[AstroNet] Funding available: COVID-19 projects

[Kevin Govender]

Dear colleagues

This is a personal appeal for you to apply your minds and come up with
ideas to address the current challenges being faced by so many in our
families and communities because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Times are tough for so many people! Some have lost jobs or income. Some
have lost loved ones and breadwinners. So many people don't know how to
manage their kids' education while schools are closed.  There are more and
more people finding themselves not knowing where their next meal will come
from. It is a stressful time for many, and although the lockdown has
clearly helped to slow down the spread of the virus, it has also had some
serious negative effects on people's livelihoods, and will probably
continue to do so in the coming months or even years.

My appeal to you is that you engage with those who are negatively affected
by all this, engage with those who are trying to help (NGOs, community
groups, etc), and come up with ideas to help your fellow beings. We have
redirected funding from the OAD's budget to offer grants of *up to R20,000
each* for ways to help address the challenges caused by COVID-19. Because
of our mandate at the OAD, we would like the projects to use astronomy in
some way, either the technology/skills from astronomy or even the people
involved in astronomy - but please don't let this limit your imagination
because regardless of this we could still help you to shape good ideas
accordingly, and at the very least we will be able to pass your ideas on to
other organisations funding such initiatives.

Come up with your creative ideas and send your proposals to us (there is an
easy-to-complete form at the following link:
http://www.astro4dev.org/call-for-covid-19-related-proposals/). Below are
some project examples from the webpage. Please take a moment, be creative,
think of how you can help people around you, and *send us your ideas by
15th May 2020*.

Please also do spread the word among your communities and personal
networks, and please help those who may have ideas but not the means to
complete the application form above.

Regards
Kevin

*from the webpage
<http://www.astro4dev.org/call-for-covid-19-related-proposals/>: *
*Project Examples (not exhaustive):* assist teachers to deliver their STEM
lessons online; conduct or assist with surveys/analyses that local
governments may need to understand outbreaks; provide hand washing stations
or PPE to schools/universities which are operating/about to operate;
coordinate online hackathons in partnership with disease specialists;
develop a programme to assist small businesses around an observatory; use
astronomy compute infrastructure to process data from disease specialists;
purchase mobile data for people to access information on the pandemic,
schooling, etc; use technology to support NGOs in delivery of food parcels;
develop system to monitor health status of older people stuck at home
during lockdowns; supply hard copy materials for students without internet
access; etc.

-- 
Kevin Govender
IAU Office of Astronomy for Development
www.astro4dev.org
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