Disability, ethnic origin, gender, religion ... there are many obstacles to the education of millions of children around the world. Increasing access to quality education for each and everyone has been for Aide et Action's mission for the past 40 ...
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Cambodia: A brighter future beckons for Sophos

“When he first started coming home from school, talking about he learnt, my husband and I were so proud of him that we would cry”. For 35-year-old Sok Seiha*, seeing her eldest son learn how to read and write was a joy like no other ...
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Vietnam: Bridging learning gaps during Covid-19

So far this year, due to the impact of the COVID pandemic, many of the families we work with in Vietnam have lost their jobs because of restrictions on movement, travel, and trade and lost their harvest season due to weather disasters, ...
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India: COVID-19 subjecting children of seasonal migrants to child labour

The current COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic and labour market consequences are severely affecting Indian families. Children are the first to suffer, being subjected to child labour and Aide et Action's latest assessment reveals that 50% of children of seasonal migrant workers ...
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Child labour is increasing due to COVID-19 pandemic

Globally, before the COVID-19 pandemic, one in ten children was subject to child labour. Now, for the first time in 20 years, this figure is increasing as the pandemic threatens to undo decades of progress. To prevent this, we must act together ...
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Laos: Health and education go hand in hand

For Aide et Action, our 40 years of working with marginalized children around the world have taught us that good health and quality education go hand in hand: without access to education, health cannot be achieved and without good health, education cannot ...
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Cambodia: Volunteers convert mobile libraries into information stations during Covid-19 crisis

Just over a year ago, Ni Nith, a mobile-library volunteer, replaced the books he carried in his tuk-tuk with soap, hygiene materials, and a loudspeaker to share the importance of hygiene practices to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, ...
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Education and health: the same fight

On the occasion of World Health Day (7 April 2021), Aide et Action looks back on the essential contribution of the education sector to the promotion of better health and well-being for all and calls for bringing together both education and health ...
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Aide et Action Magazine: Self-reliant women; independent women

DOWNLOAD MAGAZINE This year, Aide et Action is celebrating its 40th anniversary; four decades of commitment to promote and strengthen the right to education for all. Since 1981, we have been working relentlessly to support vulnerable and marginalized populations, to reduce inequalities ...
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International Women’s Day 2021: Women’s rights threatened by COVID-19

2020 should have been a year of celebration of the rights obtained for women over the past two decades. Instead, it will be remembered as the year of one of the greatest human rights setbacks; the year that the COVID-19 pandemic caused ...
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Junior Magazine: Education in time of crisis

DOWNLOAD MAGAZINE At Aide et Action, we believe in the power of education to raise awareness among young people, to free them from prejudices and to prepare them to live together in tolerance. Education is key to leading younger generations towards peaceful citizenship and ...
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Emojis – A universal language to address an educational emergency

On the occasion of International Day of Education (24 January), and as the sector experiences an unprecedented crisis, Aide et Action is launching an information and awareness campaign based on emojis. A universal "language" to remind the world that even today 258 ...
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International Day of Education: an unprecedented crisis threatens the future of entire generations

24 January has been proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Day of Education. It is not enough to celebrate this day in view of the critical, even dramatic, situation in which education finds itself in the world today. Blame it ...
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International Day of Education 2021: Time to address the emergency

The 3rd International Day of Education will be earmarked by alarming figures relating to education around the world. In the current context of a global pandemic and while 2021 remains uncertain, Aide et Action is calling on states, including France, to urgently ...
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Report: The impact of Covid-19 on education in Lao PDR

DOWNLOAD REPORT In the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), as a measure to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the Government announced a nationwide lockdown from 30 March 2020 under the Prime Minister’s Order No.06.1 All schools and other educational ...
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COVID-19 border closures endanger the lives of cross-border workers

Around the world, the COVID-19 crisis has forced countries to close their borders to protect populations from the virus. But despite its health benefits, this decision has caused great economic hardship for cross-border workers whose survival on trade and free movement was ...
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Aide et Action Magazine: Rethinking education after the coronavirus crisis

DOWNLOAD MAGAZINE Around the world, education that teaches, enlightens, liberates and works for a better world has become a target of extremist and obscurantist attacks. This, coupled with the threat that COVID-19 also poses to education, jeopardizes the future of a whole ...
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Coronavirus crisis: An opportunity to develop more inclusive emergency education planning

Before Covid-19, one in two children with disabilities in Cambodia was not in school. Today on International Day of Disabled Persons, we hope the current pandemic - which has closed schools nationwide for the second time this year - may offer an ...
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In Cambodia, the coronavirus pandemic threatens children’s rights

Beyond the profound disruption it has caused to education systems, the COVID-19 pandemic also risks causing a significant increase in child labor as families' livelihoods decline in middle and low-income countries. This is the case of Chana* and Ley*, two Cambodian children, ...
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Africa: The resumption of classes is as late as it is complicated

Across Africa, many countries have postponed the start of the school year - some until January 2021 - to try to adapt, as best as possible, to the constraints linked to the Coronavirus. But, despite this additional delay, the effective resumption of ...
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International Day of the Girl 2020: Girls’ education must be prioritized in the wake of coronavirus crisis

Whether political, economic, health, natural disaster or conflict-related, crises systematically exacerbate existing inequalities around the world. Today, on International Day of the Girl 2020, we share some of the increasing inequalities experienced by girls due to the Covid-19 pandemic and suggest how ...
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International Day of the Girl 2020: Covid-19 likely to set back girls’ education by decades

As we mark International Day of the Girl 2020 (11 October), Aide et Action wishes to highlight the seriousness of the threat Covid-19 poses to girls' education and to urge nations to keep their commitments to ensure all girls are guaranteed access ...
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Education heals, empowers, and includes

Since May 2020, Aide et Action has been running an international awareness campaign entitled "Education changes our lives", made up of three components "Education Heals[AM1] ", "Education Empowers" and "Education Includes”. Through a web-documentary series, Aide et Action aims to show the ...
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Cambodia: “The coronavirus crisis has led me to develop more flexible learning strategies”

As we celebrate World Teachers' Day on 5 October 2020, we'd like to highlight their essential role in quality education. In the context of the current global crisis, many have had to adapt and reinvent the way they work. Chandy teaches children ...
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Teachers on the honour roll during coronavirus crisis!

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers have shown incredible self-sacrifice to prevent millions of children from dropping out of school. Paying tribute to them on this World Teachers' Day (5 October 2020) is therefore essential and well deserved. But urgent ...
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Cambodia: Fishing community hopes that coronavirus school closures will not impact its “literate generation”

In August 2020, Aide et Action delivered radios to remote villages along the Mekong in Cambodia’s Kratié province to ensure children could tune into a new form of learning in the midst of the current pandemic. A bumpy couple of hours from ...
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Cambodia’s ethnic minority children are tuning into a new form of learning during coronavirus crisis

In Cambodia, Aide et Action is supporting the country’s most marginalised children to receive an education through distance learning initiatives including radio programs in ethnic minority languages. The current disruption to education has impacted approximately 1.6 billion children globally and is being ...
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Vietnam: Aide et Action supports isolated communities through health education

In the remote and isolated province of Lai Chau in northern Vietnam, most of the inhabitants rely on agriculture to earn a living. When Covid-19 led to travel and trade restrictions earlier this year, those that used to go to the field ...
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Aide et Action Magazine: Our COVID response in the face of the crisis

DOWNLOAD MAGAZINE Education helps prevents epidemics, it teaches hygiene, it is sometimes the only solution to make up for the lack of vaccines; it can act on health problems everywhere in the world; education is a cure. This is why, in the ...
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Southeast Asia: As economies fall, child labour rises during coronavirus crisis

As livelihoods in Southeast Asia continue to be lost to the current global pandemic, the most vulnerable populations will be hit the hardest, especially children. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that the COVID crisis will threaten the employment of 68 million ...
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Vietnam: Standard Chartered Bank supports Aide et Action’s coronavirus response activities

Aide et Action is delighted to have been granted funding from Standard Chartered Bank to support our COVID-19 response activities in Vietnam. Standard Chartered Bank has made the headlines for their generous support to multiple organizations tackling COVID. This includes funding US$85,200 ...
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Sri Lanka: Our professional training program adapts to COVID-19 and goes online

In Sri Lanka, following the closure of our vocational training centers due to COVID-19, our skills development program, iLEAD, has adapted using technology. Curretnly, trainees are able to continue their training across the country, despite the crisis. This initiative has ensured all ...
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23 May Update: Aide et Action’s Global Coronavirus Response Activities

To protect the vulnerable populations that we support on a daily basis, our teams are doing everything to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Each week, follow the evolution of our activities in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Here is ...
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16 May Update: Aide et Action’s Global Coronavirus Response Activities

To protect the vulnerable populations that we support on a daily basis, our teams are doing everything to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Each week, follow the evolution of our activities in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Here is ...
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COVID-19: Limiting the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on education

The COVID-19 crisis has deprived 1.53 billion children of education worldwide (UNESCO). In our intervention areas, the 2,000 schools we work with have all closed, and our 1.2 million beneficiaries have all been impacted. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Aide et ...
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Africa: Coronavirus preventative measures don’t consider everyday realities

In the absence of treatment for COVID-19, African states are forced to take preventive health measures which often seem far from the everyday reality of the populations they lead. After a decision was made to reopen schools, Aide et Action is concerned ...
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9 May Update: Aide et Action’s Global Coronavirus Response Activities

To protect the vulnerable populations that we support on a daily basis, our teams are doing everything to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Each week, follow the evolution of our activities in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Here is ...
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India: Aide et Action creates resource centers for migrants during Coronavirus

Since the start of the Coronavirus crisis in India, Aide et Action has been supporting migrant workers who are particularly vulnerable. After emergency food relief and advocacy work to defend their rights, our teams are now offering to support them on a ...
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Africa: The risks of reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic

After more than two months of closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some African governments have announced the reopening of schools, universities, and training centers. However, the contagion curve is still ascending in most of the continent’s countries. Charlemagne Bio, Aide ...
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Togo: Raising awareness to curb the spread of Coronavirus

The COVID-19 pandemic spares no country. In Africa, although urban areas are largely covered by information and awareness campaigns on barrier measures (television, radio, the internet, posters, etc.), the same is not true for more rural areas. This is why, in Togo, ...
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2 May Update: Aide et Action’s Global Coronavirus Response Activities

To protect the vulnerable populations that we support on a daily basis, our teams are doing everything to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Each week, follow the evolution of our activities in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Here is ...
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Romania: Aide et Action supports emergency food relief during Coronavirus crisis

While Romania has been in a state of emergency for more than a month due to the COVID-19 crisis, the most fragile populations find themselves completely destitute. The inhabitants of the slum of Satmarel, in the north-west of the country, are among ...
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Lao PDR: Aide et Action supports local authorities during Coronavirus lockdown

In Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Aide et Action’s education projects are temporarily on hold amid school closures during the Coronavirus pandemic. In response to the health crisis, Aide et Action is now working with local authorities to supply villages in ...
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India: Aide et Action launches “iDream Learning App” during coronavirus crisis

While the current global closure of schools - as a result of COVID-19 emergency measures - deprives 1.5 billion children of education, Aide et Action is committed to providing educational continuity within its projects. In India, our teams have just launched the ...
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25 April Update: Aide et Action’s Global Coronavirus Response Activities

To protect the vulnerable populations that we support on a daily basis, our teams are doing everything to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Each week, follow the evolution of our activities in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Here is ...
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World Book Day 2020: reading as a barrier against Coronavirus

With more than 1.5 billion schoolchildren and students currently deprived of education worldwide due to the COVID-19 crisis, World Book Day, celebrated on April 23, takes on a special meaning. For Aide et Action, access to books and reading is a priority ...
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India: Supporting communities to make masks during Coronavirus crisis

While the New Year celebrations in Assam, India, could not take place due to the COVID-19 crisis, Aide et Action decided to take advantage of the situation by encouraging the production of masks thanks to the fabric initially ordered for the festive ...
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India: Aide et Action provides support migrants in distress during Coronvirus crisis

The situation of migrant workers in India is alarming. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the sudden suspension of work and restrictions on movement is causing deep social distress. To support them during this period, Aide et Action is increasing their food supply ...
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18 April Update: Aide et Action’s Global Coronavirus Response Activities

To protect the vulnerable populations that we support on a daily basis, our teams are doing everything they can to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Each week, follow the evolution of our activities in response to the COVID-19 crisis ...
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11 April Update: Aide et Action’s Global Coronavirus Response Activities

To protect the vulnerable populations that we support on a daily basis, our teams are doing everything they can right now to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Every week, follow the development of our activities in response to the ...
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Cambodia: Aide et Action launches food distribution during Coronavirus crisis

In Cambodia, Aide et Action has launched a food distribution project for families who are struggling to feed their children in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis. Piloting this week in an urban poor settlement in Phnom Penh, we are reaching out ...
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India: Aide et Action is helping migrant families to recoup rights during Coronavirus 19 pandemic

The sudden lock down imposed by the Indian government with a view to clamp down the spread of Coronavirus has had a devastating effect on migrant workers in India. With work on construction sites now stopped, these populations are being deprived of ...
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4 April Update: Aide et Action’s Global Coronavirus Response Activities

To protect vulnerable populations that we support on a daily basis, our teams are doing everything to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Follow the development of our activities in response to the COVID-19 crisis every week. Here is the ...
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In Vietnam and Cambodia, Aide et Action is supporting the most vulnerable during Coronavirus pandemic

As of last Friday, March 27, 2020, our teams in Vietnam and Cambodia were able to provide an emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis. Hygiene awareness and the first distribution of health kits in economically-deprived urban areas, as well as isolated villages, ...
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India: Aide et Action volunteers educate migrant workers on Covid-19

In India, the widespread confinement caused by the Coronavirus pandemic has left thousands of migrant workers stranded on the sites where they originally came to work. Far from their families, their homes and now without any income-generating activity, Aide et Action is ...
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Vietnam: Aide et Action launches education campaign to reduce the spread of Coronavirus

As cases of COVID-19 increase in Vietnam, Aide et Action is responding through education - bringing soap and dry sanitiser to remote and rural areas and teaching children and communities how to use them effectively. Now, more than ever before, is the ...
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In Southeast Asia, Aide et Action uses education to tackle Coronavirus crisis

As the world rallies together during the global pandemic of COVID-19, never has a sense of community and solidarity seemed more important. Here, at Aide et Action, are at the forefront of this call for solidarity, identifying new ways to use education ...
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Romania: The Roma population is more excluded than ever in the wake of the Coronavirus

A curfew since March 23, the state of emergency since March 16, schools closed since March 11 ... Romania, too, is deeply impacted by the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. In this context of a global health crisis, the Roma population is particularly isolated and ...
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France: Slum and shantytown populations are more vulnerable than ever during COVID-19 outbreak

In France, Aide et Action has been working in partnership with the association ASET 93, in the shantytowns of Seine-Saint-Denis to support the education of children living far from school. The spread of the coronavirus is particularly impacting these vulnerable and marginalized ...
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Global: Aide et Action’s activities strongly impacted by Coronavirus

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads worldwide, an unprecedented number of children and young people are no longer attending schools or universities. In this context of a global health crisis, we are organizing ourselves to best maintain our activities with the most vulnerable ...
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Vietnam: Aide et Action increases women’s participation

With her daughters’ school fees amounting to one-third of her family’s income, providing an education for her family comes at a huge cost for 25-year-old Lu Thi Sua. But, all Sua wants is a better life for her children. To support women ...
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