In these troubled times, with coronavirus outbreak impacting lives and businesses in many parts of the world, we wanted to express our full support, continuous work and commitment towards our investors and partners, who are implementing with us ambitious projects in the field to build environmental, social and economic resilience at scale.
Like many others, our priority is to keep everyone around us as safe as possible. Livelihoods team in France and around the world has taken the necessary measures to ensure this safety: all team members are now working in full containment. We have collectively rearranged work conditions to ensure day to day interactions with our investors, local partners with the following priorities guiding our action: ensure every local team members’ and communities safety, but also secure human and financial resources to protect the projects’ continuity after the crisis. These projects are necessary to the livelihoods of local communities.
To achieve these priority actions, Livelihoods has defined and shared with its partners specific COVID-19 guidelines and measures to act in a coordinated manner, follow the evolutions of the pandemic’s impacts on field activities and bring them the necessary support to overcome the crisis together.
PRIORITY #1: ENSURE TEAM MEMBERS’ & POPULATION’S SAFETY
From Asia to Africa and Latin America, in many countries where the Livelihoods projects are being implemented, field teams are being confronted to several difficulties. Group meetings in the villages with local communities and field trips have been paused. In some projects, new planting activities could be postponed as well. In close cooperation with our local partners our priority has been to take the necessary measures to keep both field teams and local communities safe. Livelihoods NGO partners are making outstanding efforts to help the communities resist and overcome this crisis and prevent them from the tragic consequences on human health, economy and society. We are all very grateful for that. Livelihoods team and business partners stand by their side and will bring support to the very possible extent.
PRIORITY #2: ENSURE THE CONTINUITY OF THE PROJECTS
In cooperation with the local teams, we have made a clear statement, project per project, on the current situation and the solutions we can bring to support field teams and partners. To this day, Livelihoods Funds have guaranteed local salaries to ensure the continuity of the projects which are key for the livelihoods of local communities.
While the pandemic is already slowing down field operations, our second priority is to ensure the projects’ human and financial resources are wisely used to resist, overcome the crisis and better support the populations we work with, after the crisis settles. To do so, every week, Livelihoods project coordinators make a clear statement with our local partners to evaluate the evolution of existing and anticipated difficulties, related to COVD-19 impacts and define the necessary actions to be taken, accordingly.
PRIORITY #3: EMERGENCY AID FROM THE LIVELIHOODS FUNDS
As a first step to provide concrete support in the field, the Livelihoods Funds (Livelihoods Carbon Funds 1 & 2, and the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming) have secured an immediate and effective emergency aid to provide COVID-19 barrier instructions, emergency food and water distribution, seeds, hygiene and medical equipment (masks, soap…) and prevent local populations from the pandemic.
Following the evolution of local situations closely and the severity of COVID-19’s consequences, Livelihoods is exploring additional support and will act very rapidly.
In these challenging times, Livelihoods partners companies and funds investors have also expressed their full support and commitment to ensure the continuity of the projects in the long run and build a better future for the planet and the people. Together, we are joining forces to make sure all activities will start again, after the crisis. More than ever, this is a moment of resilience, that we can achieve, stronger than before.
The Livelihoods team
Photo credits: Hellio Vaningen / Livelihoods Funds