SOUL for Development

When WHO declares the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and as aid organization, we knew that we need to focus and invest all efforts on slowing the spread of corona virus and mitigating its impact, especially that we know Yemen is not equipped to handle a full-scale outbreak.

 We decided to focus on awareness raising and making sure people know which measures are needed to limit the spread of the virus. When first case of Covid-19 was reported by authorities in Yemen it was agreed to establish SOUL’s call center for awareness as an emergency intervention to ensure appropriate risk communication and community engagement. This experience made us learn about the benefit technology can bring about under limited resources.

Optimistically the Elevate Prize will help to the following:

• Enhance the Call Center Operating and Monitoring Software, Data Collecting tools, Database and Team Capacity.
• Cover financial needs to expand our services to include Awareness-Raising / Educational initiatives toward the prevention of Vector-borne diseases (ex. Malaria, Dengue Fever, etc.) in coordination with the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) / MoPHP.
• Continue to follow up with SAM case registered at the outpatient therapeutic program (OTO\P) and MoPHP.
• Continue to perform psychological support service. 

Being a female G.P dentist working at an NGO has offered me an alternative view to the world of public health different to that I practiced during my clinic working days, and has given me a greater understanding of the public health’s wide field of work and specialties. It has been an exceptional opportunity for me to attain understanding of global commendable practices and networking for national advocacy towards policy-making / policy-changing for a better Public Health System in my country. My goal is to build a strong foundation of evidence-based knowledge and skills for the Public Health career that I am committed to devote to helping millions of Yemenis enduring all sorts of Health Problems that can easily be avoided by adequate Health Education and by Health Preventive Measure; e.g. Vaccination, Health Promotion, adequate Nutrition, etc.

Working in a nonprofit organization, that had limited amount of resources and funds compared to the scale of people’s need due to the current crisis, has forced me along with my team to come up with very innovative & unconventional solutions in order to create the biggest impact with the least cost. 

As a result of different rival political power centers and shattered health care system with no ability to detect and trace suspected cases; coronavirus is spreading across the country untraced. It was noticed that people, especially IDPS, are fearful of being stigmatized by their host communities if they showed flu-like or covid-19 symptoms. As a result, many Yemenis are not seeking medical care until their condition is serious. In Northern part of Yemen, people who were infected with COVID-19 were placed in a forced quarantine, which caused a lot of mistrust since there was no information on where people were being taken to. Despite the eruption of second wave there was no formal lockdown in place. 

 Given the fact that most of Yemenis are deprived from the humblest and basic means to protect themselves from COVID-19; SOUL for Development’s priority is to ensure that people had access to life-saving information around COVID-19, and create channels to ensure timely and credible information is made available to the public, including vulnerable populations, especially IDPs who are living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, where can’t self-isolate, or follow social-distancing rules. 

“Leave questions, get answers”

By establishing SOUL’s Call center for awareness, our team is actively trying to create solutions & solve the problems that our community is facing in many aspects, using traditional knowledge and tech-related initiatives and solutions to drive social impact. The call center has 12 lines that are opened 9 hours a day, 5 days a week and received on average 120 calls per day. The team included 5 doctors, 5 psychologists, 9 volunteers.

A rumor circulated saying that patients who were sent in isolation centers would systematically die which caused people to be afraid of declaring symptoms or seeking professional healthcare. Through the call center, we are able to communicate and provide a safe place for people in “hard to reach” communities to ask. As a result, the call center staff had to spend a lot of time reinsuring people about the actual risks they were facing.

Services provided by the call center had Special focus on Elderly People, children and people with chronic health condition, IDPs, communities at hard to reach areas:

• Latest information and advice on COVID-19 and Understand people’s risk perceptions and concerns;
• Provide health & psychological consultation
• Provide information for Referral services 

• Knowledge & Capacity in both Development and Emergency & Humanitarian Assistance:
• Nationwide Presence & Accessibility.
• Supporter of CSOs: Leading NGO in the Yemeni Civil Society Sector, SOUL has ‘sister CSOs’ in almost all Yemeni Governorates. These are either:

• SOUL emerged in 1997 as a pure development-oriented CSO; as of 2011 it intensively engaged and is recognized as a top competent Implementing Partner for Emergency and Humanitarian Assistance interventions. As such, SOUL would recurrently and reflexively integrate ‘development components/factors’ to its non-development interventions and promote these to the community, businessmen, other donors, etc.
• Nationwide Experience & Connections: SOUL provided a variety of services to almost ALL southern & northern Yemeni Governorates (22 Gov.).
• Community Support: SOUL is committed to its ‘Community First’ approach; the targeted communities are SOUL’s top associates and allies. The Project Teams, Volunteers, Supervisors etc., are selected in open competitions from within these communities.

• CSOs that received Institutional Training from SOUL.
• NGOs that are recruited by SOUL as ‘Co-IPs’ for projects / programs implemented in their regions;
• SOUL also established and trained Volunteer Development Committees (VDCs) to function as SOUL’sco-implementers.
• Grass-Root Organizations, which consider SOUL as a ‘reference’ and ‘one-stop-shop’ for acquiring knowledge and support.