As Colombia continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, it must—like many countries—address the twin concerns of protecting its population’s health and reactivating its hard-hit economy. The success of the government’s economic policies necessitates an understanding of how Colombians have fared in recent months and what challenges they continue to face.






By swiftly enacting a national lockdown and sticking with it until a slow and partial reopening in June, Colombia has so far been spared the high COVID-19 infection rate and the related death toll of some of its neighbors like Brazil and Peru.

“The government expects a presentation of the findings in nine days,” we heard over a video call from one of our in-country staff members in Mexico City. He was referring to the results of the RECOVR (Research for Effective COVID-19 Response) survey, an effort we started in April in order to put IPA’s expertise at policymakers’ disposal to support them in their pandemic response.



(Editor's note: The title of this post has been updated.)
IPA pursues many strategies to move evidence to policy impact, but one that engenders particularly meaningful partnerships is to work from within governments, whether through embedding staff within government offices or facilitating the institutionalization of an “evidence unit” within a ministry. For example:


