In response to the national preventive measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, the Syrian Society for Social Development (the team responsible for Mosaic Community Center) conducted disinfection campaign in Al Ashrafiyye neighborhood.

The disinfection works covered 3500 m2 targeting the most crowded public facilities around the neighborhood, including the five bakery ovens (Kaakeh, Khindesh, Al-Zura, Al Sharq, and Al-Dar’uzi), Ashrafiyye Polyclinic, Syrian Trade Corporation Hall, Mukhtar office, and the grocery market. The disinfection works were conducted in cooperation with Al Mukhtar, members of Al Ashrafiyye neighborhood committee, and Syriac Service Sector which provided water cisterns to wash off the streets.

The team used sprinklers containing disinfectants and made sure to disinfect door knobs and metal bars. The team also pasted awareness raising posters about preventive measures against COVID-19 throughout the neighborhood.

The inhabitants of the neighborhood and shop owners were enthusiastic and participated in the works of the campaign, they washed off the streets and pavements, and disinfected their shops and building entrances. The inhabitants of Al Ashrafiyye expressed their gratitude for this campaign as it protects their families and children against infection risks and they praised its positive impact in instilling hope and assurance and spreading awareness.

The Syrian Society for Social Development conducted a disinfection campaign in Syriac Old Neighborhood, Aleppo City as part of its response to the national preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19. The team responsible for Mosaic Community Center conducted the campaign targeting around 6000 beneficiaries and covering the main market, commercial and service buildings, and disorganized residential complexes.

Some local authorities participated in the campaign works: Al Mukhtar, Syriac Old Neighborhood Committee, Syrian General Establishment for Grain, the General Company for Mills (GCM) which provided several disinfectant sprinklers.

The disinfection works covered the most crowded public places around the neighborhood: Syriac Bakery Oven, Syriac Polyclinic, Syrian Trade Corporation Hall, Directorate of Supply and Internal Trading, the Syrian Public Establishment for Grain (SPEG), GCM, and Al Mukhtar office. The disinfection works focused on the most touched/used surfaces, such as, door knobs, elevator control panel and buttons, and metal bars. The team distributed gloves to the cleaning workers and pasted awareness raising posters about COVID-19 around the neighborhood.

The Head of the First Education Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party and the Head of the IT Department of SPEG supported and attended the campaign.

The team responded to the inquiries of the inhabitants and shop owners around the neighborhood pertaining the disinfectants they could use and the correct ways of disinfecting their homes and shops.

The inhabitants Syriac Old Neighborhood expressed their gratitude for this campaign as it protects their families and children against infection risks and they praised its positive impact in instilling hope and assurance and spreading awareness.

As part of the national preventive measures against COVID-19 and out of the importance of protecting people with special needs and the staff offering them support, the Syrian Society for Social Development (SSSD) conducted disinfection works for the center attached to Yadanbiyad NGO for People with Special Needs in Aleppo City.

The disinfection works covered the playing rooms, the facilities, the backyards, the warehouses, the workshop rooms, the offices, and the transportation means attached to the center.

The management of Yadanbiyad NGO expressed their gratitude for SSSD’s initiative and shed light on importance of repeating disinfection works on regular basis.

The Syrian Society for Social Development conducted disinfection campaigns for two NGOs, the Female Juvenile Protection Association and the Beggars and Homeless Care Association. The teams responsible for Mosaic Community Center (Achrafieh) and Aman Center (Zibdiyye) led the campaign targeting around 40 residents.

The team disinfected all the departments and rooms of the two NGOs, pasted posters, distributed awareness raising brochures and hygiene baskets containing different types of disinfectants.

The team conducted individual awareness raising sessions about preventive measures, how the virus spreads, and the correct way of washing hands.

The beneficiaries expressed their gratitude for the campaign:
“We are appreciative of your efforts, you made us feel safe. We hope this pandemic will end soon.”
“I will always wash and disinfect my hands. This will protect my health and my family’s.”

Drawing on the saying, prevention is better than cure, and in response to the national preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19, the Syrian Society for Social Development conducted a disinfection and awareness raising campaign for two days in Bab Al-Hadid, Aleppo.

The Gender-Based Violence team attached to Arabesque Community Center led the campaign in cooperation with Al Mukhtar and a committee formed by the inhabitants, disinfecting places of social gatherings, including Qadi Askar Neighborhood, Al Zura Bakery Oven, Al Mukhtar office and adjacent commercial shops, Aghur and Bayyadah blocks, Almaji Neighborhood, and the Syrian Trade Corporation Hall in Jeb Quba.

Further, some women attached to SSSD’s women committees reached out to 27 individuals distributing soaps and awareness raising brochures about prevention and protection measures against COVID-19.

Here are some comments made by the inhabitants:
• “We really appreciate your concern about our safety and protection. We feel more responsible, after the disinfection works you conducted.”
• “I used to hear that COVID-19 is a pandemic; however, I did not know the ramifications of social gatherings. We should all spread awareness to protect the largest possible number of people.”
• “Even though this force majeure had its toll on every one, it did not stop you from being kind. The soap you distributed came right on time to protect us against this deadly virus.”

In response to curbing the outbreak of COVID-19, and with the aim to protect everyone and ensure their safety, the team of the Syrian Society for Social Development at the Echo of Joy Community Center implemented an initiative to distribute posters, awareness brochures, masks, and medical gloves in cooperation with the municipality.

The initiative targeted gathering areas, such as public ovens, bread distributors, food and vegetables stores, pharmacies, the municipality and schools.

In addition, posters were put in the aforementioned places, and awareness brochures were distributed in order to communicate the prevention methods that would help in limiting the spread of COVID-19. Furthermore, face masks and medical gloves were distributed to the bread distributors in order to promote good practices while distributing bread.

In the end, the residents expressed the need to raise awareness and adhere to preventive measures in light of the current situation.

With the aim to maintain everyone’s safety and protection, and in line with the precautionary and preventive measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, the Syrian Society for Social Development team, in cooperation with the municipal council in Shabaa, implemented an initiative that targeted the area’s residents within the CLI programme at the Echo of Joy WGSS in Shabaa, Rural Damascus.

During the initiative, the team worked, under the direction of the municipality, to distribute purification tablets in the residents’ tanks in order to purify the water used daily for washing and cleaning.

Furthermore, they assisted in sterilization campaigns of the main and subsidiary streets, gathering areas and public facilities.
The residents expressed their gratitude, and explained the importance of this step in limiting the spread of the disease. They also stressed the importance of repeating such initiatives during the coming period.

In addition, one of the women expressed how she felt reassured that once the purification tablets were put, and said:” Now, I am relieved! I am reassured to have clean water which wouldn’t infect my children whenever they wash or use it.”

In order to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, Syrian Society for Social Development team in Hama participated in sterilizing the offices of the Examinations Department and the Directorate of Education in Hama Governorate. In addition to distributing means of prevention and personal protection (gloves and masks) to the employees in these places.

Along with the precautionary measures to tackle Coronavirus, a team from the Syrian Society for Social Development in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR, under the direction of the Directorate of Social Affairs and Labor in Idlib, carried out a sterilization campaign in the municipality of Sinjar that included (Sinjar bread oven, Civil Registry, Sinjar Municipality Building).

In continuation of the precautionary measures to address Coronavirus, the Syrian Society for Social Development team directed by the Directorate of Social Affairs and Labor in Hama, conducted cleaning, deport debris and equip the rooms with furniture for three days at the Institute of Special Education for the Hearing Impaired in the suburb of Al-Shahid Basil al-Assad, which was decided to be adopted as an isolation center for suspected cases of Coronavirus.