In the COVID 19 crisis, to abet the outbreak, CYSD launches “CITIZEN’S SUPPORT CENTRE, for citizens to avail assistance. This is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR)-based helpline by the leading civil society organisation, CYSD, to help people by addressing frequent queries regarding Covid-19 while maintaining social distance. The virtual call-centre is available in multiple languages and can be reached by the users by dialling to the toll-free number 888 0 592 592 seven days a week between 10am to 5pm. The system is operated, and is being promoted in association with organisations called Healthbot, Aaina and Human Context and managed by a team of backend support professionals including doctors and expert counsellors.

As part of the Corona Virus Task force, CYSD has enrolled digitally empowered rural women called Internet Saathis to put a gender lens on the response to COVID 19. The help line phone number of the Citizens support Centre is publicised by the entire Internet Saathi network and is being facilitated by them at the ground level. The women Internet Saathis are the drivers of this help line initiatives. The 2286  women enrolled as Internet Saathi network includes 6900+ women groups reaching out to 274800+ community members with COVID 19 related valid information in 8000+ villages of the state of Odisha. These women have been actively taking part and responding to the COVID 19 pandemic preparedness, response and recovery. We know that the disease affects women and men differently and hence CYSD has ramped up its efforts to address the unique needs of girls and women by engaging a women task force.

The Internet Saathis has played a vital role in meeting shortfalls in masks, sanitizers and protective equipment, running free kitchens at the same time curbing social-media misinformation and providing evidence based credible information among the rural and slum communities of the state. At this pivotal time of an unprecedented 40-day lockdown, as the crisis intensifies around the world, to defeat the coronavirus, the collective strength of Internet Saathis has come to the fore front. Internet Saathis are working as front line health workers and collaborating with our networks and are producing facemasks, running community kitchens, delivering essential food supplies, sensitizing people about health and hygiene and sharing essential, verified and appropriate information through the social media.

While there is a huge in-flow of fake, unverified social media messages threatening human mind, an information source such as the Citizen Support Centre is becoming very useful in helping individuals get an emergency response to common queries on coronavirus, know about the Government entitlements, advisories as well as easy access to it. The centre also provides psychological counselling support and essentially the virtual health care support through the expert doctors. This initiative has become important particularly at a time when the number of individuals infected with the novel coronavirus strain is on the rise in India, giving a potentially high risk of individuals spreading misinformation on the outbreak, or forwarding misleading remedies and knowhow that may, in the long run, cause more harm than good. In the meantime, this has become a means of getting localised information for the people who have been waiting in different states to come back to Odisha after the lock-down period is over. The centre has played a vital role in serving more than thousands of people including migrant workers, rural ultra-poor, people outside the state and health-seekers.

The state will witness a surge of migrant labourers in few days where huge numbers of suddenly out-of-work families will start coming back to their villages- this shows how critical it is for authentic information to filter down to the grassroots. At this critical moment the women Internet Saathis, who are trained and equipped with digital devices have become the means for information sharing among hard-to-reach populations. These women leaders are using their vast WhatsApp network group to ward off chaos and confusion, providing critical support to the community in this hour of need. They have been crucial in spreading awareness on hand washing and social distancing and health literacy campaign among the rural and slum community. They use their devices and internet to gather information and share the same. At the same time, they have also become the hub for information on Government declared entitlements, advisories and helpline units.

CYSD’s Citizen Support Centre with its task force of women Internet Saathis is contributing to evidence based communication and advocacy tools and providing front line health services and humanitarian relief. It is worth mentioning that this is the Cyclone and heat wave season of Odisha. Therefore, CYSD is making real time efforts to address the dual challenges of disaster preparedness and the pandemic impacts and responses simultaneously, including nationwide lockdown to enable social distancing to bring down the spread of the disease.

As of now, the Centre has received 845 calls and responded to the clients successfully. Out of the total calls received; 378 were related to basic information about Covid–19, 370 calls were on access to entitlements, 64 calls on virtual care, and 33 pertaining to psycho -social counselling. Further, out of total calls received, 736 calls were from women and 109 from men.