As part of their Masters in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies, LSE students do a consultancy for aid agencies and others. Here Chiara Jachia, Natalie Schwarz, Hanna Toda and Anjuman Tanha discuss the Covid implications of their consultancy on Informal Social Protection. Oxfam’s Larissa Pelham (contact larissa.pelham[at]oxfam.org if you want to know more about its work) introduces their project: ‘Informal

Guest post by Mushtaq Khan and Pallavi Roy of the SOAS Anti-Corruption Evidence Consortium (SOAS-ACE) Why the COVID-19 response is undermined by corruption ‘Flattening the curve’ and lockdowns have sadly become part of our new vocabulary. That this is not just about limiting patient numbers temporarily but primarily about using the opportunity to scale up COVID-19 testing and treatment capacities

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I wrote this with guest bloggers Jane Lonsdale and Rosita Armytage – I’m an adviser to their governance project in Myanmar, which provides the subject matter for this post. The Coronavirus has provided the perfect natural experiment, buffeting aid programmes of every stripe and testing their ability to respond. Here’s some views directly from an Adaptive Management programme, Myanmar’s Centre

Guest post by Dr. Claire Melamed, CEO of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. Most of the time data is a boring backdrop to the real stuff that people care about: will my child get into university with those grades? Which party is likely to win at the next election? Who will win the World Cup? Most people are

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Guest post by Ana Caistor Arendar, Head of Inequality Campaigns and Policy at Oxfam GB Over the past weeks, we’ve seen some of the richest countries in the world struggle with the effects of Covid-19 and the health and economic emergency it has brought in its wake. But at least they have the resources to cushion the blows (should they

My essay on Covid-19 as a Critical Juncture and the Implications for Advocacy has been published by Global Policy. Huge thanks to all the people who commented on earlier drafts, including the 130 who rocked up to the Global Policy/LSE webinar – video here. My plan is now to move on to monitoring the impact and response in developing countries,

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

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

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

My LSE students are a challenging lot (not as in ‘problem’; as in ‘challenging’) and their questions got me thinking about Covid-19 as a critical juncture. The result is this short-ish (12 page) paper (much improved by the students’ comments on earlier drafts). Please send comments. We will also be discussing it on Zoom next Wednesday (8th April) 2.30-3.30pm UK