Addressing Inequality: The First Step Beyond COVID-19 and Towards Sustainability

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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…

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An Update on Pandemic Backsliding: Democracy Four Months After the Beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic

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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…

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Ensuring Women’s Access to Cash Transfers in the Wake of COVID-19

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Governments around the world are implementing a variety of measures to dull the blow of mass income loss and unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and recession. Cash transfers, whether targeted or universal, have been one of the most popular remedies used to date. While the design of individual cash transfer programs varies greatly by country and by context, all are an attempt to mitigate the economic shock caused by the ongoing pandemic. The design…

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Working Paper: What is a Shock-Responsive Health System?

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The world is seeing an increased incidence of shocks –whether from natural hazards, epidemics like COVID-19, or conflict. Shocks are often responded to through humanitarian systems that run parallel to national public service delivery systems. This approach misses opportunities to strengthen national systems to manage future shocks, and is increasingly viewed as being unsustainable. Under the Maintaining Essential Services After Natural Disasters (Maintains) programme, the authors are undertaking operational research across six countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh,…

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Public Perception Survey Report on COVID-19

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This report presents the outcome of a public perception survey on COVID-19 in South Sudan. The data analyzed in this report was collected in South Sudan’s 10 states between the 1st and the 31st of May 2020.

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How Africa can take this moment to end a 500-years-old economic model

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African economies are facing a COVID-19 induced crisis. Global demand for raw materials has collapsed. International tourism has virtually halted. And even wealthier governments on the continent have been unable to provide the financial support necessary to prop up their struggling sectors. In response, African finance ministers in April asked creditors to reduce their debt repayments. Several economic leaders on the continent have similarly called for a two-year debt freeze and urged the IMF and…

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Exploring the impact of COVID-19 in Africa: a scenario analysis to 2030

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This report presents three scenarios on the potential impact of COVID-19 in Africa and compares that to a pre-COVID-19 baseline, using the International Futures forecasting platform, IFs. The likely impacts are then examined on economic growth, per capita income, poverty and the attainment of selected SDG targets with a forecast horizon to 2030. The report concludes with four main policy recommendations aimed at reducing vulnerability and strengthening Africa’s resilience. These recommendations aim to make a…

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The COVID-19 Mortality in South Sudan

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In this Policy Brief we have analyzed COVID-19 mortality in South Sudan. The Brief examines the distribution and correlates of the pandemic. State testing capacity unaccounted for, we find that South Sudan is actually one of the least hit countries in the region. Second, old age is a major risk factor for death in South Sudan, with persons 60 years or older 2000 percent more likely to die of the pandemic. Third, females, compared to…

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The Impact of Covid-19 on Peace and Transition Processes: Tracking the Trends

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The research used expert surveys on a set of conflict countries, to understand how Covid-19 pandemic responses were affecting conflict and peace process dynamics. The main findings were as follows: 1. It could have been expected that the Covid-19 crisis would have provided an incentive to opposing groups to ‘pull together’ around ceasefires and peace initiatives. However, experts were pessimistic overall about the pandemic’s impact on peace processes. Main causes for pessimism were the diversion…

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Economic impact of COVID-19: Protecting Africa’s food systems from farm to fork

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The global spread of COVID-19 and the rising number of confirmed cases in Africa have raised concerns about the weak health care systems in the region, while the lockdowns have caused economies to contract substantially. Receiving less public attention, and yet also putting at risk lives and livelihoods, is the likelihood that COVID-19 and the associated economic challenges will spill into an African food crisis if the food system cannot cope. Half of Africans already…

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