Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

During COVID-19, schools were forced to move to remote delivery of teaching. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) note that high levels of pre-existing inequalities (e.g. poverty) have exacerbated the negative impacts of the pandemic on children’s education. The World Bank report predicts that the “shock on human capital will substantially reduce intergenerational mobility and the likelihood of children from low educated families to complete secondary school”. The bank also presents a call to action to address the significant learning loss experienced by Latin American and Caribbean children. As countries are transitioning back to face-to-face or to more hybrid styles of education delivery, consider:

• Work in partnership with schools, community groups (e.g. parental committees) and local social care services to identify vulnerable children and develop targeted measures (e.g. through remedial programmes) to ensure that schools are teaching at an appropriate level for all children. Specifically take into account the learning needs of children from lower-income families who may not have had the resources at home to keep up with remote learning measures
  • For example, ‘Alerta Escuela’, Peru uses early warning systems to identify students who are at risk of dropping out or who are in need of targeted interventions
• Guide and support schools on how best to combine remote and in-person learning (e.g. the Ceibal initiative in Uruguay). To increase accessibility, blended learning recovery solutions should consider low- or no-tech options (e.g. educational TV programmes/local radio/community youth groups)
• Design a long-term transformational plan for accelerating the digital transformation of local and national Education Management and Information Systems (EMIS), for example:
  • The World Bank is collaborating with education agencies to establish a “new generation of EMIS based on an enterprise architecture focusing on learning data”. The programme will collate best practices, tools and guidance that aim to enable education agencies to implement technology-driven solutions that accelerate cost effective educational programmes and generate high investment returns

See also TMB Issue 33 – a case study which explores the “attainment gap” and digital divide, detailing international strategies that aim to support children to catch up on learning time lost during the pandemic

A current research project, by the Overseas Development Institute, is examining social protection (SP) measures employed during the pandemic in LMICs. The project is producing a series of working papers. One paper examines the inclusion of refugees in government-led SP and the “alignment and integration of cash assistance to refugees and government social protection”. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of social protection responses across four countries in terms of: “Timeliness; coverage adequacy; and level adequacy (value of benefit)”. It also offers the emerging lessons from the study and initial policy recommendations. Consider:

Lessons on the drivers of effective government social protection response

• The maturity of SP systems and pre-existing local and state capacities directly impacted how effectively SP programmes met the needs of refugees during COVID
• Targeting criteria that evaluates eligibility based on risk of vulnerability could be more effective, timely and suitable during a crisis rather than traditional criteria such as length of residency or status
• Benefit levels of government systems are unlikely to be sufficient for refugees’ needs, as these are typically higher than those of nationals and require very careful consideration. The main challenge identified when setting benefit levels which include refugees during the pandemic is that governments are “faced with two competing objectives: (1) preventing social tension and unfairness between population groups” (by varying benefit levels between refugees and nationals); and (2) “ensuring that everyone can meet their basic needs”

Policy recommendations for protecting refugees during a crisis

• Conduct a national socio-economic survey, to include data on refugees’ needs, to develop an overview of the needs of the population across the country. This can enable more effective social protection programme design that effectively meets the needs of everyone
• A review of registration processes can highlight barriers to access for refugees (e.g. in terms of the documents required to register for programmes). Where this is not possible, governments can “draw on international/national/local humanitarian actors’ databases of refugee populations” to swiftly target them with support during crisis
• Hosting governments could consider “integrating refugees into social insurance” (e.g. those with work permits) which may reduce political or public opposition as those receiving benefits will be contributing to national insurance
• Careful consideration of benefit levels and trade-offs between “politically greater acceptability but possibly lower effectiveness” in terms of meeting refugees needs is essential

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)

Concurrent incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as locus swarms destroying farms in Africa, forest fires devastating the US, flooding in the UK, show us that climate change actions are crucial when considering renewal strategies. Communities that are more vulnerable to natural disasters are disproportionately challenged during a pandemic. Natural climate solutions protect and restore nature, which can help mitigation of (and adaption to) the impacts of climate change, e.g. coastal wetland can defend communities from storm surge and sea level rise, well-managed forests can protect water supplies, reduce wildfire risk and prevent landslides. Consider:

• Raise awareness locally of the value and potential benefits of nature-based solutions for communities in mitigating risks of future natural disasters
• Engage with local businesses as potential sponsors of nature-based solutions
• Establish a volunteering scheme with employees of local businesses to support nature-based initiatives
  • Partner with local voluntary groups and community based organisations to establish community-led conservation efforts
  • Establish a 'plant a tree initiative', to build and enhance local forestry
  • Encourage roof top gardens and balcony gardens - create online gardening tutorials for creating mini urban gardens
• Work with local land owners to identify appropriate actions that support nature-based approaches, e.g. planting marram grass to stabilise sand dunes or peatland restoration

Many smaller retailers have less digital capabilities, and it is these skills which can help smaller business survive the pandemic. The loss of smaller retailers will inhibit the economic recovery at the local and national level. Consider how to encourage partnerships between larger and smaller companies to help accelerate digital transformation for small business owners:

• Offer digital solutions to support infrastructure development of small business to establish brands via mobile apps and digital menu applications for consumers. Additionally, develop simple online supply platforms for small and medium-sized business e.g. Menu in Brazil and MiMercado in Mexico
• Encourage financial inclusion through affordable financial products and services. Consideration may be given to the development of local fintech services and partnerships that extend credit to small retailers to help save businesses and make them more competitive
• Encourage collaborative platforms to share knowledge between well-established, experienced companies and vulnerable business e.g. Movimento Nós in Brazil an initiative created by eight of the main food and beverage companies in the country (Coca-Cola, Heineken, Nestlé etc.) to help 300,000 small businesses employing one million people, to get through COVID-19 and guarantee their reopening when possible. This will support the recovery of smaller supply chains and encourage customers and suppliers, which in turn will continue to have a positive impact on global supply chain recovery

Heat waves pose a particular risk to those already vulnerable to COVID-19 including the elderly (>65 years), and those with pre-existing health conditions (e.g. cardiovascular, pulmonary, kidney disease), and essential workers. COVID-19 and heat can put strains on health, and on surge capacity plans for hospitals to deal with concurrent risks. Additionally, people may expose themselves to other risks such as limiting social distancing measures to check in on older neighbours. Consider how to:

• Collaborate with formal and informal social service systems to identify and reach vulnerable individuals with information and support to protect them
• Increase the use of telephone outreach programmes for daily check-ins with the most vulnerable
• Increase enrolment of vulnerable people into check-ins and resources to run the system
• Review plans for in-home safety checks. Ensure the health and safety of staff, volunteers and the people they visit through training and the provision of PPE
• Identify high-risk communities by reviewing where local heat islands occur, and where this may overlap with high incidence or risk of COVID-19
• Assist efforts to review and expand social safety net programmes to support at-home cooling strategies for the most vulnerable e.g. utilise expanding energy subsidies to ensure households can afford home cooling measures

Further information on how to carry out public outreach on heatwaves during the COVID-19 pandemic can be found here: http://climatecentre.org/downloads/files/HWG%20appendix%20Extreme%20Heat%20during%20the%20COVID-19%20pandemic.pdf

This lesson was contributed to by a Chief Resilience Officer in Colombia during project data collection.

Existing resilience strategies should be amended in real-time to include long and short-term actions to combat the effects of COVID-19. This should include consideration of pre-existing vulnerabilities such as local socio-economic conditions, and environmental risk such as heatwaves and floods. Consider evaluating all indicators of all resilience programmes to weave COVID-19 impacts and indicators into sustainable resilience planning. This helps accommodate COVID-19 into existing long-term city plans, rather than trying to build resilience purely around COVID concerns

This lesson was contributed to by Chief Resilience Officers in the USA and Colombia, during project data collection.

In one city in Colombia, the local authorities decided on a campaign based on the idea of looking out for one another, and the slogan "Let's get our hands back into work, while looking out for each other". Involving local residents included:

• taking photographs of residents' hands working on relatable activities e.g. local bakers baking bread, or greengrocers laying out fruit and vegetables in the local store. The campaign also included photographs of residents' eyes
• preparing posters for city-wide use of the images and slogan

The campaign successfully involved people from the community literally looking out at, and for, one another, and improved engagement with the message.

This lesson was contributed by a Chief Resilience Officer in Colombia during project data collection.

In Colombia, local government has established an economic revival committee comprised of the Chamber of Commerce, labour unions and local stakeholders create as many jobs as possible that provide a basic wage. The idea is that in the current climate, more jobs that provide a basic wage, are more important than fewer jobs that provide high wages. Job creation will be encouraged through public and private entities in areas such as security and sanitation. More jobs providing a basic wage will maintain people's dignity and reduce poverty.

This lesson was contributed by a Chief Resilience Officer in Colombia during project data collection.

In Colombia, the Red Flags movement (vulnerable people hung red flags from their homes to signify a need for assistance e.g. food, finances) led to a rise in ad hoc voluntary contributions. Local government used this opportunity to develop an integrated system of relief. They:

• Created a single point of donation for all resources (human, in kind and financial), combining private and civil society donations to create a substantial, long-term resource
• Used big data including population age, location, data on links to existing social support to capture voluntary work undertaken, needs of individuals, and areas served
• Linked data and the centralised donation system to an economic committee comprised of local government, businesses, voluntary sector and charity sector to jointly decide allocation of finances to support voluntary organisations
• Developed a campaign for local businesses to 'adopt' a university student from one of the five city-owned universities - whereby the sector donated 2-3 semesters of student fees. The aim of the campaign was to support students' access to education to mitigate the long-term economic impacts of a lost generation of university graduates

This lesson was contributed by a Chief Resilience Officer in Colombia during project data collection.

Colombia is expecting El Nino, a climate cycle that will result in drought. Local government has brought together a climate change committee with academics and experts to inform local action on the impacts of water shortages and power loss during COVID-19. Consider:

• Running tabletop exercises that model water shortages and energy loss alongside the pandemic and its impacts on hospitals, cleaning infrastructure and public health
• Scenario planning that considers different states of lockdown and the impacts of COVID-19 and a climate emergency
• Scenario planning that considers the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and a climate emergency
• Public campaigns on conservation of water and energy, and how to manage these during a climate emergency

This lesson was contributed by a Chief Resilience Officer in Colombia during project data collection.

In Colombia, a programme to support rural agricultural production and urban restaurants has been developed. With the support of local government, produce that is normally sold at farmers markets is now being sold to restaurants. Restaurants have transformed into mini food markets within their local neighbourhoods. This has helped to meet local food demands, provided a market for local produce and maintained community cohesion.

This lesson was offered by a Chief Resilience Officer in Colombia during project data collection.

This could include:

• Retrofitting programmes to make buildings more energy-efficient
• Mass tree planting
• Investment in solar and wind power
• Building infrastructure required for increased consumption and use of electric cars such as improved electricity networks, and public and personal capacity for charging stations

Additionally, due to lockdown these measures may not be as disruptive to people's daily lives compared to, for example, offices being retrofitted while in constant use.

This lesson was conributed to by Chief Resilience Officers in Italy and Australia during project data collection, along with the source link below.