WESTERN BALKANS – The Coronavirus disease pandemic is still having an enormous impact on daily lives of millions across the world, including the Western Balkan people. Despite the fact that lockdowns in Europe ease with declining numbers of new cases, the current situation continues paralyzing normal functioning of a number of activities among which mobility of people is.
As the regional organization established with the purpose of supporting regional youth exchanges which imply physical meetings of young people across the region, RYCO issues the following statement on the measures to be undertaken in order to help stopping the virus spread in the region:
All grant contracts signed between RYCO and its beneficiaries across the Western Balkans 6 will be suspended in their entirety for the period from 1 May until 1 July 2020 meaning that the projects’ implementation will not be possible during the mentioned period
RYCO will continue maintaining communication with all of its partners and beneficiaries in order to coordinate further steps based on the latest decisions of governments and health institutions
We are also keeping our work on ensuring adequate measures for the RYCO staff at the Head Office in Tirana but also at all the Local Branch Offices across the region to respond to the latest developments
All scheduled beneficiaries’ activities and actions supported by RYCO will be immediately resumed upon the official removal of restrictive measures that have been put in place by relevant authorities in the Western Balkan 6.
By putting the above-mentioned measures in place, we want to contribute to getting back to our normal lives and activities at the earliest possible moment.
RYCO applauds the efforts made by the public institutions and each individual, especially young people, that made possible to slow down the virus spread across the region. Once again, individual responsibility of each citizen has proven that we can contribute to a common benefit.
We also use this opportunity to remind our governments that the next steps after the virus is stopped will include fights against the negative consequences of the lockdowns – economic, societal and health. These fights will require solidarity and cooperation among our Western Balkan governments. RYCO strongly encourages the six governments to start cooperating on resolving the consequences as soon as possible.
We will witness easing of the measures in the upcoming period but it does not mean that we should forget to keep our personal measures in place such as regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing and avoiding close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
For more information on the latest developments, we still recommend following the dedicated WHO’s webpage but also measures being put in place by the national authorities.