Women as the vanguard in the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic

Since the COVID-19 virus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), almost all affected countries have turned their attention to strategies for the treatment and prevention, and for many, economic recovery.

In Indonesia, our partner Yayasan Plan International has sought to respond and encourage active community involvement in the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially within the most marginalised communities.

Plan Indonesia was already working with marginalised communities on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) delivery through their Water for Women project, WASH and Beyond – Transforming lives in Eastern Indonesia. This placed them in an excellent position to embed COVID-19 preparedness, response and recovery into their activities, with further support from the Australian Government.

A WASH response is a COVID-19 response

It was not only the Plan Indonesia team, but also members of the community who were eager to do what they could to combat the virus. Many women in Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara volunteered in the village and sub-district pilot teams of the project to educate the public on prevention measures to protect themselves from COVID-19.

They promoted handwashing with soap (CTPS), coordinated distribution of posters, and also conducted mobile tours sharing messages to communities using loudspeakers - women have truly been the vanguard of Plan's COVID-19 response.

Despite busy lives and schedules, women have stepped forward to help protect their communities. They form the majority of the Three village Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) teams, set up under the Water for Women project, who were given increased capacity to handle COVID-19 in each sub-district. They recognise the importance of their role in the fight to stop COVID-19 and keep their communities safe.

They have carried out tours around village after village, sharing key messages around good hygiene behaviours, they have placed stickers about handwashing with soap with running water, they have helped collect data on 1st pillar of CLTS (Stop Open Defecation) and 2nd pillar (Handwashing with Soap).

Their work has been recognised by the District Government as a crucial part of the response to this pandemic. But it is also important to remember the additional burden this has placed on women, to be involved in community activities like this as well as their household and care duties. It is important that we work towards a world where women and men share these responsibilities equally.

Plan is focused on gender and social inclusion as part of their project, so that women and men are equal in society and share responsibilities evenly. One way they are doing this is by encouraging active and meaningful engagement with women in discussion forums and activities in their respective regions, so that they too have a voice in WASH delivery.

This story was originally published by Lot Piter Palaipeni/ Yuliani, Plan Indonesia and has been edited by Water for Women.