City Year
South Africa's
response to COVID-19
Learn more about our response to COVID-19
On 15 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national lockdown was put in place through 26 March 2020. On 25 April, a risk-adjusted strategy was put in place, with various alert levels for the lockdown to enable a gradual reopening of the economy and the state of national disaster has been extended twice since then.
The government published strict guidelines on hygiene measures, social distancing and other measures to assist in flattening the curve while the health system prepared for the increase in cases. On 25 April, a risk-adjusted strategy was put in place, with various alert levels for the lockdown to enable a gradual reopening of the economy and the state of national disaster has been extended twice since then.
During these unprecedented times, our first priority is to ensure that our staff, interns and service leaders are safe and provided with information about COVID-19 and how to prevent the risk of infection. We implemented various measures to ensure we prioritize our team’s safety, while adhering to all the guidelines and adapting to the current impact of the pandemic.
We focused our safety strategy on 3 areas:
- Preparing the working environment for safety and success: We closed the City Year Office and adapted our operations to allow staff, interns and service to work from home and minimise travel to the office. We provided sanitizers, hand soap and screening measures in line with the guidelines provided by the Department of Health.
- Providing Personal Protective Equipment for our teams: We provided two washable cloth masks for staff, interns and service leaders as well as sanitizer and soap in and around the office.
- Communicating key information to keep our teams informed: While working from home, the City Year Management team provided regular updates on any safety measures and briefings from the presidency with key information and our response to each level of the risk adjusted strategy.
From the 1st June, South Africa moved to level 3 of the National Lockdown Risk Adjusted Strategy. Our schools re-opened and our City Year teams have been providing essential service to provide COVID-19 Safety Support in schools and organisations.
The adapted service learning experience for service leaders includes activities based on the needs of the communities we serve while we globally navigate the adapt and design the new normal.
City Year teams are committed to serving communities and assisting schools to protect learners. We provide the following essential services:
- COVID-19 Screening of staff and learners at schools daily
- Completing data reports
- Social distancing measures at school
- Feeding Scheme Support
- Handwashing supervision for learners
- Cleaning and sanitizing of areas
- Classroom supervision with educators
We continue to review and adapt our programs and developing different and new ways of delivering our programs to continue to have impact during the pandemic.
For updated information from the South African Government:
- Regular updates – https://sacoronavirus.co.za
- Department of Health Emergency Hotline: 0800 029 999
- Department of Health WhatsApp Support Line: 0600-123456