EESC info

The Italian NGO EMERGENCY is among 23 projects from the EU and the UK that have received the award for their outstanding contribution to fighting COVID-19 and its disastrous consequences.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has awarded the Civil Solidarity Prize to the humanitarian NGO EMERGENCY for its invaluable role on the front line of the COVID-19 battlefield. A seasoned crisis-healthcare provider, the NGO developed a replicable and scalable model to design and manage hospitals in a pandemic and set up a field hospital in Bergamo when the city was a hotspot during the first surge of COVID-19 in Europe.

The EESC selected EMERGENCY as the winner in the category of projects that had a cross-border or European focus and were operational in more than one country.

The humanitarian NGO called on its decades of experience in providing crisis healthcare in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Sierra Leone to respond to COVID-19. More usually focused on offering medical care to victims of war and poverty, in 2020, EMERGENCY provided assistance in Italy and around the world to contain the pandemic and its consequences. Its contribution was also key in the Mediterranean Sea, where EMERGENCY is involved in search and rescue operations.

EMERGENCY was announced as one of the 23 prize-winners at a virtual awards ceremony held by the EESC on 15 February. Each winner received a prize worth EUR 10 000.

Presenting the prizes, the EESC's vice-president for communication, Cillian Lohan, said:

"The EESC has repeatedly stressed that solidarity and targeted shared action are key to surviving such a pandemic. The only effective response to a crisis such as this pandemic is to act quickly, decisively, and together. There are lessons here for dealing with other crises, whether they are social, economic or environmental.

Civil society has been at the forefront of all solidarity actions and without their help on the ground, the price paid for this pandemic would be much higher. All the projects we received are proof of selfless citizen and grassroots engagement, showing the contribution of civil society in this fight to be enormous. With this prize, we are acknowledging the people and organisations making a difference in these unprecedented times. It is an honour to be able to celebrate together".

The awards went to the winning entries from 21 countries of the European Union. One prize was given to a project with a cross-border focus and one to an organisation from the United Kingdom, as a gesture meant to show that the EESC wanted to keep close ties with UK civil society, despite the fact that the country has left the EU.

Although the EESC aimed to find a winner from each EU Member State and from the UK, six countries offered no eligible entries.

The winners were selected from a total of 250 applications submitted by civil society organisations, individuals and private companies. All of the projects had solidarity as their driving force and displayed creative and effective ways of rising to the often-daunting challenges posed by the crisis.

Most projects targeted vulnerable groups or people most affected by the crisis such as the elderly and young people, children, women, minorities, migrants, the homeless, medical personnel or employees and employers.

As regards the projects' content, there were five main themes: food supply and assistance to vulnerable groups, medical equipment, advisory services, educational services and information on the pandemic, and culture.

THE CROSS-BORDER WINNER

EMERGENCY received the award as one of the entries focusing on the theme "medical equipment in production and distribution". 

Having worked in Sierra Leone during the 2014/2015 Ebola outbreak, EMERGENCY was able to react to this new epidemic and implement infection prevention and control, as well as more effective triage in its clinics abroad to guarantee the continuity of non-COVID services. Its guidelines for compartmentalising health structures, for virus control and for protecting staff and patients were applied in developed health systems, as well as in those with fragile and under-resourced health care structures. EMERGENCY's know-how was used in centres for minors and seniors, in shelters for migrants and on boats.

In Italy, one of the most badly affected countries at the start of the pandemic, EMERGENCY set up a field hospital in Bergamo, managed an ICU ward, and reorganised permanent and mobile clinics to prevent workers and patients catching the disease. Alongside international organisations, local governments, civil society organisations and public and private entities, it responded to the medical and social needs of people for whom the epidemic was not only a health risk but also a blow to their economic survival. In Milan, Catania, Venice and Piacenza, it set up a delivery service of basic goods for anyone to whom going out posed a threat

"This award acknowledges the importance of ensuring the same standard of protection and care worldwide. Our flexible and replicable response has been implemented in several contexts, from Europe to Asia and Africa,” explains President Rossella Miccio. "The prize’s potential to foster awareness and promote partnerships among a global audience is key as we focus on building resilient health systems and making sure that nobody is left behind during this health and social crisis. Therefore, EMERGENCY would like to dedicate this award to the most marginalised and vulnerable people in society. We’re committed to leave no one behind ".

The EESC hopes that the Civil Solidarity Prize will enhance the visibility and raise awareness not only of the winning projects but also of many other creative citizens' initiatives taking place in the EU.

"Today, we are not applauding only our 23 winners. We are taking our hats off to all of Europe's civil society and to so many of its organisations, companies and individuals who have shown and who keep showing unprecedented solidarity, courage and civic responsibility in these difficult and trying times", Mr Lohan said.

The projects and initiatives run by citizens and civil society in many ways complemented efforts undertaken by Member States to cushion the blows of the crisis and were even ahead of them in some areas, such as the production of face-masks at local and regional level, the EESC said.

Compared to the entries received for the Civil Society Prize in previous years, the EESC saw an increased number of applications from informal or less well-established organisations, which clearly demonstrates the spirit on the ground.

THE PRIZE CRITERIA

The EESC launched the prize in July 2020, with the theme "Civil Society against COVID-19", announcing that it would be an exceptional, one-off award replacing its trademark Civil Society Prize. The aim was to pay tribute to Europe's civil society, which actively and selflessly engaged in acts of solidarity from the very first days of the pandemic.

The contest was open to individuals, civil society organisations and companies whose projects had to be strictly not-for-profit and not more than 50% publicly funded. They had to be directly linked to COVID-19, specifically aiming to fight the virus or to tackle its consequences.

Each year, the EESC's flagship Civil Society Prize honours civil society organisations and/or individuals whose projects celebrate European identity and common values in a particular field of work. It has been awarded since 2006.

Cherwell Collective's "Live, Learn, Eat, Grow" is among 23 projects from the EU and the United Kingdom that have received the award for their outstanding contribution to fighting COVID-19 and its disastrous consequences.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has awarded the Civil Solidarity Prize to the UK's Cherwell Collective for its project, which fights against COVID-related food insecurity and financial hardship by empowering people to become an active part of their own supply chain. Focusing on waste reduction, education and outreach, the Cherwell Collective is helping make its community more sustainable and better prepared for a post-COVID future.

The EESC selected Cherwell Collective as the best UK candidate for the Prize, feeling that its entry stood out as a shining example of remarkable solidarity and civic responsibility during the COVID-19 crisis.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in March, the Oxford-based not-for-profit company has supplied food and other provisions to many residents in need. Instead of simply mitigating food and supply shortages, it devised actions to teach people how to grow their own food and to reduce waste by learning how to make the best use of all surplus foodstuffs. Through education and empowerment, people become more independent and self-sufficient.

With "Waste not, want not" as its unofficial theme, the Collective hopes its forward-thinking approach will help reduce food poverty and increase well-being after the crisis. 

Cherwell Collective was announced as one of the 23 prize-winners at a virtual awards ceremony held by the EESC on 15 February. Each winner received a prize worth EUR 10 000.

THE UK WINNER

Cherwell Collective received the award as one of the entries focusing on the theme "food supply and assistance to vulnerable groups". The theme grouped together projects supplying food rations, such as freshly-cooked food or fresh fruit and vegetables, often combining it with other actions, such as distributing medical equipment or offering additional support services for everyday life. The primary target groups were the elderly, especially those living alone, the homeless, families in need, minorities, migrants and refugees.

The Collective runs three interconnected core projects: Cherwell Larder delivered supplies to some 600 people each week during the UK’s first lockdown and now feeds more than 1000 a week.

Born out of produce shortages and supply-chain problems, Harvest @ Home provides basic garden supplies and guidance for people to grow their own food. Climatarian Kitchen offers cooking courses, meal kits and ready meals made from surplus food. Meal kits include flexible recipes that help build people’s confidence in the kitchen. Since July 2020, the initiative has supplied 100 households each week.

"I am honoured to receive this prize on behalf of the hundreds of people and organisations who have helped make this project possible," said Collective founder Emily Connally. "This prize gives instant international credibility that could immediately facilitate dozens of local jobs and, in the long term, will empower the sustainable redevelopment of our community."

The Irish online course providing information about coronavirus (COVID-19) in more than 70 languages is among 23 projects from the EU and the UK that have received the award for their outstanding contribution to fighting COVID-19 and its disastrous consequences.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has awarded the Civil Solidarity Prize to the Irish learning platform Alison for its free online course which was developed and published at the very start of the pandemic to educate as many people as possible about the virus, its spread and its effects.

The EESC selected the learning platform Alison as the best Irish candidate for the prize, saying that its project Coronavirus: What you need to know stood out as a shining example of solidarity and civic responsibility during the COVID-19 crisis.

The online course was launched in February 2020 when knowledge about the virus was still very scarce and governments were still struggling with how to respond to the looming crisis. With its training programme, which is based on guidelines from the WHO and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is continuously updated to include the latest information, the Irish platform has given people free access to potentially life-saving knowledge.

The social enterprise Alison was announced as one of the 23 prize winners in a virtual award ceremony held by the EESC on 15 February. Each winner received a prize worth EUR 10 000.

THE IRISH WINNER

The course Coronavirus: What you need to know received the award as one of the entries focusing on the theme of "educational services and information on the pandemic".

The course covers many aspects of the disease in detail and offers advice on how to protect yourself. It was translated into more than 70 languages in less than four months, with the help of 5 000 volunteers, many of whom were immigrants. Approximately 350 000 people had completed the course as of September 2020, with some 100 000 people signing up for it in a single day.

The course is certifiable, which means people can assess how much they have learned at the end. Alison has previously organised courses on SARS, swine flu and Ebola. Its next task will be to come up with courses on learning to live with COVID-19.

"As Europe's largest free learning platform, we understood the opportunity and responsibility upon us to disseminate information and advice about the threat of COVID-19 in January 2020. A learning platform like Alison has the potential to spread certifiable information for the public good extremely quickly in multiple languages," said Mike Feerick, CEO and founder.

"We particularly welcomed the help of Alison's volunteers from Europe's immigrant population, who helped with translations across the world. We see our work, and that of our volunteers, as not just part of an effort of Europeans helping fellow Europeans, but Europeans making a very positive civil society contribution across the world.”

Interviews with each winner are available in their respective language version of this newsletter.

Our Civil Solidarity Prize was one of a kind in many ways. Find out some surprising facts about some of our winners and the prize itself!

1. In early 2020, the EESC had already chosen the theme for its traditional Civil Society Prize when COVID-19 struck. As the news about acts of solidarity started pouring in, the EESC decided to launch a Civil Solidarity Prize instead.

2. Unlike for the Civil Society Prize, which is presented to up to five winners from all over Europe, the EESC was now looking for a champion in each EU country and the UK. Another novelty is that it was also open to companies, and not just to civil society organisations as is the case with the traditional prize. 

3.  The EESC Civil Solidarity Prize received the second highest number of entries in the history of the EESC Civil Society Prize and is topped only by the 2015 prize dedicated to helping migrants and refugees.

4. As compared to previous prizes, the EESC this year received a larger number of entries from organisations that have not been formally established, such as groups of volunteers or neighbours, which clearly shows the spirit on the ground.

5. Krystyna Paszko from Poland is the youngest winner ever in the history of the prize. She was 17 when she submitted her entry, so her application had to be signed by her mother. Despite her tender age, Krystyna has taken the European media by storm with her original but incredibly brave project of providing a lifeline to victims of domestic abuse. Articles about her appeared in many media outlets across Europe, and she was interviewed by the BBC.

6. The saying "troubles never come alone" was acutely felt by our winning contestant, the Croatian Network for the Homeless. Only a few days after the national authorities had imposed a strict lockdown, a strong earthquake shook the Croatian capital of Zagreb for the first time in 140 years.

7. Some of our winners already had experience of responding to virus threats in the past. The NGO Emergency, our cross-border winner, provided help during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, whereas our Irish winner, the Alison learning platform, had already organised courses on SARS, swine flu and Ebola.

8. Some of our winners have also won other prizes for other COVID-related projects. One example is the Lithuanian communication expert, Karolina Barišauskienė. Before walking home with the Civil Solidarity Prize for her project documenting the work of medical staff at COVID-19 frontlines, she had won a Lithuanian PR award for "Aware Youth – Enabled Elderly", a social project encouraging young people to respect quarantine rules.

9. Many of our 250 candidates not only carried out valuable work on the ground, but also came up with inventive names for their projects. Contestants from Spain and Slovenia seem to have been especially inspired and some of their initiatives bear names such as #SoulFoodFighters, "Anti-racist Pantry", "It Never Rains but it Pours" or "Hotel Korona", "Pimp my Walls" and "Our Streets are Empty but our Hearts are not". (ll)

The dreaded prospect of food shortages hitting family and friends in the wake of the pandemic was what first drove Emily Connally to start Cherwell Collective. It turned out that a lot more people would need her help, as she explains in this interview.

"If I can be 100% honest, my anxiety made this possible," Ms Connally reveals candidly. "My community was facing a global pandemic on top of our self-inflicted Brexit wound. I kept having nightmares that my children might have to watch their friends starve and then people would be breaking down the gate to get to my parsnips (we had expanded our home vegetable garden to prepare for Brexit shortages)."

The first thing she did was to set up a Google form to see whether there were families in the area who might appreciate having some extra cooking done for them. "Twelve people signed up on Friday. By Monday hundreds of families had signed up, from all over the UK," Ms Connally recalls. "It was clear that my nightmare was going to come true if I didn't do something to prevent it."

Rather than letting her anxiety get the better of her, she found a way round it: "As is the case for many people with anxiety, I become hyper-focused on working through the pain and fear so that it didn't overwhelm me," the Collective founder acknowledges. "In the end I had too many, so I just gave people my parsnips anyway, and also helped others grow their own."

The project did experience some growing pains. "In the first few weeks it was rocky," concedes Ms Connally, "but thanks to the perseverance of a few people, especially those who needed the services, now we have literally had hundreds of people wanting to help build this into a long-term, sustainable local resource."

And the results are there for all to see. The following are testimonials from people who are part of Cherwell Collective; they include several beneficiaries but also a number of volunteers.

"I am hugely impressed by these initiatives and the ethos that drives them. The Cherwell Larder [one of the Collective's initiatives] seems to triumph in breaking down the stigma of food banks and creating a sense of community."

"Being part of the Larder, helping others and having a contact outside of my home environment has given me meaning again."

"There has never been any judgement and no having to prove your need, which can be quite embarrassing... I have only experienced kindness and respect from everyone involved."

"My mental health and the health of my autistic son were greatly affected by COVID-19 and the Larder meant I didn't have to put us at risk [by going] shopping and being too near people. They have been a godsend."

"I had an accident at work. I'm a nurse who worked through the first lockdown on a COVID ward. I broke my foot at work in September and I would have honestly been lost without the Larder, it has kept food on the table for me and my boys."

"You have been amazing! I worked in the event sector, which completely shut down due to COVID. Until I found out about the Larder there were days I didn't eat so I could make sure my mum, who has COPD and a few other illnesses, and my then-pregnant sister could eat a decent meal, but with the help of the Cherwell Larder I can have at least one meal every day, which I will be forever truly grateful for to you and your team."

"When the lock down hit, my husband was furloughed, which may not have been too bad but as we already relied on overtime to top up wages and get by, it hit us hard... Add onto that having young children and being pregnant, having to isolate and not being able to get shopping delivered. Anyway it was a difficult time, and very worrying. The Larder helped obviously with food but also hope and faith in the human race, they were so thoughtful and kind, sending additional items for the baby and generally just being a total sweetheart. I am forever grateful and think this is such a wonderful service to help people in such need. I also want to say that every volunteer who has delivered has been so kind, polite and non-judgemental. So thank you to everyone involved, you are all angels."

The EESC's prize money of 10 000 EUR will help the Cherwell Collective scale up their project.

"We have created another Google form to ask the community what they want us to use the money for," explains Ms Connally, "and everyone seems to agree the number one priority for the prize is setting the foundations to sustain these resources in the long term."

Sustainability will be at the core of the Cherwell Collective's future expansion: "We are already working on a new project: Greenspace Gardens. These are large, immersive growing projects to expand [our initiative] Harvest @ Home and grow food in local playgrounds, community gardens, and anywhere people will allow us to grow food for the community."

Greenspace Gardens include native species, demonstration gardens for different methods of gardening, "and, of course, pollinator places to welcome and protect the animals that help us grow food," Ms Connally explains. "We are experimenting with growing rice and ancient grains in the local floodplains as well."

Always keen to see the prize reward multiple engagement, EESC info asked Cherwell Collective's founder what her advice would be to people who are deciding whether to embark on a similar project.

"Harden yourself to people saying no, especially in the beginning," she said. "Many people will tell you your vision is not the way, but to achieve results is to continue to push for the change you want to see in the world. Enthusiasm and solidarity are contagious and people will join you, as long as you show them it's possible."

Her golden rule? "If you think your community needs help, you're right. If you think someone else will do it, you're wrong."

Spotting a misinformation crisis in the making from the very first appearance of COVID-19, Irish-based Alison, one of the world's largest free learning platforms, decided to use its huge network of health professionals and translators to provide reliable information and education about the new coronavirus to as many people as possible. An online platform is nimbler than government, nimbler than an NGO, founder Mike Feerick tells EESC info, and this has helped Alison make a difference.

What prompted you to start your project or initiative?
When the new coronavirus was mentioned on the news in January 2020, we immediately knew a global humanitarian crisis was afoot. Trusted free online platforms like Alison.com with a global audience have a unique ability to spread and share critically important information in a very efficient and quick manner. We've seen this not least through our development of free courses to help people understand the threat of the previous global viruses Ebola, SARS and Swine flu. Using the CDC [US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and WHO guidelines, we knew we had expert, accurate content. It just needed to get to people and communities asap. As one of the world's largest free learning platforms, we saw it both as an opportunity to educate our learner base and recognise the responsibility to assist the global efforts.
Governments and NGOs can move quickly, but sometimes not as quickly as a platform and team such as Alison. As a social enterprise, we can also instantly recruit an army of knowledgeable volunteers around the world. With the COVID response, we not only had over 5 000 translation volunteers but also 800+ medical practitioners - from professors of medicine in Cairo to nurse practitioners in the United States. There is tremendous goodwill among people towards each other worldwide. We just knew we could harness that goodwill into action more quickly than most and at scale. We'll be even better prepared and able the next time there is a global pandemic!

How has your project been received? Have you obtained any feedback from the people you helped?
Our project was very positively received. The number of students taking our translated COVID courses (near 400 000) speaks for itself, but also, our volunteers were proud of their contribution - and were delighted with the recognition we gave them. We created a COVID "Hall of Fame" on our website to recognise the volunteers who put in the most work. While we had 5 000 volunteers, a smaller number in the 100s did the heavier lifting.
People like to give, but they also like to be acknowledged - and as much as we at Alison are pleased we organised this project, it is nice too to get the recognition from the EU - it means a lot to the Alison team and our learners and volunteers around the world. We don't do it for the praise - but it's nice to get it all the same.
On the Alison Linkedin postings relating to the award, there are 383 reactions and 281 comments as of 19 February 2021. On my posting, there are 93 reactions and 23 comments. Some inspiring comments there!

How will you use this specific funding to provide further help in the community? Are you already planning any new projects?
This funding will be spent on developing our capabilities to respond with appropriate actionable information for any type of global crisis, whether it is a global pandemic threat, the aftermath of the devastation of a tsunami, or how we as a global community need to respond asap to the threat of climate change.
Our view is that in every challenge or crisis the world faces, actionable and trusted information, knowledge and skills have their role to play. Education is part of nearly every solution! We know it, and we are determined to build our platform and community such that together, we can prove that civil solidarity has a hugely important role to play in our society, not just within Europe where we are based, but right around the world.

What advice would you give to other organisations in terms of achieving results with such activities and programmes?
Three pieces of advice:
•    Use the power of technology. New communications and information technologies can create solutions and tools for social justice and civil solidarity that are more powerful than ever before. Look to technology as the one thing that can augment your empathetic response 100X.
•    Build a community of trust. However small you are, operate your organisation and business affairs in a trusted professional manner. You won't always get everything right, but you will build a large following, and people will follow your lead over time.
•    Use the "power of the crowd". There is tremendous goodwill among people. People want to help each other, particularly when in need. So look to volunteers to augment the impact of your paid staff. If you present the "crowd" with the opportunity to contribute, they will stand up and be counted. Ordinary people are the same wherever you go. Have faith in humanity, and it will place faith in you.