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 is impacting children globally, changing the environment in which they learn, develop, and grow.

The immediate effects of the crisis in the areas where we work in Southeast Asia led to disruptions in education and a loss of livelihoods. Many of our beneficiaries are marginalised by poverty and geographic remoteness which leaves them without access to hygiene facilities such as safe water, and soap, increasing the risk of the virus spreading and claiming lives.

Our response

Our immediate response, where possible, is to:

1. Improve the health and hygiene standards of marginalised groups.
2. Distributing emergency food aid to those facing food insecurity.
3. Reduce the disruption to education for marginalised children and youth.

We are doing this through:

• Disseminating WHO-approved messages (print and audio) about virus prevention in remote areas to educate communities on the situation and the best way to ensure their health and safety.
• Distributing basic hygiene kits to marginalised households (soap, detergent, sanitary items).
• Distributing handwashing stations to marginalised communities (soap, water containers, taps, and pipes).
• Distributing rice to families suffering from food insecurity.
• Expanding our existing online learning platforms (Khmer Learn, Rean An, Educator Hub, and Laos Learning App).
• Uploading learning materials for students and teachers onto online platforms.
• Creating communication channels for teachers to be informed about developments and tools for distance learning.

After our immediate response, we will focus on a longer-term approach to limit the negative educational impacts of this crisis for vulnerable and marginalised groups, including girls, ethnic minority children, and children with disabilities.

To tackle the coronavirus pandemic, we are calling for global solidarity. We are collaborating with teachers, parents, local authorities, governments and partners to ensure children get the support they need during and after this crisis.

Our response updates:

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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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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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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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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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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Vietnam: Aide et Action supports marginalised children return to school after coronavirus

Vietnam has made global headlines for its rapid response to and containment of Coronavirus since the outbreak began in January 2020. After three months of school closures the country became one of the first nations to reopen its classrooms in the wake ...
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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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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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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: New coronavirus impacts education

4 March 2020, Hanoi, Vietnam: Despite no new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Vietnam since 13 February 2020, Vietnamese schools remain shut as the government continues to implement a series of measures. Here, at Aide et Action, we are ...
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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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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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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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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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