Before the global pandemic struck, we were spending a lot of time working on a plan to scale Rockflower. We need to meet the demand of our existing partners and the increasing number of new applications we receive weekly. The world needs system-wide change in the next decade, not just to survive but to thrive and Rockflower’s role is to get more money into the hands of those with the vision and fortitude to make this happen.
As an organization based in the United States, where the grave impact of the spread of COVID-19 is growing by the day, we have been on stay-at-home orders since mid-March. Banks are closed to in-person transactions, which presents a difficulty as many of the countries we work in require a physical presence to wire money.
It is easy to get distracted during this moment, but you have to focus on what is being asked of you – what’s in your line of sight?
We have reached out to all 34 of our current partners to get a sense of the challenges in their communities and to determine how best we can help.
The responses vary greatly in terms of government restrictions and mandatory lockdowns, but one sentiment comes through loud and clear. Those grassroots women’s organizations working at the furthest margins need something very basic - cash.
With strict and sudden lockdowns in place, the ability to access food and medicine is becoming critical and those whose daily lives were already extremely difficult to navigate now have the added threat of this virus.
Rockflower has set up an Emergency Fund to send small amounts of money via Western Union directly into the hands of our partners so that they can get what they need and utilize additional resources over the coming weeks.
We firmly believe you can hold two ideas at the same time. We continue to work on our ambitious plan to scale up Rockflower, while at the same time knowing that putting money directly into the hands of those who need it right now is exactly why we call our philosophy, Radical Idealism, Practically Realized.
Beginning tomorrow and continuing over the next few weeks, we will release a series of partner stories detailing their innovative and resilient approaches to this crisis.
We will be participating in #GivingTuesdayNow to raise money for our Emergency Fund. Our fundraising campaign is ongoing but will officially launch on May 5 and run through May 10, Mother’s Day (US).
