Greetings from Panama, a hug at a distance in these difficult times for all, taking advantage of the SOKONI platform and interested in generating debate on the CONTINUITY PLANS OF NATIONAL SOCIETIES in the region of the Americas, we will share some ideas in this space in the coming days.

Although this FORUM is intended for the Americas region, the 192 National Societies of the world are invited to participate in the collective construction of learning and exchange of experiences, regardless of language.

In the Americas, it is more than nine weeks, since the first activities began to be implemented in response to the effects of COVID19.

All National Societies in the region, according to their own context and in coordination with national and local authorities, organized to support the needs of the populations in the most vulnerable conditions.

Even though the experience that the National Societies of the region have to respond to an emergency, this response has undoubtedly been the one that has presented the most challenges, given that, unlike other emergencies, COVID19 affected the response capacity of the National Societies mainly in regard to their workforce (volunteers, employees, affiliates).

Collaborators (volunteers and employees) to continue lending their contingent to the population, must protect themselves from contagion and for this they must comply with the restrictions of movement that have been adopted in each country.

So, the National Societies had to review their management structures and models, and implement, according to their context, different response strategies that guarantee the continuity of their operations.