Community engagement is key…for sure! UN-Morocco launched AKID2030-COVID-19, a community engagement initiative to support the nation’s efforts to respond to the pandemic. As Martine Therer, UNDP’s Deputy Representative in Morocco explained, the idea is to share messages of determination, confidence and hope, a need that has become especially acute in these times of confinement, stress and uncertainty.
The pandemic has exposed perilous gaps, in Morocco and around the world. There is no vaccine and no cure – yet – but there is one certainty: solidarity offers the best hope to meet this challenge, and to keep moving forward. The Sustainable Development Goals charted a path to 2030: with a lot of work and strong commitment, countries can expect to achieve them by then. But there is no time to waste, no room to lose heart – even though COVID-19 is an enormous hurdle on this path. Hence, the campaign has been named AKID (Arabic for certainly) 2030 - COVID-19.
AKID2030 - COVID-19 aims to encourage a daily stream of optimism and positive vibes, boosting morale in these hard times of lockdown. Celebrities, artists, medical doctors, youth leaders, students, writers, journalists, academia and regular citizens are joining, lending strength to each other and refreshing hearts with messages of hope.
These are just some examples of more than 50 messages posted already. True to the nature of the diverse country, some of the messages are from people in Morocco from Nepal, Central Africa, South Korea and Lebanon.
Every crisis brings opportunities. Even as this one has laid bare the extreme vulnerabilities of our globalized societies, it also has highlighted that we are not just in this difficult situation together: we also will emerge from it together, and with a shared determination to meet whatever challenges await.
After this, can we beat the odds of whatever comes next? Akid! Certainly!
