Empowering the plumber community in India with safety and plumber kits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

All India

In collaboration with

World Vision

October 2020 – February 2021

We help plumbers across India who have lost their jobs and livelihoods due to the pandemic. We carry out an awareness campaign and distribute aid kits, protective equipment and information on preventing coronavirus infections at work.

Objectives

  • To provide Plumbers with a relief kit comprising of essentials to sustain their livelihood.
  • To provide adequate protective gear to help plumbers gain confidence for new business requests with customers.
  • To increase awareness on COVID-19 infection prevention norms essential for the plumbing profession.

Beneficiaries

3,600 direct

7.000 indirect
500 children under 15 and 2,500 women.
The plumbers’ family members depend on their earnings to meet the family expenses. This includes the spouse, children and parents/parents-in-law.

Project image

On the ground

The COVID-19 pandemic left millions of workers without jobs and expectations for the future. Plumbers, electricians and day labourers from the informal and unorganized sectors need more knowledge and resources to tackle new projects.

The spread of COVID-19 to India brought a massive nation-wide lockdown in prevent the spread of the virus. This caused various industries including the construction sector to shut down. Millions in the informal and unorganized work sector such as plumbers, electricians and daily casual laborers have lost their means to livelihood.

A qualitative study conducted by World Vision India with plumbers across the country shows that plumbers do not have any means of livelihood due to COVID-19. They have no new projects and existing projects / jobs are on hold thereby reducing their income since March 2020. This project seeks to address the plight of plumbers in India with a livelihood revival kit to help plumbers quickly adapt to the new hygiene norms applicable to their line of work and thereby help sustain their livelihood.

Key issues faced by plumbers:

  • Slowdown in construction projects due to spread COVID-19 leading to loss of work.
  • Reduced servicing requests from customers for day to day household plumbing requirements due to social distancing precautions in urban localities./li>
  • Low awareness and training on adapting to new business hygiene norms as a result of COVID-19.
  • Inadequate protective gear to take up servicing jobs at the household and commercial spaces.
  • Risk of COVID-19 infection due to possible exposure at household sanitation service jobs and infection from co-workers in construction projects.
  • Lack of income for more than three months to sustain their families.
  • Lack of income to purchase materials, tools to enhance their livelihood.
programa de soporte fontaneros covid-19 evento

In detail

Awareness drive will be done through cost effective means such as WhatsApp and mobile Short Messaging Service (SMS) which are most commonly used among the masses.

Care will be taken to ensure distribution of relief kits are at neutral and common locations accessible to the beneficiaries selected under the project.

Partnership with agencies, such as the Plumber Skill Association and India Plumbers Association, will be carried out to identify the beneficiary plumbers and prior communication.

Verification of beneficiaries at the time of distribution with Government Issued Identity Cards.

Global standards such as SPHERE standards for Emergency relief distributions will be followed in all distributions.

COVID-19 Safety norms such as social distancing, use of sanitizers at distribution locations will be followed.

Perspectives of sustainability

Being an emergency relief program, care is taken to ensure that the relief products are fit for long term and repeated use. Reusable masks and face shields are given to for longer benefit to the beneficiaries. Tools given will help in the livelihood of the beneficiary in the long run.

mascarilla programa soporte covid-19 fontaneros