Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

While restrictions are gradually eased, religious festivals will also take place, e.g. Easter, Ramadan, and Ridvan. These occasions are often celebrated through community gatherings and special religious services/activities that enhance connectivity for people. As traditional celebratory activities have been unable to go ahead over the last year, and the message of lockdown easing takes hold, consider the need to:

• Review local plans that were in place during religious festivals in 2020:
  • Consult with community members when revising previous plans, to understand what has gone well and what could be improved this year
  • Support communities in the planning of COVID-safe celebrations for 2021, e.g. by allowing worship to be held in community spaces such as parks or public gardens
• Recognise and acknowledge the influence of faith and faith leaders in building trust and influencing behaviour:
  • By directly engaging in conversations with communities about religious celebration planning, other conversations can emerge, e.g. vaccination safety, concerns and attitudes towards uptake

Government organisations in India have been directing substantial effort to tackling the crisis. Part of this effort has involved producing a series of case study articles on how cities have tackled COVID-19. The actions those cities have implemented contain lessons which are transferable on: managing the spread of the virus, the use of technology, communication approaches, approaches to governance, and the participation of the community. Sharing case studies is a great contribution to the local, national and international effort to tackle the virus. Consider preparing case studies similar to:

• In Pune, how it took a people-based approach to responding to hotspot areas: https://www.cdri.world/casestudy/response_to_covid19_by_pune.pdf
• In Karnataka, how it worked with the IT sector to develop its technological approach to responding to the effects of COVID-19: http://cdri.world/casestudy/response-to-covid19-by-Karnataka.pdf
• In Goa, how it repurposed manufacturing capacity to produce hand sanitizer, and recovering production capacity of its pharmaceutical industry: http://cdri.world/casestudy/response_to_covid19_by_goa.pdf
• In Odisha, how women lead the fight against COVID-19 and child-focused interventions: http://cdri.world/casestudy/response-to-covid19-by-odisha.pdf

In all, there are eight case studies on the site, all detailing different approaches to responding to COVID-19.

Other case studies to consider:

Lahaul and Spiti:

http://cdri.world/casestudy/response_to_covid19_by_lahaul-and-spiti.pdf

Jharkhand:

http://cdri.world/casestudy/response_to_covid19_by_Jharkhand.pdf

Madhya Prades:

http://cdri.world/casestudy/response_to_covid19_by_madhya_pradesh.pdf