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The Informal Economy is Complicating Government Responses to COVID-19: Will the Crisis Push Millions Toward Formality?
As COVID-19 devastates the global economy, many governments have designed support measures to help businesses and workers survive. But as Jill Lagos Shemin and James Dailey point out, this support may be ineffective in lower-income countries, where most small businesses and their employees work in the informal economy, lacking bank accounts and even valid ID. They explore some solutions governments can pursue – and trade-offs they will have to accept.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Africa’s Youth Employment During a COVID-19 Recession: We Must Innovate to Achieve a Job-Rich Recovery
As COVID-19 ravages the global economy, how can we protect existing jobs and quickly produce new ones – especially in markets like Africa, where youth unemployment was already high? According to Stephen Hunt and Neil Fleming at the Challenges Group, tackling this issue will require the development sector to innovate – and recognize that some of its favored approaches aren't working.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- Tags
- COVID-19
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Research During a Pandemic: Leaner and Faster Poverty Measurement in the Time of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic is pushing research projects around the world to move from face-to-face data collection to shorter, phone-based methods. But as Elliott Collins and John Branch at Innovations for Poverty Action point out, these changes can present challenges for researchers studying how the pandemic affects poor and vulnerable households. They explore some strategies for measuring poverty under these constraints, based on IPA’s experience with lean, remote research.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- COVID-19, data, poverty alleviation, research
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Big Data in a Time of Crisis: Maximizing its Value – And Avoiding its Risks – In the Fight Against COVID-19
About 2 million people around the world have been infected by the coronavirus, and the numbers continue to grow. Yet this data reveals only a fraction of the scale of the crisis. As Jessica Espey at SDSN TReNDS points out, the pandemic has exposed the acute weakness of the world’s data systems. But she cautions that, in modernizing these systems, we must not sacrifice our long-term data rights for short-term benefits.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care, Technology, Telecommunications
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Remote Business Coaching Made Sense Even Before COVID-19 – Now it’s a Necessity
The coronavirus is forcing us all to do things differently. But as Donna Rosa argues, in some cases that may be a good thing. For instance, microenterprises in low-income countries have long needed basic business management skills, yet the development sector has often failed to deliver this training effectively. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic pushes many interactions online, she argues that it’s time to increase the focus on distance coaching for these small businesses.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Education
- Tags
- business education, COVID-19, edtech
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How Will Last-Mile Distributors Adapt to and Survive the COVID-19 Crisis?
COVID-19 is creating major challenges for last-mile distributors around the world. And though these businesses are both nimble and resilient, they urgently need financial and technical support. Emma Colenbrander at the Global Distributors Collective explores how investors, NGOs and other stakeholders can help the sector to survive this crisis, and to continue to deliver impact as the pandemic subsides.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
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Distribute Cash, not COVID-19: Five Ways Policymakers in Sub-Saharan Africa Can Provide Cash Transfers Safely
As COVID-19 spreads around the world, 35 countries have introduced new cash transfer programs in response to the pandemic. Cash is one of the most effective ways to support people during a crisis, say Martin Gould and Nate Vernon at IDInsight. But administering cash transfers in low-income countries can raise some big questions for policymakers. They discuss five ways governments in sub-Saharan Africa can manage these programs safely and effectively.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Coronavirus Resources for the Social Impact Sector [UPDATED 12/6]
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing businesses everywhere to make difficult decisions – and the stakes are particularly high for companies in low- and middle-income countries. To help deliver actionable information to these enterprises and other social impact organizations, NextBillion has launched this regularly updated resource page, with COVID-19-related news, analysis, events, funding opportunities and more.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Social Enterprise
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