Lessons from COVID-19 for effective governance and sustainable peace in Africa

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COVID-19 has been quite a challenge to the world. It has made us question so many of the things we took for granted. It has changed the outlook and stereotypes we had about the world and humanity. For example, nobody imagined that with the current developments in technology and medicine, a pandemic could bring the world to its knees like this one has. COVID-19 has also questioned the impression we in Africa had that pandemics…

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Future implications of the impact of COVID-19 on governance and public service

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What will governance and public service be like post COVID-19? We will not and should not revert to “business as usual” after this crisis. We should draw on the maxim from the United Nations (UN) 2030 agenda – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – to “leave no one behind” in achieving a more sustainable, equitable, inclusive and secure/peaceful future. We should start a dialogue about the current and future implications of COVID-19 on governance and…

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Not immune: Children in conflict

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The goal of this report is to shine a spotlight on the important issue of immunising children affected by conflict and to ensure vaccine investments, policies and actions address the needs of these children. The report draws on evidence from published literature; and on the insights of vaccination experts who work on the ground with Save the Children to deliver vaccinations to children in conflict zones.   Download

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Aftershock: Abuse, exploitation & human trafficking in the wake of COVID-19

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This week, 20 years ago, the global community adopted the world’s first international law on trafficking in persons. Its adoption followed damning cases of peacekeeper and humanitarian involvement in trafficking rings during the Balkans wars of the 1990s. Today, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons is almost universally ratified, symbolic of our collective will to eradicate the sale and exploitation of human beings. Despite 20 years of progress, the devastating social…

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Populations at risk: Implications of COVID-19 for hunger, migration and displacement

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This joint study by the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration explores the impacts of COVID-19 and related containment measures on migrant workers, remittance-dependent households and the forcibly displaced. It assesses the implications of the pandemic for people’s mobility, food security and other livelihood outcomes in major migration and hunger hotspots around the world. There are important linkages between food security and mobility. Food insecurity, especially when combined with conflict, can be…

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Impacts of COVID-19 on the Private Sector in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations

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The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant negative impact on the private sector in developing economies, and businesses and individuals in fragile and conflict-affected situations are among the most severely affected. The pandemic has evolved rapidly from a health emergency to a global economic crisis, spreading through the real sector and posing growing risks to financial systems. Notable sector-level impacts include supply- and demand-based shocks to infrastructure and private healthcare; disruptions to imports, exports, and…

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Untying the nexus ‘knot’ in South Sudan

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This blog highlights the benefits of strengthening coordination between humanitarian, peacebuilding and development actors implementing aid responses in South Sudan, particularly in times of humanitarian crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The triple nexus is getting a lot of attention, both in global capitals, such as here in Bern, where I am based, as well as in countries where it is being operationalized. Here at swisspeace, we have been looking at factors that support or…

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FAO-WFP early warning analysis of acute food insecurity hotspots

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As acute food insecurity levels appear to be reaching new highs globally, also as a result of the socio-economic fallout of measures imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19, this joint FAO-WFP report aims to raise an early warning on 20 countries and situations – called hotspots – that, starting from already significant levels of acute food insecurity in early 2020, are facing the risk of a further rapid deterioration over the next months. Through…

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The cessation of hostilities during the COVID-19 pandemic

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During events to commemorate 75 years since the formation of the United Nations (UN), Secretary-General António Guterres repeated his earlier call to world leaders to achieve a global ceasefire. In this call, the UNSG correctly stated that it is “time for a stepped-up push for peace to achieve a global ceasefire”, because we are all confronted by “one common enemy: COVID-19”. Indeed, in a year that is so significant in many ways, there has never…

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Global Analysis: COVID-19: Impact on education

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Worldwide school closures, alongside other secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, are projected to have far-reaching implications in the short and the long term for children, their families, and their communities. Education is a particularly challenging issue in the context of the pandemic. On the one hand, school environments risk high rates of COVID-19 transmission, and closures are seen as necessary measures to protect public health. On the other hand, the linkages between schools and…

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