The COVID-19 or Coronavirus crisis has made a tremendous cross-sectoral impact across most of the countries around the world. The entire social, economic and cultural structure is gradually transforming into an unexpected reality. Poor communities have become more vulnerable to the basic issues of livelihood, hunger, housing and shelter.
International and local donor agencies, corporates and governments have announced several new multi-million grant programs across different countries to address not just the health problems but also the overall facets of life that have been affected to COVID-19. You can view a complete list of latest grants and resources to address COVID-19 here.
Like for many others, the current crisis is also a challenging situation for NGOs. Just like businesses, NGOs have been affected by the lockdowns, movement of restriction, difficulties in accessing necessary resources and the fear and panic of the declining donor funding. You can learn how to manage your NGOs in such a crisis here.
More and More Donor Funding now available like never before!
Although the above facts are correct, we have also noticed that donors around the world have committed extraordinary funding support to address COVID-19 and its socio-economic and cultural aspects. Never before in history, these donors have come together to offer such a rapid financing mechanism and commitment to give funding abundantly.
It is an opportunity for NGOs!
NGOs will now get an opportunity to play an even more influential role in not just combating the disease but also addressing the issues arising out of it. For example, when the poor people end up suffering the most from the impact of COVID-19, it is for the NGOs to help them access essential resources, fight hunger and rebuild their livelihoods. Donors and governments across the world are actively engaging the civil society to provide emergency responses to communities and also prepare them to tackle the after-effects of this crisis.
Project Introduction
You can give a brief introduction to the concept note, including providing the project title that expresses the idea and impact of your project. For example, “Building Awareness to fight the COVID-19 Pandemic“. Most NGOs will not be involved in clinically addressing the Coronavirus problem, but raising awareness, carrying out advocacy, reducing panicking and improving the education-levels of communities can be a critical component for NGOs, and a similar proposal can be developed.
Project Background
A reference to the latest news in the media about COVID-19 will give you enough information about how to come out with a proper project background. Since this is a worldwide phenomenon, everyone from donors to governments can relate to this problem and quickly understand the situation. Since this project seeks to provide awareness and information to communities, the project background needs to reflect upon that.
Project Goal and Objectives
Make sure that your goal and objectives are related to the problem you mentioned about under the project background and to the activities you wish to implement. For example, in light of the above project background, you can outline your goal and objectives as:
Goal
The ultimate goal of this project is to reduce morbidity and mortality due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and to interrupt its transmission of this virus.
Objectives
Increase community awareness on the prevention and spread of the COVID-19 diseases
- Reduce panicking and disinformation caused by the spread of the COVID-19 disease
- Ensuring the supply of basic resources such as food and shelter to the poorest and the needy