- Home/
- Highlights
Highlights Of Rebuilding Lives Telethon: A Campaign To Rehabilitate Migrant Workers Affected By Coronavirus Lockdown
Around 40 million migrant daily-waged workers have been hit hard by the lockdown imposed in the wake of COVID-19. Rebuilding Lives is an action-oriented campaign by American India Foundation (AIF) in partnership with NDTV to rebuild the lives of migrant communities. The need of the hour is for immediate relief to serve urgent needs, equal attention is required towards a sustainable and resilient rebuilding of lives through a multi-pronged response, addressing health, education and livelihoods.
Here are the highlights of the #RebuildingLives Telethon:
Gary Norcross, Chairman, President & CEO, FIS
Well first, we are just really proud to be associated with the American India Foundation in NDTV's initiative regarding rebuilding lives. You know, India is such an important place for FIS. And as we look at the global pandemic of COVID-19, it's really our duty at FIS, we feel, to give back to the communities that we operate in and service our great company every day. So, we just thrilled to be a part of this great initiative and really making a difference in India.
So, as we think about people around the globe, it's finally important because at FIS, we drive the critical infrastructure of financial services. So, we are very focused on the way the world pays, banks and invests. And then for us, companies like ours is working hand in hand with local authorities being able to invest in communities and help impact this serious pandemic is very important for us.
We want to be able to get people back to work. We want to be able to get the economies back open and moving and so it's been very important for us. The focus is not only on our people internally but the communities in which we worked in, which is why today I'm very proud to be a part of this fund raising.
Around 40 million migrant daily-waged workers have been hit hard by COVID-19 induced economic distress, lockdowns, travel bans and social distancing requirements. As they reach home enduring unprecedented ordeals, they face the risk of hunger, indebtedness and prolonged unemployment.
Their families face high infection risk and their children, particularly girls, the loss of learning.
While the need of the hour is for immediate relief to serve urgent needs, equal attention is required towards a sustainable and resilient rebuilding of lives through a multi-pronged response, addressing health, education and livelihoods needs - both in the source and destination areas of migration.
This crisis has also shown us the spirit of our community. We are truly inspired by the way citizens, non-profits, corporates and the government have come together to help those in need. As first responders, American India Foundation (AIF) has served 272,000 people across 16 states of India and has now joined hands with NDTV to raise awareness and resources to complement the government’s efforts to rehabilitate migrant families.
Serve immediate and urgent needs of migrant communities, especially women and girls, with a focus on migration affected states
Emergency Relief:
- Address immediate needs of migrants through food, hygiene essentials/unconditional money transfers
Livelihoods & Income Generation:
- At least one member of a migrant household acquires a fresh skill/get upskilled and gain livelihood to increase household income
Public Health:
- Protect and train community health workers (CHW) on pandemic preparedness and using digital tools
- Support vulnerable communities in protecting themselves from Covid-19
Education:
- Bridge the educational and digital divide through techno-pedagogy and virtual learning in government schools in a Covid-safe environment
- Ensure continuity of education and remediation in community settings especially for young girls and adolescents