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.”