Coronavirus Update

How we are helping out during the deadly pandemic

 The Covid-19 pandemic isn’t only a public health emergency, but also a major threat to my country’s economy. Whilst the virus itself has been slower to impact my country than other parts of the world, the drastic decline in global trade and travel combining with measures like quarantines, social distancing aimed at stopping or preventing the virus are significantly impacting the economy and the livelihoods of communities with no social safety net. As with all other sectors the impact of Covid-19 on Project Dream and our beneficiaries has forced us to rethink how we deliver our services to the communities that we serve.

As the demand for our services increases, there has been a significant decrease in funds that we normally raise to meet our objectives. The cancellation or postponement of live fundraising events and activities due to lockdown lockdown came at the time when most of these activities would otherwise take place. The pandemic has also forced us to take on broader challenges that we are not set up to do, deviating from our primary objectives and as such completely changed our objectives to suit the current needs of the communities we serve. These include installing hand washing stations in communities, Building toilet facilities, delivering food packages, supplying hand sanitizers to local clinics and much else besides. We do all the above not because we receive funding, it is just the right thing to do and communities have told us it is what their current needs are.

Whilst we have transformed our services, it doesn’t necessarily mean we are drifting away from our core objectives Instead we are thinking about the NEEDS of local communities and how we are going to be able to meet them. Redeploying services and changing models is a significant transformation but still within our core purpose. The challenge Project Dream now faces is finding funding to meet our objectives which will in turn make our work more impactful.