The increasing number of corruption cases on COVID-19 funds from throughout the world and involvement of high profile persons indicate that the countries can’t ignore corruption in their pandemic response programs. This has generated the need for a robust health information management system for real-time monitoring of project implementation to minimize the leakage of funds and losses due to corruption.   Read more  

Main findings: The socio-economic factor most highly correlated with the number of COVID-19 infections has been the level of air travel before the lockdowns. The US, France, Italy, Spain and the UK have some of the highest air travel rates in the world. The crisis has raised tensions between the US and other countries like China, over the role of the World Health Organization (WHO), trade disputes and the origins of the virus. These tensions…

Chief’s play a critically important role in communities’ right across South Sudan. They play a vital role in settling disputes, preventing armed conflict and fostering peace within and between communities. As the key intermediaries between local communities and higher levels of government, UN agencies and international NGOs, they have an essential role to play in informing, sensitising and mobilizing community members around critical social issues, such as COVID-19. However, due to their age many chiefs…

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted billions of lives across the world and has revealed and worsened the social and economic inequalities that have emerged over the past several decades. As governments consider public health and economic strategies to respond to the crisis, it is critical they also address the weaknesses of their economic and social systems that inhibited their ability to respond comprehensively to the pandemic. These same weaknesses have also undermined efforts to advance…

This operational tool aims to support Country Offices to do a rapid conflict analysis, identify potential conflict risks associated with the COVID-19 response and possible mitigation measures when designing and implementing activities.   Download

This brief presents emerging evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on violence against women and girls (VAWG). The brief advocates for measures that prevent and respond to VAWG in the current circumstances of lockdown as well as for investments that ensure the safety of women and girls in longer-term recovery plans. It makes recommendations to be considered by all sectors of society, from governments and multilateral institutions to civil society organizations, private companies, and…

The African continent has, thus far, fared comparatively well in the pandemic, with just under 400,000 confirmed infections and about 10,000 fatalities at the end of June 2020. Even so, the heavy economic, social, and emotional toll of the pandemic on the continent is already clear, and some analysts believe that the situation will worsen in the coming months. This blog post argues that although this pandemic will have devastating health and socioeconomic effects on the continent,…

It has been more than 130 days since the first reported case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Africa. When many were still trying to comprehend the outbreak of COVID-19, the African Union (AU)  immediately adopted the ‘new normal’. The 13 consultations they convened with over 400 youth from 42 African countries were eye-opening on both the challenges and innovations by African youth in fighting the virus.   Read more

The V-Dem Institute has released a new dashboard tracking the effects of Covid-19 related measures on democratic standards in 146 countries. Most democracies have addressed the pandemic with no or only minor violations of democratic standards. There are concerning developments in 89 countries. Most of them were already autocratic before the pandemic. The Pandemic Backsliding Index identifies the risk that a government is using the pandemic to erode already weak democratic institutions. The areas of…