The impact of Covid-19 on climate change and disaster resilience funding: trends and signals

|by

, ||||

Prior to Covid-19, concerns were being raised that funding for climate and disaster resilience was insufficient to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework. Since the pandemic, initial signals are that the funding gap will widen. Opportunities exist to harness co-benefits for pandemic recovery and climate and disaster resilience. To leverage climate and disaster resilience finance, especially during the Covid-19 response, decision-making needs to be more risk-informed and incorporate risks from multiple…

Read more

Covid-19 and local humanitarian action: five emerging trends

|by

||||

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the international humanitarian sector to adapt to a different operational reality, with many international staff unable to travel and access affected communities. A renewed focus on the role of local actors offers an opportunity to turn this rhetoric into action, and provide more funding, support and recognition for national humanitarian responders. Capturing evidence of changes is important. It not only helps inform future programming, funding decisions and details lessons learnt,…

Read more

Fragility: time for a rethink

|by

, ||||

Originally intended to help mobilise aid flows to ‘fragile states’, the OECD’s 2020 States of Fragility report is the thirteenth edition of a long series first published in 2005. Its intentions at the outset were arguably laudable. But for years, the backlash against the ‘fragile or failed states’ terminology plagued the report, which was re-named in 2015 to ‘States of Fragility’. Today, the report refers to ‘fragile contexts’ instead of ‘fragile states’ and has usefully…

Read more

Conflict during COVID-19: Averting a legitimacy and debt crisis in Africa?

|by

||||

Good governance and debt contingency planning are essential for containment and mitigating the economic impacts of the pandemic to avoid a deeper crisis. The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising conflict, and escalating debt in Africa is a toxic cocktail that could soon implode. Governments and multilateral lenders need to work out pragmatic ways to neutralise and navigate out of the crisis.   Read more

Read more

Sharing the burden for investment in the Covid-19 recovery

|by

||||

The major question facing policy-makers at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Annual Meetings this week will be how to support economic recovery. Until the Covid-19 pandemic is contained, there will continue to be great uncertainty about the future health of the global economy. We can however be certain that as the world emerges from the crisis, economies will be smaller, firms will have gone bankrupt and governments will be more indebted and…

Read more

Covid-19 and the Impact on South Sudanese Women Peacebuilders

|by and

||||

Two young South Sudanese peacebuilders have co-authored a publication that portrays both the immense challenges faced by South Sudanese women peacebuilders in the time of COVID-19 and the extra-ordinary power and potential these women hold for building peace even during difficult times. Sixteen young women peacebuilders have contributed their stories and Vicky Amal Pax Kamilo and Ajwok Mary Valentino have consolidated the insights into this important piece of work. Download

Read more

Countering stigmatization in the humanitarian response to COVID-19

|by

, , ||||

The societal stigma attached to certain people or demographic groups based on their perceived attributes or their rolein society leads to pervasive and overt discrimination. It can also lead to violence and exclusion that limits access to basic services and humanitarian assistance. During health crises, societal stigma often takes root and proliferates rapidly. This was the case during both pastEbola outbreaks and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.1Indeed, humanitarians and other first responders have identified stigma as a…

Read more

COVID-19 impact on stranded migrants

|by

||||

This paper aims to consolidate available information on the impact of COVID-19 on stranded migrants, to gauge a better understanding of their evolving challenges and needs, and to serve as a first step towards the (re)design of tailored programmes, advocacy and responses. The analysis is based on the qualitative and quantitative data collected by IOM on the impact of COVID-19 on migrants through various primary and secondary sourcesas part of its Impact on Migrants initiative….

Read more

Protection response under the restriction of COVID-19

|by

||||

COVID-19 pandemic has taken the entire world by surprise, creating the greatest global catastrophe since WWII, impacting all spheres of our societies, including health, economy, social protection, as well as security, and human rights. The virus affects people and communities indiscriminately in all parts of the world, with particularly strong impact on poorer communities, especially those already suffering from the humanitarian consequences caused by conflicts, social-economic problems or disasters. As of 7 October 2020, over…

Read more

The Condition of the Girl Child worldwide

|by

||, ||

This year’s “indifesa” Dossier cannot help but address the global consequences of the pandemic. With almost all countries imposing lockdowns of varying intensities, schools and health centres have closed, workshops, seminars or awareness sessions have been impossible to organise, and millions of girls and young women confined to isolation. Nowadays, there is already a worrying rise in abuse, forced marriages, school dropouts, cyberbullying, online sexual violence and female genital mutilation. This report offers a significant…

Read more