COVID-19; How We are Preparing and Preventing
The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and implementing appropriate measures in line with Government guidelines to help keep staff and the communities we serve safe during this difficult period.
The well-being of our conservancy members, staff, donors and partners is our priority during this time. However, we are also aware that NRT delivers essential and priority services which our conservancy members rely on, and that we have commitments to our communities, wildlife and funding partners.
It is predicted that the short-term expected impacts of COVID-19 on northern Kenya could include:
Immediate drop in tourism revenues – these revenues fund conservancy operations and employ numerous community members. The loss of this revenue will compromise conservancy operations, lead to job losses and put the security of people and wildlife at risk. This is already happening.
Increased insecurity and conflict – as government authorities have lower capacity and businesses and households face increased economic stress.
Drop in household income – both from job losses, and enterprise initiatives.
Furthermore, a lack of access to water and other sanitization resources for many communities means many people will not be able to implement the recommended hygiene preventative measures. Many will also struggle to access medical support if they do contract the virus.
With these serious impacts in mind, we have put measures in place to help prevent the spread of coronavirus while continuing to support community conservancies in their critical work to transform lives, build peace, and secure natural resources.
Supporting Communities
Following a programme review by NRT senior management and heads of department, all NRT operations and programmes will continue, although there will be both organisation-wide adjustments made across NRT and department-specific adjustments, as a precautionary measure to reduce risk of exposure to COVID-19.
There will be a greater degree of programme implementation by conservancy staff, supported remotely by NRT. Peace ambassadors, conservancy managers and scouts will be critical in this, particularly in areas of peace and security.
In line with the advice from the Kenyan Government, NRT has suspended all large community meetings and gatherings. Where applicable, conservancies are being advised to group staff into village groups to reduce exposure to other village populations.
Digital tools such as WhatsApp are proving vital in keeping communication lines open, particularly with peace ambassadors, conservancy managers and scouts — all of whom are taking the lead in creating awareness amongst communities on the necessary steps people can take to protect themselves from COVID-19 and help stop the spread.
NRT are developing simple guidelines to disseminate to conservancy management teams about preventing and dealing with a coronavirus outbreak in conservancies.
Protecting our Staff
Hand sanitisers have been installed at NRT HQ and in all NRT vehicles. Our staff vehicles are also only carrying half the capacity to ensure social distancing can be adhered to.
All staff have been given information on how to help protect themselves and others during the coronavirus outbreak, and we have put in place a clear line of communication to provide regular and verified updates to the whole team. This has helped avoid misinformation and the unnecessary panic it creates.
Internal and external meetings have been cut down as well, with staff asked to use digital meeting tools as much as possible and only conduct in-person meetings when absolutely necessary. While conducting the latter, staff are required to keep social distance during meetings and the number of participants to a minimum.
Clear work plans are being put in place for remote working to allow staff to work form home more.
To allow staff to adhere to the Government-enforced national curfew (5.00pm –7.00am) the office will close early.
KEEPING CLEAN | Extra hygiene measures are being put in place where they can
Our founding spirit of togetherness has been instrumental in ensuring the effectiveness of the measures put in place. It has seen members of our team go beyond the call of duty to protect each other so as to continue being of value to the communities we serve.
We remain committed to playing our bit to helping the global community get back on its feet and focused on our mission to help community conservancies keep transforming lives while safeguarding our natural resources.
You can get the latest information about NRT’s work amidst the struggles and NRT’s response to COVID-19 by following @NRT-Kenya on Twitter.