Cash assistance in emergency settings has been shown to assist recipients in mitigating resulting economic fallout, for example through increased food security. The VAT Compensation, a new unconditional cash transfer in Colombia, assists 1 million low-income households in navigating the economic crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using an individual-level experiment with male and female caregivers of young children in El Salvador, we evaluate the impact of a free digital stress management and positive parenting intervention. We find that, for males, the intervention increased stress and anxiety and lowered caregiver-child interactions. The effect on males is concentrated among the poorer and those residing with a partner. In contrast, women’s mental health was not impacted.
The research team has collected data on the impacts of COVID-19 as experienced by customers of social enterprises around the world. This includes customers of off-grid energy companies (thanks to support from GOGLA and the Rockefeller Foundation) and, clients of microfinance institutions (thanks to support from SPTF and their members) and numerous other social enterprises who have agreed to contribute their data anonymously towards this aggregation.
Indigenous communities are often socially and economically marginalized which makes them particularly vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19. The Population Council has a longstanding partnership with indigenous communities in Mexico through the "Abriendo Futuros" program.
Due to social distancing measures and school closures—and given the challenge to reach rural students—the Ministry of Education of Peru developed Aprendo en Casa (AeC), a multi-platform remote education strategy. Results of a survey aimed at monitoring its take-up suggest that less than half of homes that access AeC through radio are satisfied with it, and nearly half of parents report they require more support in order to help their children.
Tracking how people’s lives are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can enable policymakers to better understand the situation in their countries and make data-driven policy decisions. To respond to this need, IPA has developed the RECOVR survey—a panel survey that will facilitate comparisons, document real-time trends of policy concern, and inform decision-makers about the communities that are hardest-hit by the economic toll of the pandemic.
- More than 40% of respondents report that they perceive their household to be at risk of contracting COVID-19. For those who do not feel at risk, 70% of respondents report following preventive measures.
- More than 50% of employed individuals have been paid less (earned less) than in a typical week before schools closed.
- More than 30% of respondents say they have exhausted their savings to cover essential expenses since February 2020.
- More than 60% of respondents indicate that they cannot afford the amount of food they used to buy before the pandemic because household income has decreased or because the price of food is now too high.
- More than 90% of respondents say that primary and secondary school-age children in their household have continued educational activities from home.
- 45% of respondents perceive that insecurity in their neighborhoods has increased since the beginning of the pandemic.
School closures resulting from lockdowns to limit the spread of COVID-19 threaten to result in learning loss for students, particularly young children in vulnerable contexts. In order to evaluate the short-term impacts of distance learning efforts, researchers need to be able to effectively assess student learning outcomes remotely.
Lockdowns and social distancing strategies in response to COVID-19 threaten small businesses, undermining a critical income source for vulnerable populations. Sudden economic hardship, psychosocial risks, and uncertainty about the future trigger stress and anxiety. Imagery could help as a tool to boost resilience in response to the pandemic by enabling individuals to recognize its temporariness, innovate, mentally simulate contingency plans, and practice steps to recover.
Young Lives longitudinal survey began in 2001, with two cohorts, one born in 2000 (8,000 children) and one born in 1994 (4,000 children). Young Lives had planned to undertake a sixth round of quantitative fieldwork in 2020, now replaced with a Computer-Assisted-Telephone-Survey (CATI) comprising three phone calls.
Researchers are implementing two rounds of phone-based surveys to a large sample of couples in urban Peru to: (i) understand the impact on IPV and intra-household conflict of restrictions instituted to contain the spread of COVID-19; (ii) characterize couples at heightened risk of IPV as a result of these measures in order to increase understanding of risk factors for IPV and inform the government’s response to IPV by helping them target services to couples most in need; and (iii) evaluate th
Tracking how people’s lives are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can enable policymakers to better understand the situation in their countries and make data-driven policy decisions. To respond to this need, IPA has developed the RECOVR survey—a panel survey that will facilitate comparisons, document real-time trends of policy concern, and inform decision-makers about the communities that are hardest-hit by the economic toll of the pandemic.
- Forty-three percent of respondents reported that someone in their household skipped necessary healthcare since the start of the National Quarantine.
- Over half of respondents say they have reduced their number of meals in the last week.
- Over half of respondents say they would not be able to find COP 1,000,000 (around USD$270) to pay for an emergency.
- Half of all respondents who worked at all in February are still working. Of those still working, 20 percent earned less and 15 percent worked fewer hours in the past week.
- The vast majority of households living with school-aged children report that those children are still spending time on school.
- Twenty percent of respondents have tried to take a COVID-19 test and eighty percent would get a vaccine. The proportion of respondents who think they are at risk for COVID-19 and who are taking self-protection measures increased from Round 1 to Round 2.
- Although more than one third of respondents have had to limit their food portions or number of meals in the last week, the proportion of respondents taking these measures has decreased from Round 1.
- About sixty four percent of respondents reported that their debts had increased during the quarantine, with informal workers more likely to report an increase.
- Respondents with formal employment report maintaining their jobs in May and August in higher proportions than respondents with informal employment.
- Between thirty five percent and fifty percent of respondents (based on children's education levels) said they would not send their children back to educational institutions in the second half of 2020.
- More than forty percent of children (6-18 years) have developed additional anxieties or concerns since the beginning of quarantine.
- Seven percent of respondents who live with a partner report being more concerned about physical violence between partners since the beginning of quarantine.
- Over the course of the national quarantine, a higher proportion of respondents reported an increase in adult mental health symptoms, but this proportion declined from 45 percent to 26 percent of respondents after the national quarantine.
- The proportion of respondents who cut back on portions in the week prior to the survey dropped to 37 percent in November, compared to at least 50 percent in March and August.
- Forty eight percent of respondents spent their savings to pay for basic expenses, 16 percent borrowed money they were unsure if they could pay back on time, and 16 percent skipped required payments.
- Respondents in formally employed households are more than twice as likely (54 percent) as those with informal employment (23 percent) to earn the same amount of money since February.
- The percentage of respondents who say they will attend college, university, or technical school in the first half of 2021 increased significantly.
- 33 percent of respondents have the perception that efforts to recruit children or adolescents by criminal or armed groups have increased.
- Conflicts and arguments within the household between romantic partners increased during the quarantine for 22 percent of respondents, but decreased after the quarantine to 17 percent.
- Violencia en el hogar durante COVID-19
- ¿Cómo se relaciona la pandemia del COVID-19 con la salud mental de los colombianos?
- Seguridad Alimentaria y Protección Social en Colombia durante el COVID-19
- Retos ocultos de la pandemia: vinculación de niños, niñas y adolescentes con actividades ilegales en Colombia
- Mercado laboral en la crisis del COVID-19
- Vacunación contra el COVID-19 en Colombia: opinión pública sobre su priorización y distribución
- RECOVR Hallazgos Principales
In order to limit the spread of COVID-19, governments in Latin America have adopted measures to increase social distancing, including closing schools and limiting mobility. Ministries of Education in the region have transitioned to distance education programs, with caregivers playing a key role in accompanying the learning process at home. However, parents may lack the knowledge and skills to provide an effective support to their children.
The coronavirus pandemic imposes not only a global health threat but also an economic shutdown in many countries. Such a shock poses a particularly large risk for the poor in developing countries who often have highly vulnerable income sources, limited savings, and a lack of adequate safety nets to fall back on.
Indigenous communities are often socially and economically marginalized which makes them particularly vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19. The Population Council has a longstanding partnership with indigenous communities in Guatemala through the Abriendo Oportunidades (AO) program. To understand the knowledge, perspectives, and needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will conduct key informant interviews with indigenous community leaders and frontline workers.
- 100 percent of respondents are aware of COVID-19, and 74 percent know that anyone can get infected.
- Knowledge of at-risk groups and major symptoms are high. However, more than half incorrectly identified children as particularly at risk and there was lower awareness of difficulty breathing and fatigue as symptoms.
- Frontline health workers and municipal officers had the highest perceived risk of being infected with COVID-19, while community leaders, heads of household, and young indigenous women who are former adolescent girl group mentors had the lowest perceived risk. Teachers fell in the middle.
- Respondents stated that TV programs, followed by the President’s announcements and TV advertisements were the most trusted sources of COVID-19 information—a majority get information from TV and radio shows.
- There is mixed knowledge on measures to prevent infection—more awareness on handwashing and masks, compared to social distancing. Indigenous community members may face challenges in adhering to promoted sanitation and hygiene and social distancing guidelines due to a lack of personal water sources, the expense of hand sanitizer, and single-room households.
- Key informants are most worried about infecting other people, followed by COVID-19's potential deadly impact and its impact on livelihoods.
More than 1.5 billion students have to stay at home due to COVID-19 school closures, more than 90 percent of total enrolled learners (UNESCO, 04.01.2020). To ensure learning continuity, students have to study at home. However, it is unclear how the students respond to this challenge and if there is a way to improve their lives. Therefore, we conducted a COVID-19 Rapid Response study among current high school students in Ecuador.
- The data show that 59 percent of students have both an internet connection at home and a computer or tablet, 74 percent are engaging in some online or telelearning, and 86 percent have done some school work on the last weekday.
- Detailed time-use data show most students have established similar daily routines around education, although gender and wealth differences emerge in time spent working and on household tasks.
- Closure of schools and social isolation are the two main problems students say they face, and while the majority are mostly happy, 16 percent have mental health scores that indicate depression.
This project studies whether a youth empowerment program in Bolivia can reduce the prevalence of violence against girls during the COVID-19 lockdown. The program offers training in soft skills and technical skills, sex education, mentoring, and job-finding assistance. To measure the effects of the program, the study conducts a randomized control trial with 600 vulnerable adolescents. Violence is measured with both direct self-report questions and list experiments.
In the sprawling informal peripheries of cities throughout the developing world, enhancing state capacity may be critical for an effective COVID response, and hence to macro-level public-health, economic, and political outcomes. In Medellín, Colombia, most neighborhoods are occupied by one of roughly 400 criminal gangs. The researchers have a three-year ongoing study in the city dedicated to understanding and reshaping state and gang rule.
IPA is providing technical support to the Ministry of Education of Peru on designing and analyzing a survey to monitor the implementation of the national remote education strategy under COVID-19 confinement measure. The survey aims to provide actionable information to the MoE on three main dimensions related to parents: (1) information on the strategy, (2) use of the strategy, and (3) areas of support to improve the delivery and take up.
Several governments in LAC are increasingly imposing mandatory quarantines for all citizens to contain the expansion of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Peru, the government is trying to smooth the impact of the shock on the consumption of vulnerable households by providing an emergency cash transfer for the poorest households.
