As COVID-19 pandemic reached the forest dwelling pastoralist and nomadic communities 4 days ago there has been an immediate response from the administration. The lockdown protocols have stipulated a set of uniform practices for citizen habitations across - urban, rural or forest settings. The nomadic and pastoralist communities survive by earning on a daily basis - 1. By selling milk (a daily produce) and 2. Offering daily wages as well. The challenge towards practicing pastoralism, sustaining livelihood and health is rising with every passing day.
 

Under the current COVID scenario these challenges have amplified as missing institutional support, poor awareness, low levels of literacy are posing serious challenges. The COVID has severely disrupted the limited abilities of community towards health concerns.
 
We at Samanta Foundation have been working with women and children from Taungya and Van Gujjar communities (Traditional Forest Dwellers, nomads, pastoralists) in Lower Shivalik for a year with limited resources. We have been conducting -

1. COVID awareness sessions
2. Discussions 
3. Group engagements around Preventive  and Curative health. 

In order to pursue and strengthen our work we seek your support for

1. Provisioning of health (adequate food support), hygiene and sanitation resources during COVID and post COVID scenarios for the community with focus on - Women, Adolescent girls and Children.
2. Conducting training and awareness sessions. Use technology to support community resistance and response in situations similar to COVID in current and coming times.
3. Set up a Community owned learning centre for the women and children.

Develop youth and women as the primary responders (ASHA etc) to health issues and to raise awareness (COVID-19) in wider communities.