SOCIETY

The Covid 19 pandemic created a new reality for everyone through a rapidly developing procedure , which consisted of another pressing sector for the local societies .The conditions that were created , apart from health, made society, and especially local administration , be in an emergency condition.In a short period of time social services were forced to create a protection net for all citizens , to plan and implement projects of immediate response to a variety of broad and multi dimensional basic needs of citizens with the minimum financial and material means , especially at the beginning of the pandemic. The lack of personnel because of the special purpose leaves along with the absence of employees that belong to vulnerable groups weakened at a great extend Municipal Services and organizations while the remaining staff faced the challenge to cover the immediate and urgent social services demands.

Baring in mind the above ,the City of Agii Anargiri Kamatero formed a crisis management group that has undertaken that task. The key priority is to immediately cover the residents’ needs, utilizing every available resource. Especially, the City conforms with the standards and the philoshophy of W.H.O.’s Healthy Cities which assure that utilizing participation , as a SDG pillar , a city secures the participation of the community in the decisions that affect where and how people live and how common goods and their services are provided. When the pandemic Covid -19 started, alongside with the above mentioned principle, our Social Policy Directory had created 4 strategic pillars of action:

1. Planning of new food programs and interventions of primary and secondary protection aiming at the reduction of special groups’ vulnerability and the reinforcement of food provision to those in need.

2.Utilizing the existing specialised personnel of the Home – aid Service and develop them aiming at providing personalized services to the general population of the City.

3Activation of City volunteer networks as well as the development of cross-sectoral cooperation of the Municipal Directorates, with the active participation of citizens and employees.

4. Creation of educational tools for health with wide access: through the use of supervisory material and working groups, citizens are informed about the basic principles of prevention related to physical, social and mental health.

Specifically, in the first axis of action, food programs were carried out through European Funds , Social Grocery, Food Bank and sponsors covering the needs of over 1500 households. These programs often included house-to-house distributions. During March and April, the distributions served more than 500 families on a daily basis. At the same time, prevention and health education actions were organized, such as emergency blood donations, group preventive examinations, as well as updates through the Health Citizens’ Center .

In the second axis of action, the Social Policy Directorate , through the Home Aid Service, responded to the increased needs of the population and, in particular, during the quarantine, home visits were made, mainly concerning the purchase of basic goods, nursing actions, prescriptions and purchase of medicines, distribution of documents and many other services. From the beginning of the pandemic, more than 1.200 nursing actions , home id assistance and social work took place.

In the third axis, the Social Service mobilized an extensive network of volunteers that operated directly and in combination with the municipal services. City Councilors , Volunteers, the Church, the Primary Schools, the Associations of Parents’ and Guardians’ of the Primary Schools and the Open Care Centers participated creatively in this network. Groups of volunteers contributed significantly in helping citizens with their daily needs (such as escorting them for their shopping etc.). The maximum benefit was the volunteers’ contribution to the distribution of 750 portions of food to vulnerable groups of population during Easter holidays on a daily basis lasting 2 months. Especially, the Social Grocery was the starting point for the organization of this project. Then, due to the increase of needs, other decentralized points were defined throughout the city – like churches, schools, Open Care Centers for the Elderly - as individual distribution points for meals, where with the assistance of employees and volunteers, within a minimum period of time (2- 3 hours) the food was distributed through door to door visits or with the physical presence of the beneficiaries in these places. As a result, this action was implemented with the least possible human and material costs, while it was also a substantial one for the citizens.

In the fourth axis, the Social Service, guided by thethe citizens’ improvement of health and quality of life , through literacy created a series of tools for the education of the citizens in the new reality. An informed citizen who knows about his health can protect and prevent the consequences of the pandemic both individually and collectively. To achieve this goal, an interdisciplinary team was set up, consisting of Psychologists, Sociologists, Social Workers, Health Visitors and Nurses and has as its main role the counseling support in psychosocial issues and health promotion issues for adult citizens.

Added value

Through the above actions, the maximum results are achieved, evolving the processes through an holistic approach to the problems for the benefit of the citizens, because the interventions connect the political will, with the economic dimension and society. In addition, participation, through cross-sectoral cooperation at multiple levels, ensures a sense of "belonging" to an indivisible body with a common purpose, while creating and developing a sense of identity, supply and solidarity between both employees and citizens. Finally, cooperation with local communities is a dominant component of cohesion and democracy, because it ensures the access of residents to the administration through free speech, to shape the strategy of decisions that affect themselves, creating a resilient and inclusive city for all.

You can see the action’s video on :

https://youtu.be/0Y9NHBjx-As