2020 will go down in history as the year that the Coronavirus pandemic forced the world to a standstill. During this turbulent year, the GSRD Foundation set up an emergency fund for immediate relief to finance hygiene kits, face masks, food and awareness campaigns.

The Coronavirus pandemic had a major impact on our partners and projects. As they adjusted to a new reality, we observed three things happening:

– The change in acute demand for help of our beneficiaries. Health and safety was the primary concern. There was a need for food, health care, safety.

–  Delays in project implementation due to lockdowns (e.g. government approval procedures and project implementations were delayed alongside live meetings being postponed).

– Project budgets generally remained the same. However, there was a shift within the budget for example; organizational costs continued but digital sessions are often cheaper with travel and accommodation costs eliminated. Later in the year, we saw that programs were changed, as partners realized the virus would last longer than initially expected.

All project descriptions can be found under the project section of this website.