Covid-19 and related restrictions will reportedly set back decades of progress fighting poverty, hitting the most vulnerable in society the hardest. A recent World Bank report estimates that the pandemic will push as many as 115 million more people into extreme poverty in 2021 alone. All of this against a background of a global scramble for vaccinations that might leave lower-income countries years behind, and some donors, such as the UK, significantly cutting their aid budgets. 

Often inconceivable numbers are thrown around, overwhelming and hard to imagine the real and personal impacts on people’s lives and wellbeing. We need to inject lived experiences into the discourse on Covid-19 to develop enduring and workable solutions, such as the importance of an equitable global vaccine drive.

Over the next seven months, Chronic Poverty Advisory Network is interviewing people living in or near poverty to share their lived experiences, and identify what policies are needed to prevent mass impoverishment, hunger or destitution. Three rounds of interviews will take place in the Philippines, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and India, with bulletins being published on the impacts, social protection and policy preparedness, and coping mechanisms. The first bulletins were published in April 2021. This work will take place under the umbrella of the Covid Collective, a group of researchers led by the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, and supported by UK Aid. Get this research delivered straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter.

In addition to the social and economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, ongoing threats persist in many contexts around the world such as climate change, political unrest, and conflict. Many people around the world are facing multiple shocks and the risk of impoverishment and destitution is high for those individuals and households running out of strategies to cope. There is an urgent need to monitor the situation for those at greatest risk to these shocks and to identify sustainable solutions that build longer-term resilience to poverty.  

Past research in Kenya and Nepal: October 2020-December 2020

Since October 2020, Chronic Poverty Advisory Network has been interviewing people living in poverty in Kenya and Nepal about the impact of the pandemic on their lives. We’ve heard from a street-food seller in Nairobi about how she has had to sell her daughter’s school textbooks to put food on the table. In Nepal, older people told us how they’ve lost their support networks as social distancing left them unable to interact with the community groups they relied on. These personal stories show the true impact of the pandemic - and gives a voice to the overwhelming and impersonal numbers. Our work in the next phase will collect these stories in seven further countries, as well as seeking to continue our work in Kenya and Nepal.