The Swift Adaptation to Covid-19 by Girl Move Academy in Mozambique (Part 2, Covid-19 Response Series)

information on COVID-19 infection prevention. Girl MOVE delivered informative group sessions about COVID-19 prevention and distributed a hygiene kit to all the Mwarusis, using vans to ensure everyone’s protection. We quickly understood that visiting the communities on the ground not only made it easier to share important information, but also presented another advantage: it send the girls a message that we would be there for them no matter what, giving them strength and raising their morale.

However, along with the health prevention measures soon came the social and economic concerns. Would the adolescent girls be safe at home during lockdown? Would they have access to support if needed? Would they lose interest in school activities? Would lockdown measures take a toll on the mental health of girls away from their friends and peers?

1st Response: Exploring Digital Platforms to Build Social Capital and Stay in Touch
Action: To stay in touch with our girls and young women from a distance and accompany them in a context of greater fragility, Girl MOVE migrated its programs to the digital space. Digital platforms such as Zoom substituted face-to-face meetings and workshops and running program activities using social networks became the new normal. But soon another challenge emerged: even though most young women had internet access, that was not the case for the ca. 1300 adolescent girls. An effective solution was needed fast to ensure mentors would easily reach out to their mentees. The solution came in the form of phone communication and mentoring sessions quickly began to take place through regular phone calls and text messages.

Concretely, since the lockdown started, the Mwarusis are contacted twice by their mentors: the first contact is done via a text message with a challenge, followed by a phone call a few days later to find out how they are and talk about that challenge. In addition, during the first 3 months of the pandemic, the mentors went to the
field on a weekly basis to continue to connect with the girls, stimulate learning and reinforce safety measures (such as wearing masks and practicing physical distance).

Result: In the beginning of the confinement imposed by the Government, Girl MOVE was only able to reach by telephone 69% of the total of 1271 adolescent girls supported. However, since then, this number has been increasing and we are now able to maintain contact with more than 80% of the adolescent girls each week. Of
these, only 6% own a mobile phone, forcing them to rely on someone else’s cellphone in their households to be contacted (usually a family member or a neighbor). Unexpectedly, this “opened” the door for Girl MOVE to enter their homes, since parents, siblings or caretakers had to make themselves and their cellphones available, enabling them to be part of this solution and allowing the relationship to keep flourishing.

2nd Response: Literacy and Change-making Attitude Using Gamification
As the weeks went by, at Girl MOVE we did not decrease our efforts and took every challenge coming our way as an opportunity to innovate. The innovative ideas were brought up by the young women (the mentors) themselves. They were the first ones to come forward to discuss ideas and create effective solutions on how to respond to the challenges ahead.