Map from Dashboard Depicting Percent Compliance with Social Distancing
RECOVR Roundup Vol. 13: Social Protection in the Time of COVID-19
April 08, 2021

In this thirteenth installment of our RECOVR Roundup series, we are sharing new findings and analysis from the RECOVR Research Hub and from our partner organizations, as well as links on what is happening in the Social Protection landscape in response to COVID-19. Read the previous installment if you missed it, and sign up for our mailing list if you'd like to receive this roundup series directly to your inbox. 

As always, we encourage you to write to our team with ideas for features.

New Findings & Analysis Uganda: How Kampalans’ beliefs and behaviors changed during the...
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RECOVR Roundup Vol. 12: Social Protection in the Time of COVID-19
March 25, 2021

In this twelfth installment of our RECOVR Roundup series, we are sharing new findings and analysis from the RECOVR Research Hub and from our partner organizations, as well as links on what is happening in the Social Protection landscape in response to COVID-19. Read the previous installment if you missed it, and sign up for our mailing list if you'd like to receive this roundup series directly to your inbox. 

As always, we encourage you to write to our team with ideas for features.

New Findings & Analysis Bangladesh: How has the pandemic affected vulnerable households with...
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RECOVR Roundup Vol. 11: Social Protection in the Time of COVID-19
March 11, 2021

In this eleventh installment of our RECOVR Roundup series, we are sharing new findings and analysis from the RECOVR Research Hub and from our partner organizations, as well as links on what is happening in the Social Protection landscape in response to COVID-19. Read the previous installment if you missed it, and sign up for our mailing list if you'd like to receive this roundup series directly to your inbox. 

As always, we encourage you to write to our team with ideas for features.

New Findings & Analysis Kenya: What can financial health diaries tell us about coping with...
Olga and Hilda
Women in Policy Series: Social Policy in Colombia and Improving Education in Ghana
March 08, 2021

To mark the occasion of International Women's Day, IPA presents the first of three posts this week interviewing female policymakers we've worked with in different countries around the world. They told us about their experiences working in government and promoting a culture of evidence-based policymaking within their institutions, how the COVID-19 pandemic changed their work, and what long-term impacts they hope to achieve in the sectors in which they work.

Olga Lucia Romero, Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Department of National Planning, Colombia

As head of the DNP’s...
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RECOVR Roundup Vol. 10: Social Protection in the Time of COVID-19
February 25, 2021

In this tenth installment of our RECOVR Roundup series, we are sharing new findings and analysis from the RECOVR Research Hub and from our partner organizations, as well as links on what is happening in the Social Protection landscape in response to COVID-19. Read the previous installment if you missed it, and sign up for our mailing list if you'd like to receive this roundup series directly to your inbox. 

As always, we encourage you to write to our team with ideas for features.

New Findings & Analysis Bolivia: Can youth empowerment programs reduce violence against girls...
NPR Covers New Study on the Impact of COVID-19 in Nine Lower- and Middle-Income Countries
Media Coverage
February 23, 2021

 "This is not a slow burn of a recession. This happened really fast. What that means is that people don't really have time to have prepared for it." IPA's Shana Warren describes to NPR what she and 25 co-authors found from tracking how 30,000 households in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone were affected by the COVID crisis. She describes how the povety  consequences around the wold have been different and worse than what we've seen in past.
In Vox, the Toll of COVID-19 on Lower-Income Households
Media Coverage
February 23, 2021

Vox reports on the results from a new paper that features data on the economic shock of the pandemic experienced by tens of thousands of vulnerable households across nine lower- and middle-income countries. The phone survey conducted from April to July 2020 found that while the effects varied significantly country by country, overall, developing nations are weathering higher rates of food insecurity, loss of income, and other negative long-term impacts.
Reuters with Shana Warren on the Need for Economic Aid to Vulnerable Households
Media Coverage
February 23, 2021

In Reuters, Shana Warren, one of the 20 co-authors of a recently published study on the impact of COVID-19 in nine lower- and middle-income countries, argues that emergency cash assistance is vital to helping economically disadvantaged households stay afloat while curbing the spread of the virus.
In the Financial Times, New Survey on COVID-19's Impact on Nine Developing Nations
Media Coverage
February 22, 2021

The Financial Times reports on findings from a new survey of an estimated 100,000 people in Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Nepal, and the Philippines between April and June last year. As Edward Miguel, one of the study's co-authors describes, the results are "dire," with already vulnerable households experiencing “steep drops in employment and income" and "a sharp rise in food insecurity." Note: Article may be gated.

The survey results have been featured in a range of news outlets, including The News International, Scientific American, ...
NPR on How IPA Research is Helping Target Emergency Cash Transfers in Togo
Media Coverage
February 22, 2021

NPR covers how researchers are using new methods to help the government in Togo target cash assistance to those who have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19. Researcher Joshua Blumenstock developed the methodology using satellite imagery and monitoring cell phone usage to map out levels of poverty in the region. Rachel Strohm, Associate Director IPA's Social Protection Program, explains the significance of this new mobile phone targeting technique to more efficiently deploy aid during crises.
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RECOVR Roundup Vol. 9: Social Protection in the Time of COVID-19
February 11, 2021

In this ninth installment of our RECOVR Roundup series, we are sharing new findings and analysis from the RECOVR Research Hub and from our partner organizations, as well as links on what is happening in the Social Protection landscape in response to COVID-19. Read the previous installment if you missed it, and sign up for our mailing list if you'd like to receive this roundup series directly to your inbox. 

As always, we encourage you to write to our team with ideas for features.

New Findings & Analysis New Study Shows Pandemic’s Toll on Jobs, Businesses, and Food Security...
New Study Shows Pandemic’s Toll on Jobs, Businesses, and Food Security in Lower Income Countries
Press Release
February 05, 2021

Washington, D.C..—The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp decline in living standards and rising food insecurity in developing countries across the globe, according to a new study by an international team of economists.

The study, published Feb. 5 in the journal Science Advances, provides an in-depth view of the health crisis’s initial socioeconomic effects in low- and middle-income countries, using detailed microdata collected from tens of thousands of households across nine countries. The phone surveys were conducted from April through July 2020 of nationally and sub-...
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New RECOVR Survey Findings in Sierra Leone Highlight Socio-Economic Fallout from COVID-19 as New Restrictions Are Put in Place
February 04, 2021

In July 2020, we highlighted Sierra Leone’s experience confronting COVID-19 from the vantage point of a fragile state—one that lived through civil war and, more recently, another acute public health crisis with Ebola in 2014, as well as a damaging mudslide in Freetown in 2017. Drawing on lessons learned from Ebola, Sierra Leone moved to close schools at the end of March, instituted a series of lockdowns in April and May, closed land borders for several months, and instituted a national mask mandate beginning in June. The government also prioritized more community-focused, tailored...
Bangladesh masks study
10 Reasons We’re Hopeful for 2021
January 28, 2021

A research project we couldn't have anticipated a year ago is looking at how to encourage community mask use in Bangladesh. Credit: Abu Raihan, Innovations for Poverty Action


There is no need to expand on why 2020 was a challenging year, and how scary the beginning of 2021 was. And there are certainly many difficult months (even years) ahead of us in managing this pandemic. Yet despite everything that 2020 (and now 2021) has thrown at us at IPA, we have seen how resilient our community of staff, partners, funders, and researchers has been, coming together to leverage...
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RECOVR Roundup Vol. 8: Social Protection in the Time of COVID-19
January 28, 2021

By Luciana Debenedetti, Jeff Mosenkis, and Rachel Strohm

In this eighth installment of our RECOVR Roundup series, we are sharing new findings and analysis from the RECOVR Research Hub and from our partner organizations, as well as links on what is happening in the Social Protection landscape in response to COVID-19. Read the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh installments if you missed them, and sign up for our mailing list if you'd like to receive this roundup series directly to your inbox. 

As always, we encourage you to write to our team with ideas for...

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