Ceps ready to spring into action and offer humanitarian aid to vulnerable groups |28 March 2020
The Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles is ready to afford its support and join concerned organisations in their efforts to combat and pick up the pieces of the COVID-19 pandemic in Seychelles, it was said yesterday afternoon in a press conference.
Represented by chief executive Michel Pierre and chairperson Jude Fred, the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps) which regroups civil society organisations, is prepared to mobilise volunteers to offer humanitarian aid to vulnerable groups of persons in society, namely elderly citizens not in care homes who for instance live alone, children not necessarily in orphanages but who are not well-cared for, addicts and sex workers, when need-be as per the National Emergency Plan.
“On behalf of the board of Ceps, as civil society we are concerned with the situation in the country as everybody else is. Since the first cases in Seychelles were confirmed, we as the platform for civil society started discussing among the board members the support that we can offer as civil society towards the community and our country.
“We equally share the concerns of the authorities with regards to the public health emergency at hand and the health of our citizens and we want, today, to assure our support as a platform to work with the concerned agencies to bring our support in a coordinated way, when our support is needed,” Mr Fred started off.
Mr Fred explained that even as civil society organisations, there are structures in place that need to be adhered to, so as to ensure that efforts are coordinated and therefore, effective. As such, Ceps, in partnership with the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and government, have over the last couple of weeks drawn up a framework, the provisions of which will be made public at a press conference to be held on Monday, where all three partners will be represented.
According to Ceps, around 200 volunteers with different thematic skills have stepped up and are ready and willing to march forth upon command. Of them, 40 are trained to offer psycho-social help, including counselling, a service which can help ease the pressure off the department of health’s dedicated COVID-19 hotline, 141.
Both Mr Fred and Mr Pierre further launched an appeal for the public to be cooperative and follow the advisories and social distancing guidelines enforced by public health officials and other authorities and to take responsibility for their personal health.
“We are concerned that the protocols in place are not being observed by the public and I suppose this is a concern for public health as well. I am concerned as a Seychellois. We are urging people to observe the protocols. I will say it is also important for us to get information, but we need to be mindful of spreading panic on social media and such,” Mr Fred urged.
CEO Pierre echoed similar sentiments, encouraging people to be responsible and practice social distancing.
“Perhaps, one appeal I will make to employers, if it is not necessary that people come to work at the office and can work from home, encourage this so we can minimise contact between persons,” Mr Pierre said.
They also launched an appeal for other partners to come on board to help with logistics and such, to complement the human resource it is offering.
Mr Pierre also expressed support for government initiative to guarantee the salaries of even the private sector for a period.
Laura Pillay