"For many places we were the only source of PPE"

PPE was very hard to come by in Sweden when the Blivande Community and Arts Space, the Swedish winner of the Civil Solidarity Prize, enlisted the help of its members to make gowns, mask and visors for the people who were putting their lives on the line fighting COVID. Co-founder Hampus Lindblad recounts how the project started from a casual conversation with a fellow member.

What prompted you to start your project or initiative?

Late one evening in early April, as I was closing down the house for the day, I stumbled upon one of our members, artist Olle Bjerkås, who was working on an early prototype for a protective visor. We started talking and decided to join forces. The next day we branched out into the more easily mass-produced long sleeved gowns that were so badly needed at the time.

How has your project been received? Have you obtained any feedback from the people you helped?

Everyone has been extremely grateful, not rarely shedding tears of gratitude. One manager of a nursing home had sent her husband (himself in a risk group) on a wild goose chase all over the country to try and secure PPE from remote places where it had not yet sold out. We received official letters of gratitude from the Stockholm Region Command Center at Karolinska, were featured in national news on several occasions and one of the offshoot initiatives was visited by the Minister of the Interior. For many places we were the only source of available PPE, sometimes for several weeks or more.

How will you use this specific funding to provide further help in the community? Are you already planning any new projects?

We will set aside 60% of the prize money and invite all the volunteers from the different initiatives in the PPE network to distribute it further using our own crowdfunding platform called Plato. Guidelines are being designed to ensure that the resulting projects will contribute to a better future, not least in terms of an increase in societal resiliency during periods of crisis. We're calling this "The Response to the Response of the Crisis Response", or RRCR for short. :)

What advice would you give to other organisations in terms of achieving results with such activities and programmes?

Most importantly: Just do it!

Don't wait for the "perfect" solution or conditions to arise as they are bound to never materialise. Never underestimate what even a small group of committed citizens can achieve as long as they efficiently collaborate towards a shared and concrete goal. Maintain a humble and open mindset and always make sure to both apply and share best practices and knowledge as it is discovered. Avoid "mission creep" and be mindful of the emotional well-being of everyone involved. The wisdom of thinking globally whilst acting locally has never been more true. Last but not least: Have fun!