Tejiendo el Barrio - Connecting a Community with Services during COVID-19

Tejiendo el Barrio – in English, “weaving the neighbourhood” – is a non-profit organization committed to the social development of vulnerated people in a precarious settlement in Buenos Aires known as Playón de Chacarita. María Victoria Herrero has been working with Tejiendo el Barrio for three years, and is currently in charge of the organization’s health programs. 

As part of Argentina’s emergency health response to COVID-19, the government-mandated the formation of community crisis committees in every shantytown in Buenos Aires. Ms. Herrero joined the Playón de Chacarita crisis committee straight away, launching into response efforts that mobilized resources from both the crisis committee and the Tejiendo el Barrio organization. 

The crisis response team worked to address the new needs that emerged in the neighbourhood as a result of COVID-19, and also worked to continue services that were available pre-pandemic, but faced new challenges. Drawing upon connections within and outside the neighbourhood, the team arranged for food and baby supplies on an emergency basis; adapted a tutoring program for delivery by phone or outside, complying with physical distancing regulations, to support students with at-home schooling (often with no internet); systematically linked mothers, including new mothers, to available childcare; connected people in the neighborhood to pro bono psychotherapy services delivered by telephone; and launched a network of COVID-19 support stations throughout the neighbourhood.