The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) hit the world as an unprecedented disease and was declared a pandemic by World Health Organisation (WHO). India is one of the most impacted nations and, despite best efforts of the centre and state governments in tackling the same, it needed a massive effort from all concerned.

Worldwide, COVID-19 has infected millions and put many lives at risk. It also created a drastic impact on economy, education and livelihood across the world. In these testing times, doctors, paramedics, policemen and other administration have shown tremendous bravery while fighting this virus. Even though the healthcare workers were working 24x7 to support the health concerns, it became quite difficult for hospitals to provide facilities as the number of patients was increasing rapidly. It is a moral responsibility of every citizen to give utmost support to our medical workers during these tough times.

In these testing times, Sonalika CSR stood strongly with the nation in fighting this pandemic. We identified certain locations with high frequency of pandemic hit population, and took on various aspects of supporting the medical professionals to ensure best patient care, from medical kits to complete treatment equipment and hygiene.

To curb the spread of virus, a lockdown was imposed on the world’s largest democracy, India. It resulted in a dramatic hike in hunger and hygiene concerns especially among daily wage earners, which needed urgent intervention and support. With the help of local administration and organisations, we reached out to communities in Delhi NCR, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir.

After the immediate concerns of health and hunger, other major worries emerged including education and livelihood. Workplaces and schools were shut down to stop the spread of virus. This posed as a major challenge to the marginalised communities since they lost jobs, and children did not have access to online modes of education. Sonalika CSR arranged for online training of both the age groups. Sonalika Udaan Classes were launched to ensure that children do not miss out on education during their developmental years. These classes covered students from slums of Delhi NCR.

Also, as most daily wage earners returned to their respective homelands, farming became a major source of income for them. Online training on advanced agricultural practices, access to apps, and CHCs were organised even for farmers in most remote villages of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Our team discussed the concerns with underprivileged communities, and created intervention plans in a phased, sustained manner. Initial interventions included addressing immediate concerns like health, nutrition and sanitisation with special attention towards marginalised communities. Later on, we expanded the horizon of intervention towards secondary impacts of COVID like education, livelihood, etc.

To begin with, Sonalika CSR extended support for medical arrangements in hospitals and communities with the following interventions:
1. A well-equipped Sonalika St. Stephen’s Isolation Centre with extensive medical facilities to treat patients was set up at New Delhi.
2. Support was extended to the world's largest COVID Care facility, Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre and Hospital by providing Tablets to monitor the COVID positive patients. These devices help the medical staff to work at higher efficiency.
3. A CRPF bus was transformed into a highly efficient Corona Testing Mobile Clinic which acts as a pillar for the Delhi Government to conduct quick and effective door-to-door testing. It has advanced technology and sample collection capacity of 15,000 people per month. It is also equipped with inbuilt patient stretcher for transportation of severe patients in a sterile environment.
4. To further enhance the medical infrastructure, ventilators were provided to Max Hospital and Apollo Hospital, and Bipap Machine to Medanta Hospital. These are essential for treating COVID-19 patients who need critical care.
5. Sonalika CSR reached out to the people fighting a dual challenge of food and hygiene. To address this concern, food & hygiene kits were distributed extending from urban slums of Delhi to most remote areas of Rajasthan. In addition, cooked meals were provided to migrant people who did not have the option to cook during the difficult times.
6. Sonalika CSR also conducted sanitization drives under which communities were sanitised with specially designed equipment. Sanitization kits were distributed in various parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab.

The unpredictable situation has affected various age groups mentally and physically. Hence, Sonalika switched its social programmes to virtual methods for reaching out to a wide array of beneficiaries. Sonalika Udaan Classes were launched for underprivileged children. These classes include supportive education, life-skill training, crafts, story-telling, moral lessons, and yoga practices for overall personality development of children.

Under Umdah and Unnati initiatives, women entrepreneurs were trained to make masks, which was the need of the hour. Sonalika and many other organisations working for COVID-Relief activities procured the masks made by these women. This initiative helped the women generate income during pandemic while many people had lost their jobs.

We stand strong with the nation in fighting this pandemic. The pandemic was so sudden that lack of preparedness was the major challenge faced by these institutions globally. With our additional support, health institutions got better equipped to treat the novel coronavirus and reduce community spread considerably.

Sonalika St. Stephen’s Isolation Centre is fully functional and treating patients since March 2020 when the number of COVID-19 patients suddenly spiked alarmingly. The equipment provided to hospitals and COVID-19 care centres are being used to treat patients effectively. Besides that, the immediate need to address sanitisation and hunger concerns were effectively addressed till the time lockdown was lifted and daily-wage earners could go back to their respective workplaces.

With ongoing Sonalika Udaan Classes, we could address the concerns of ‘lack of access to digital modes of education to underprivileged children’. These children are continuing their studies and co-curricular activities so that the year 2020 does not result in a gap-year for them.

Through advanced online training classes, farmers and women entrepreneurs have increased their incomes in respective fields, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Direct Beneficiary (groups)	Number of Direct Beneficiary	Indirect Beneficiary (groups)	Number of Indirect Beneficiary
COVID Patients reached out	70,000 and counting
Children(in Sonalika Udaan Classes)	100
Women entrepreneurs(in SHGs)	30	Family members of women entrepreneurs	200
Daily wage earners (through food distribution)	1,80,000

Indicator	Particulars
Sonalika St. Stephen’s Isolation Centre	200 patients at Sonalika isolation wards treated daily, 6,000 testing done per month at Mobile Clinic
Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre and Hospital	Sonalika Tractors provided Tablets to monitor the COVID positive patients. These devices help the medical staff to work at higher efficiency. Thousands of patients being monitored at Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre
Corona Testing Mobile Clinic	Sonalika Tractors has supported Delhi Government to conduct quick and effective door-to-door testing. It has advanced technology and sample collection capacity of 15,000 people per month. It is also equipped with inbuilt patient stretcher for transportation of severe patients in a sterile environment.
Medical infrastructure	Ventilators were provided to Max Hospital and Apollo Hospital, and Bipap Machine to Medanta Hospital. With our support, these medical facilities have been able to touch more than 70,000 COVID-19 patients and still counting.
Sanitization drives	Under which communities were sanitised with specially designed equipment. Sanitization kits were distributed in various parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab.
Sonalika Udaan Classes	We have been able to reach out to more than 100 children daily helping them with their syllabus and also developing a strong moral base embedded with values, rich Indian culture, history, yoga, sports and art.

Technology has become the need of the hour in the pandemic. Sonalika CSR believes in the concept “Technology Meets Sustainability”. Hence, we converted a CRPF bus into a highly equipped clinic for COVID testing. This clinic consists of Artificial Intelligence enabled thermal imaging, UV light sterilization, climate control system, contactless sampling, and other advanced technologies. Due to current population count, our government is overburdened with increasing number of COVID-19 cases and the need to increase the testing capacity. With introduction to a mobile clinic, the medical team was able to reach out to the poor in remote areas of Delhi as well.

Tablet PCs were provided in hospitals as it was the best method of reducing the use of paper. Direct data could now be entered and viewed by multiple users, videos/images of patient with critical condition could be shared easily, and contactless treatment became possible whenever required.

Online training sessions were arranged for children, farmers, women entrepreneurs, and other beneficiaries wherever possible.

Sonalika collaborated with South Delhi District Administration to identify the need of the hour, be it support with tablets for digital monitoring of patients or setting up mobile testing clinic, and promptly arranged for the same accordingly. Also, general circular No.10/2020 by Ministry of Corporate Affairs dated 23rd March 2020, states that spending CSR funds for COVID-19 related activities under item nos. (i) and (xii) shall qualify as CSR expenditure including relief activities undertaken to address poverty, health, and other allied initiatives. This has also helped drive various initiatives.

It is understood that even after COVID-19 gets over, its impact will linger for some time on the lives of people. Therefore, the interventions were planned not just to address the immediate concerns, but to empower communities to fight the difficult times which are yet to arrive.

Support to health institutions have touched thousands of lives and are still being used to treat patients of COVID-19. We hope for better days when there will be zero COVID cases, and all the equipment will be channelized for treating other curable diseases.

Sonalika Udaan Classes have the inherent concept of sustainability where the children spread their learnings with their siblings, families and peers. New topics are introduced every time to enhance their knowledge base. Gradually, we are scaling up this activity by publishing new books, under the banner of Sonalika Publications, which talk about environmental consciousness, responsibility, inclusiveness, increasing vocabulary and many fun activities. With each passing month, kids from different schools and communities, are joining this venture. We plan to expand this all across the country, including the international schools, through online Udaan Classes thereby bringing kids from all economic backgrounds to one common platform that they can use for sharing experiences and learning. This is a step in the direction of an inclusive future.

The women entrepreneurs have been empowered to earn their own livelihood without external support. They are also taking orders from different agencies and delivering masks and uniforms made by them. Also, they have started to train future batches.

Sonalika CSR looks forward to a holistic empowered nation where our children, women, farmers, daily wage earners, everyone gets to live a pandemic-free life filled with dignity. We have extended our support to convert challenges into opportunities. Our interventions are planned with the perspective to empower our beneficiaries who can, in turn, help others to get uplifted and create a ripple effect of bringing about change.