Initiation of the Aid to Help program, which provided € 500,000 in funding to NGOs that supported healthcare professionals, communities and vulnerable groups affected by the pandemic

 

Ionuț SIBIAN
Civil Society Development Foundation (FDSC)

Launched the programme Able to help, which has provided EUR 500 000 in funding to NGOs supporting healthcare workers, communities and vulnerable groups affected by the pandemic

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the funding programme În stare de bine (Wellbeing) allocated half of its budget for 2020 to a special call for projects entitled În stare să ajut (Able to help).

Established in 2018, the programme – supported by the retailer Kaufland Romania, and implemented by the Civil Society Development Foundation – is in its third year of existence, during which it has provided funding and support towards developing the organisational capacity of more than 180 NGOs in Romania.

The call for projects În stare să ajut, which took place in April, has provided EUR 500 000 in funding to NGOs across the country that mobilised to support healthcare workers and vulnerable communities and groups affected by the pandemic. More than 143 projects were submitted, seeking funding totalling EUR 3.5 million. Funding was granted to 14 projects providing urgently needed support to disadvantaged groups affected by the pandemic, as well as frontline medical staff, across communities in 17 counties of Romania and in Bucharest.

From material support to psychological support, these projects sought to meet a range of needs across society: the immediate needs of disadvantaged groups, healthcare for newborn babies, and care for cancer patients; support for healthcare workers, patients, families in need, people from rural areas, homeless people and victims of domestic violence; and support for the continuation of schooling.

The funding has thus given recognition to the remarkable commitment of NGOs at the height of the pandemic, which have contributed, alongside the authorities and healthcare workers, to the efforts to combat the new virus, while continuing to work with local communities.