Online Platform Launched to Provide Social Support to Workers in Qatar

The digital and virtual tool supports the government’s ongoing response to COVID-19

Doha, Qatar 16 April 2020:    Connecting For Care, an interactive online platform, has officially launched to provide social support to quarantined workers in Qatar, offering members the opportunity to talk to someone in their own language about community-related topics.

The interactive Connecting For Care website will be resourced by trained volunteers who will offer multi-lingual conversations with workers, and provide government-approved information about protective measures against COVID-19, including useful advice about staying fit and healthy and opportunities to continue learning Arabic and English languages, virtually. Through live one-on-one chats, conversations will take place in English, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Bengali, Malayalam, Sinhala, Tamil, and Tagalog.

Developed in response to the current COVID-19 crisis, Connecting For Care is a digital community collaboration between Qatar Foundation (QF), with the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) - QF’s global health initiative - playing an important role; Education Above All Foundation through its program Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) ; and Modaris (Dlala Smart), a local EdTech company that was founded by an alumnus of QF partner university Texas A&M University at Qatar. The initiative is endorsed by the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Transport and Communications, as it complements the ongoing work of the government to tackle the pandemic. 

The volunteers, who are specially selected from ROTA’s extensive database, receive comprehensive online and virtual training to provide the service digitally from within their homes, ensuring physical distancing requirements are maintained across both volunteers and community members at all time. 
By facilitating a connection between communities, the project aims to build bridges between the different members of society, improve literacy through training tools, and contribute to the social wellbeing of all parties.  

Providing a helpful and meaningful connection alongside physical health and language learning in the public health response to COVID-19 is of great importance to the multiple stakeholders involved in the Connecting For Care Project. People may find themselves vulnerable to heightened stress during this time, and therefore this initiative aims to not only support people amidst the current health crisis, but to also reduce anxiety and fear during this challenging time.