Second installment from Heather Marquette In yesterday’s post, I looked at some of the social and political complexities around Covid-19 and measures to tackle it, bringing in some graphics to try to better communicate what this means and what we need to worry about. Today, one more graphic (an important one, I think) introducing a process to help structure thinking

Guest post from Heather Marquette The international Covid-19 response so far makes clear that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’, and that the urgent interpretation and application of science is hugely challenging and is framed by political room for manoeuvre.  ‘One size doesn’t fit all’ is easy to say, but hard to do. As well as its immediate biological effects, the

Really wise approach to policy-making in near-total uncertainty: No-Regret Policies for the Crisis in Developing Countries by Stefan Dercon WFH is especially tough if you happen to be Banksy’s wife. Wonderful. Examples of Covid’s horrible knock-on effects are growing: Food rations to 1.4 million refugees cut in Uganda due to funding shortfall; Coronavirus derails measles vaccination across the globe Campaigning

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The responses to yesterday’s post were so enthusiastic that I’ve put together a second instalment and included a couple of links at the end to Indian authors. Seems like it would be a useful exercise to keep publishing these kinds of syntheses as the crisis evolves, so if you see particularly perceptive or striking analyses from Africa, Latin America or

Although Covid’s impact in poor countries is starting to look pretty terrifying (as, often, is the political response), the debates that I see are still being framed largely in Northern terms of self-isolation, PPE and all the rest. And often it’s advice from well-meaning northerners about how Delhi, Nairobi or Cape Town should be responding. In search of other views,

Pope Francis generated a lot of buzz this Easter in a letter to ‘our brothers and sisters of popular movements and organizations’. As you’re probably tired of hearing by now, I’m an atheist, but fascinated by the role of faith groups and leaders in shaping social and political change, so I took a look. Some of the writing is beautiful,

How to combat Covid in crowded informal settlements where people share bathrooms and toilets? In 100 informal settlements in Cape Town and other cities, IBP South Africa is working it out on the ground. This guest post is from IBP’s Albert van Zyl More than 5 million South Africans live in informal settlements—sprawling, crowded communities that frequently lack even the

Well this might work…. The floodgates are opening for Covid research and advice, especially on impact and response in poor countries (has anyone put together a round-up of roundups? I’m drowning) On Impact and Response Arundhati Roy’s absolutely gripping portrayal of India’s crisis Bangladesh sends food aid to sex workers A measured and balanced Reuters Special Report on the UK’s

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Irene Guijt introduces the second part of Oxfam’s proposal for addressing the development impact of Covid-19, published yesterday (the first part, dealing with the health crisis, is summarized here). COVID-19 has unleashed global domino effects. Health impacts understandably dominate the news, but the economic impact is where the big dominoes are falling, due to restrictions on people traveling for their

This guest post by Graham Teskey was originally published on the Governance and Development Soap Box blog Pandemics are depressingly common in human history. We all know about the plague, cholera and the Spanish ’flu. What Dani Rodrik called ‘hyper-globalisation’ has stormed across the world since the end of the cold war and has resulted in massive increases in the