COVID-19: challenging inclusive development in Africa

Ideas and assumptions have begun to shift around vulnerability, the formal-informal divide, local-global, fundamental skills and investments, the role of different actors, and even what it means to be developed or developing.

So far, there have been relatively fewer casualties due to COVID-19 in African countries compared to the rest of the world, but much deprevation in other ways linked to the crisis, and this should be considered going forward.

COVID-19 has caused the largest disruption to education systems in history. Closures of schools and other learning spaces have impacted almost 1.6 billion learners in over 190 countries, representing 94 percent of the world’s student population.

Preliminary findings reveal some interesting patterns (and highlight certain anomalies) in the design and implementation of emergency responses across Sub-Saharan Africa.

This two-pager highlights features that contributed to the success of the cash transfer program, along with challenges and considerations for sustainability, expansion and replication.

INCLUDE is conducting a study looking at the impact of the various mitigation measures and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic across the African continent.

Enough time has passed to identify exemplary performers and those who are struggling, though longer term outcomes are still unknown and to some degree malleable.

The deep interconnection between livelihoods, social protection, and food and wellbeing security must be considered more explicitly in forming policies for recovery and longer term resilience.

Possible COVID-19 implications on researchers conducting studies in youth employment domain during the pandemic.

This edition of INCLUDE’s COVID-19 news item reflects on how social protection plays an important role in the immediate response as well as longer-term strategies to reduce poverty and inequality and to mitigate against the impacts of future crises.

The coronavirus pandemic is expected to have long-lasting social, cultural, economic and political impacts on the whole of societies, including young people, as highlighted by the UN Secretary General’s Report “Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity”.

There is an urgent need to create new jobs in addition to maintaining existing ones, and to support and strengthen programs for skills development among Africa’s youth.

How current policy trends and practices will affect socioeconomic inequalities (both between and within countries), and what can be done to support the poorest and most vulnerable.

How are agri-food systems across the world affected by COVID-19 through restrictions in production, demand, trade and transportation?

This weekly updated news-item reports on the policy responses to the coronavirus outbreak and the potential impacts of this pandemic on African societies.

"Given a very strong reinforcement and reawakening by COVID-19 about global interconnectedness, policies must be globally coordinated both at the health and economic levels."

‘World leaders call for an urgent debt moratorium and unprecedented health and economic aid packages’

"We cannot predict the future, but we can be better prepared for the uncertainties that lie ahead"

COVID-19 is certainly an unequal disease, but in unpredictable ways. In Zimbabwe, it affects the rich and powerful disproportionately through illness and death and the poor through livelihood struggles during lockdown. How will the inequality virus’ evolution pan out over the coming months?

This blog discusses the methods used by the Togolese government, in partnership with GiveDirectly, to expand the Novissi emergency fund to the poorest people living in rural areas.

To enhance effective governance, states should start by addressing governance deficits and redefining and prioritising improvement of state-society relations, as well as revitalising the social contract.

From furloughing to school feeding programmes delivered to homes, 212 states and territories across the world have planned or delivered 1179 social protection interventions in response to the pandemic.

The results suggest that that cash helped hard-hit households weather a storm, but that Universal Basic Income was not enough to shield households completely from the economic hit, in part because it had induced them to increase their risk exposure.

The South African government has made a mess of the lockdown. After it was praised in April for its speed and efficiency, by June, it was facing protest.

It is no surprise that women-led countries have suffered six times fewer confirmed COVID-19 deaths than countries led by men, according to a University of Dublin study.

Learning should continue beyond the limits of the classroom walls as one measure to reduce the magnitude of learning loss, estimated at 0.6 years by the World Bank by the end of the COVID-19 period.

Especially with the constraints of COVID-19, digital technology has played a critical role.

The COVID-19 pandemic could be a turning point for the recognition of informal work.

Young people, already hardest hit by unemployment and underemployment in normal times, require extra attention in during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report analyses how the pandemic has affected the funding, operations and roles of CSOs in Africa.

There is not a single African COVID-19 trajectory, but rather multiple, distinct risk profiles. Recognizing this can facilitate a better understanding of and response to the pandemic threat in Africa.

The COVID-19 pandemic is testing health care and disaster management systems of countries and the agility of policy responses to effectively handle a public health catastrophe.

Think up new principles to guide the policies made by African governments in response to the COVID-19 crisis; establish durable alliances between progressive and concerned intellectuals to support better – innovative, responsive, and ethical – government in Africa.

As the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to disrupt the global economy, not only the health…

While measures may have contributed to the successful reining in of the virus, those same restrictions have hit business operations hard.

The slowdown of international trade and importation of goods has stimulated local innovation in a new and even surprising way.

A rapid assessment of the effects of COVID-19 by Hivos East Africa shows that high food prices and loss of income are the major concerns for women working on flower farms in Kenya.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to address existing gender inequalities through social protection.

Public health measures that slow down the transmission of the virus should be continued and efforts to prevent transmission to rural areas should be prioritized.

Zimbabwe’s experience, like elsewhere in Africa, raises questions as to the costs of a heavy-handed lockdown, particularly on the poor and marginalised.

Should Africa blindly copy pandemic containment measures from other continents?

Reflecting on economic impacts that will originate in the demand-side and supply-side shocks related to the pandemic and policy responses to it, including lockdowns.