In mid-May 2020, most people found themselves in a country with closed borders, closed schools and
businesses, and restricted freedom of movement. While the COVID-19 pandemic is considered as
one of the largest public health crises of the past hundred years and has triggered ‘unprecedented’
government responses (Cheibub et al. 2020), the measures implemented also exhibit significant
heterogeneity (Hale et al. 2020a). The Covid-19 pandemic is a social and an economic crisis just as
much as it is a health one – its repercussions, severe and far reaching, are being felt across the world.
From school closures to devastated industries and millions of jobs lost, the social and economic costs
of the pandemic are many and varied.
This project aims to ensure the participation of the target population in decision making processes,
whilst also recommending measures with a gender-based approach. The project would also like to
strengthen cooperation between civil society, citizens and decision makers that can mitigate many of
the challenges and improve the quality of life for the target group. The project objectives are as
follows:
● To undertake a gender-based research study, analysing the social and economic effects on vulnerable groups;
● To undertake a series of debates and seminars, focusing on the curtailment of fundamental rights on vulnerable groups;
● To raise awareness and actively counter disinformation, through a campaign, a publication and workshops focusing on media literacy.
Our activities will be geared towards empowering vulnerable groups like migrants, Roma and other
minorities with media literacy tools to counter disinformation, whilst also researching, discussing and
debating the social and economic repercussions brought on by the COVID-19 crisis to increase their
knowledge on Fundamental Rights.
The identified problems that will be tackled in this proposed project are:
● The widening gender-based inequalities because of the COVID-19 crisis;
● The curtailment of fundamental rights, especially with regards to minorities and other vulnerable groups;
● The proliferation of disinformation and its effect on democratic debate;
● The need for media literacy, with the help of experts.
The project will run for 18 months till April 2024. The project has 7 partners from: Malta (lead), Romania, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Slovakia.
Work Packages
Work Package 1 – Research Preparation CCIF and its partners met in Bratislava, Slovakia for two day workshopsResearch Preparation
to establish the methodology of the research study; determining
methods, procedures, analysis and interpretation. The workshops started
by defining the research question and determining methods of data
collection to be used. This involved several decisions that needed to be
taken in order to come up with the best fit for all the targeted groups. The
overall decision involved the agreed approach to be used to collect data
and from which target groups. This Work Package was led by Babes
Bolyai University (UBB)who coordinated and designed the Research
Questionnaire after all partners had conferred on what UBB had proposed.
UBB will also be responsible for analysing and interpretation of the
research results. “The event took place on date 23-24 January 2023 with
the participation of 25 persons from 6 countries.”