DMWC Community – Based COVID 19 Protection Project, 2020 Supported by Slovak Embassy

Supported by the Slovak Embassy with a grant of 10.000 EU

The main objective of the project was to provide disadvantaged communities on the broad area of the Capital of Skopje with protective masks as one of the main tools for combating COVID 19 disease among community members. The Project had an impact to  achieve additional objectives such as:

• Rising awareness of the local community to respect the government social distance measures  and health protection as community based protective masks distribution can contribute to positive behavior change among broaden population in terms of the paradigm  “protecting yourself you protect your entire community “

• Support the local fabric and distribution companies to  align their production and marketing strategies  with current market requirements and bridging  the solvency  gap during the economic restrictive measures – Using the market deficiency of protective masks the engaged companies will reframe  their production and  marketing policies in line with new market requirement  due to corona pandemic

• Making COVID 19 protective measures more accessible to low-income families – due to high prices of protective masks available in urban markets low-income families cannot practice this protective recommendation during their free moving in crowded places ( public transport, markets, lines for bank and health services  ) This Project will bridge the poverty gaps in relying on the governmental recommendation for COVID 19 protection.

Public health measures such as hand hygiene, using protective masks, and environmental cleaning are the cornerstone public measures to protect individuals when COVID-19 is circulating in the community. The application of these principles will help prevent and control the transmission of any respiratory infectious disease, including COVID-19.

Approximately 10.000 citizens had benefited from the project activities as well as local fabric and distribution companies will align their production with new market requirements in order to bridge the market disadvantage environment and help them to protect their workforce  ( social and economic benefit). Additional local communities and their authorities   will contribute to the health and social protection of low-income families

This project served on a small scale as lessons learned exercise for reframing the economic production and improving public health behavior among the disadvantaged social cohort of the population

Municipality Karpos

Municipality Kisela Voda

Municipality Petrovec

Municiplaity Centar