The Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Global Armed Conflict: Early Evidence

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As Covid-19 spreads around the world, international actors, including the United Nations, have called for a stop to armed conflict to facilitate efforts to fight the pandemic. At the same time, coronavirus may also trigger and intensify armed conflict due to its negative economic consequences and by offering windows of opportunity to opposition movements to attack distracted and weakened incumbents. We use real-time data on the spread of Covid-19, governmental lockdown policies, and battle events…

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Times of unprecedented crisis present unique opportunities for unprecedented action

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The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed massive inequalities within our societies and has brought to light the unique burdens that women globally carry. As we respond to the impacts of COVID-19, both in the immediate and long term, we have an unprecedented opportunity to completely redesign our ways of living through innovative and large-scale action that can cater for the magnitude of transforming the African continent. The allocation of response resources should be dually focused on…

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COVID-19: Youth and education: Impacts and options

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Even before COVID-19, the world was facing an educational crisis highlighted by the difficulties in achieving SDG4. According to the World Bank, around 53% of young people in low-and middle-income countries live in “learning poverty”. The closure of schools, a measure taken everywhere in many countries to facilitate ‘physical distancing’ and reduce the risk of contamination, is likely to worsen this crisis in the coming times and make it impossible to reach the goal of…

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COVID-19: Are children able to continue learning during school closures?

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In response to the unprecedented educational challenges created by school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 90 per cent of countries have implemented some form of remote learning policy. This factsheet estimates the potential reach of digital and broadcast remote learning responses, finding that at least 463 million students around the globe remain cut off from education, mainly due to a lack of remote learning policies or lack of equipment needed for learning at…

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Fighting the pandemic in the global South

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The author of this blog post argues that if we are to see the other side of the pandemic, we must emerge with a new imagination of how we are to strengthen and build strong working-class movements that will challenge imperialism and neocolonialism.   Read more

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Justice, the rule of law and Covid-19: three expert views

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As countries grapple with the coronavirus crisis, its implications for justice and the rule of law are becoming clearer. The pandemic is creating a host of new legal challenges, just as more courts and legal aid services across the world are closing, reducing or adjusting their operations. Inevitably, the most vulnerable groups in society are suffering the harshest consequences. In this article, ODI experts outline domestic and international responses to these pressures. Drawing on ODI…

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Profiles of the new poor due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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Mahler et al. (2020) projected that COVID-19 is pushing between 71 and 100 million into extreme poverty based on the baseline and downside scenarios published in the latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP). The global poverty rate was projected to go down to 8.2 percent in 2019, but due to COVID19, is now projected to increase to 8.8 percent (baseline) and 9.2 percent (downside) in 2020.   Download

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A better normal: Girls call for a revolutionary reset

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The pre-COVID-19 world undeniably failed girls and young women, in all our diversities. It failed to protect us, it failed to listen to us, and it failed to empower us. These failures have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Girls have been removed from schools, with many unlikely to return. We know too that they are experiencing increasing levels of family and gender-based violence, as well as harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage/unions…

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COVID-19 and Global Food Security

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This e-book compiles a selection of entries from the IFPRI blog series on COVID-19. The pieces pro-vide key insights and analysis on how the global pandemic is affecting global poverty and food security and nutrition, food trade and supply chains, gender, employment, and a variety of policy interventions, as well as reflections on how we can use these lessons to better prepare for future pan-demics. These pieces draw on a combination of conceptual arguments, global…

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The Great and Sudden Change: The Global Political Violence Landscape Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

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In this special report, ACLED Research Analyst Melissa Pavlik reviews key findings from 16 weeks of data recorded by our COVID-19 Disorder Tracker, highlighting the most significant changes to global political violence and demonstrations trends since the onset of the pandemic.   Read more

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