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The Covid-19 Response in Africa

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This blog post by the British Foreign Policy Group argues that the African continent’s healthcare systems and responses are coping better than expected, and that it is instead in the economic and social domain that Covid-19 will have its most damaging and lasting effects. In recovering from a crisis of this magnitude, African and  more developed nations alike will require strong state intervention to recover. They therefore ask the UK government to prioritise support in…

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COVID-19: South Sudan rumor tracking overview – Issue #1

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The Communication and Community Engagement Working Group (CCEWG) is expanding on existing efforts by other humanitarians around rumor tracking and seeks to improve data quality on perceptions and rumor monitoring by systematically tracking COVID-19 perceptions and rumors. This effort is key to understanding how South Sudanese communities perceive the virus—acting as a “check” on the humanitarian response—as well as providing a platform to capture their questions, suggestions and capacities. Building a nuanced understanding of how…

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Resources for Community Engagement during Covid-19

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Community engagement is vital during the Coronavirus pandemic. Oxfam’s experience of working humanitarian contexts, and in the recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks, has shown that the best way to respond is to build trust in communities and services, understand community perspectives and share information, and work with communities to determine how to keep people safe. This set of three resources captures good practice for community engagement during epidemics in a guidance note, a helpful checklist…

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African elections and COVID-19: A crisis of legitimacy

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In this article, the author argues that this public health emergency could be dwarfed by a deep crisis, which is a story about constitutional politics, which begins with elections, but is really about how African governments derive their legitimacy and what they do with power. He argues that the combination of a pandemic and emergencies is lethal to both campaigning and competitive politics and that in some countries, these measures threaten to run out the…

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The Impact of Sanctions on Humanitarian Response to COVID-19

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As COVID-19 begins to spread to the most fragile regions of the world, humanitarian organizations are facing pre-existing hurdles—often diffuse and indirect—hindering the deployment of an appropriate and timely response to the virus in countries under sanctions. Sanctioned jurisdictions represent around 75% of the beneficiary states of the United Nations (UN) Global Humanitarian Response Plan to COVID-19. With urgency growing by the day, what can the UN system, particularly the UN Security Council, do to…

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Gender, Masculinity, and COVID-19

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Gender is shaping the COVID-19 crisis in real and significant ways. Beyond the direct, visible practices that by now we all should understand—stay home, wash your hands, step back six feet—gender and its interactions with class, race, and immigrant status impact a number of dimensions of this crisis. From epidemiology to the vulnerabilities of front-line health workers, from the distribution of care work within families to the implications of quarantine for domestic violence, the author…

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“COVID-19 is like a death sentence to women in South Sudan; after years of conflict, it is taking away our plans”

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“Since a COVID-19 case was declared in South Sudan, I have not been myself. I was worried. How will we survive without our farm work? Only God knows how long it will take to stop this dangerous disease”, says 45-year old Elder Atim, a farmer. At least 95 percent of the people in South Sudan are dependent on farming, fishing, and herding for food and income to meet their daily needs, according to the Food…

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Adapting social protection in the wake of Covid-19

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Everywhere you look, and even if you didn’t realise it, countries are using social protection to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic on a massive scale. Whether it is huge unemployment support packages in the UK and France, new and adapted cash transfer, food voucher, and school feeding programmes, unemployment insurance or subsidised sick leave, all are examples of using and adapting social protection to address a shock affecting large numbers of vulnerable people simultaneously. This…

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The Politics of Food in the Time of COVID-19

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The intersection of the pandemic and hunger sets the stage for the politicization of urgent humanitarian assistance, particularly food. Around the world, leaders who are insecure about their own popularity and legitimacy often compensate by placing a high priority on projecting strength and control. These leaders may be particularly anxious about responding to COVID-19. The threat is difficult to counter and it resists permanent solutions, foreclosing opportunities to bask in the glow of victory. Worse…

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COVID-19 and Conflict Sensitivity Implications in South Sudan

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In this blog post, Leslye Rost van Tonningen, the Director of CSRF, reflects on conflict sensitivity implications of COVID-19 responses in the South Sudanese context.   Conflict sensitivity is more important in times of crisis or rapid change.  In current crises, such as South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia or Myanmar, conflict sensitivity and context analysis are particularly critical, as the decisions with regards to who is supported, how they are supported and the support they…

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