Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

Many local/town centre businesses will be micro- and small-medium enterprises (MSMEs) that have been severely impacted by the pandemic and lack internal resources to support recovery. In Pakistan, MSMEs contribute 40% to GDP and are critical to the economy, as they are in many other countries. In developing support strategies for local businesses and MSMEs, it is important to recognise that the pandemic has changed working practices and locations, and how we shop and entertain ourselves. Small businesses may not have the resources to access the type of data that can inform them on these potential changes to consumer habits, which in turn could impact trade levels as restrictions ease and these businesses re-open. Local governments can support them by facilitating access to this information. Consider:

• Build capacity of local government staff to undertake local economic assessments and develop small town regeneration and renewal plans (e.g. train staff to conduct economic impact assessments to identify businesses that may struggle post-lockdown and strategies that will support local economy recovery)
• Engage with local businesses, MSMEs and organisations that represent them (e.g.FSB UK) to draw on their perspectives and expertise when developing recovery and renewal plans
• Identify what has gone well in previous phases of re-opening, what could be improved and the support needs of these businesses (e.g. management of queues/health and safety measures to mitigate and contain the virus)
• Provide support grants to MSMEs for business regeneration or local marketing strategies to promote local businesses
• Conduct local and regional consumer habit surveys, in partnership with neighbouring local authorities, to identify the expectations of local consumers, and their potentially changed habits
• Communicate findings rapidly to local businesses so that they are informed and can prepare/pivot their businesses appropriately
• Develop an evidence-based local economic strategy that recognises changed consumer habits and demands, in partnership with local businesses
• Provide guidance to local businesses on how to adapt and where new business opportunities may lie (renewal)
• Signpost local businesses, particularly MSMEs, to training for digital skills and to advice on finance/investment in new technologies
• Develop a mechanism whereby local government can share lessons and knowledge between each other easily to learn from each other (e.g. collaborative 'light touch' impact assessments as described in Briefing A)

People with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed or not in education or training, which makes them more vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic, including increased risk of poverty. Recovery strategies to address the economic impacts of the pandemic should be disability-inclusive. Consider:

• Review/amend social protection systems to better protect people with disabilities during COVID-19:
  • Raise poverty thresholds to take disability-related additional costs into account
  • Revise the definition of disability in assessment procedures, to ensure they are functioning-based rather than impairment-based
  • Train volunteer community members to support the rapid identification of people with disabilities for social protection or other assistance: these community volunteers are sometimes called 'key informants' (KIs), are knowledgeable about the topic, the local area and the people who live there
• Ensure application procedures for social protection programmes and support services are accessible in the light of COVID-19 social distancing regimes:
  • Include disabled people's organisations when reviewing the accessibility of application processes and when disseminating information about support programmes
  • Adapt application and enrolment procedures to support the inclusion of people with disabilities
  • Provide disability training to programme staff and volunteers, e.g. disability awareness
  • Ensure programme information and application materials are available in a variety of accessible formats, e.g. Braille/videos/simplified text
  • Establish COVID-safe community-based registration services to bring services closer to people, and offer person/home-based assessment procedures for those with mobility limitations
• Ensure methods to deliver social protection services and welfare payments are accessible:
  • Allow welfare payments to be paid electronically or enable people with mobility difficulties to nominate a trusted individual to collect their
  • Ensure service points are physically accessible and within the person's local community
• Ensure employment schemes are adequate and accessible for people with disabilities during COVID-19:
  • Set up employment schemes to actively employ persons with disabilities, integrating such schemes into broader employment recovery schemes, e.g. green recovery
  • Make infrastructure accessible, e.g. buildings and workplaces
  • Introduce unemployment insurance to cover the informal sector, as people with disabilities, in particular women with disabilities, are more likely to be employed in the informal sector where there is an absence of job security, unemployment insurance and paid sick leave

Regional imbalances have created varying levels of economic impact on local economies. Areas that relied heavily on tourism and sport/music events prior to the pandemic are suffering disproportionate levels of unemployment and loss of trade. Consider a targeted local economic recovery strategy to boost tourism post-pandemic in local economies that have been hit hardest:

• Develop new tourism packages and make them appropriate for post-pandemic tourism, e.g. taking into consideration the potential need for social distancing, for vaccination passports to travel, and for meeting expectations of COVID-safe measures that tourists will have
• Recognise the opportunity to renew approaches to local tourism by adopting a community-centred tourism framework:
  • Redefine and reorientate tourism based on the rights and interests of local communities and local people
  • Involve local businesses, tourism boards and the community in developing targeted strategies to rejuvenate local tourism, that are beneficial to the whole community and geographical area
  • Create partnerships with local businesses and the local tourism board to develop a collaborative marketing plan to attract tourism
• Support local businesses in gaining core health and safety certifications by offering advice on how to gain certification and who to go to for auditing and certification awards
• Work with community voluntary groups to gain certifications such as 'Blue Flag Beach/Tidy Towns' to promote environmental and quality standards that will assist in marketing your local area to potential tourists
• Prepare a targeted marketing strategy to promote local areas when tourism returns, which communicates how the health and safety of visitors is central
• Collaborate with national tourism organisations (e.g. Visit Britain) and large holiday companies to promote domestic tourism
• Provide advice and temporary financial support (e.g. moratoriums on council tax) for local businesses directly involved in tourism (e.g. guest houses, to support their short-term financial viability)

COVID-19 has shed new light on the way in which countries respond to, and recover from emergencies. This includes COVID-19 specific advice and broader lessons about emergency preparedness and management. For example, previous guidance on volunteer management has traditionally assumed a point of convergence at a disaster site, while this still holds true for many emergencies e.g. floods, lessons from COVID-19 demonstrate that volunteer management may also be dispersed, large-scale and without face-to-face contact. Consider how lessons from COVID-19 may help to revise emergency plans:

• Conduct a 'stock take' of current emergency guidance, and consider what may be missing or no longer fit for purpose
• Implement debriefs, peer reviews and impact assessments, drawing on expertise from local government and emergency practitioners, to evaluate how well current guidance worked and where it needs revising
• Consider that emergency planning must remain relevant to specific types of emergencies, but that broader lessons from COVID-19 can help strengthen guidance e.g. issues of inclusion such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality; health and socio-economic disparities and vulnerabilities; volunteering capacity; supply chain stability; green agenda; and partnerships arrangements
• Draw on resources beyond government guidance from global networks e.g. Resilient Cities Network's revised toolkit which builds recovery from COVID-19 into a wider resilience agenda for a safe and equitable world, and resources from International Organization for Standardization (ISO) which is developing new recovery standards in light of COVID-19 lessons (ISO 22393)

Alongside the health and environmental risks, COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of current economic models. Circular economies are those that produce significantly reduced waste with the aim of producing zero through sharing, reusing and recycling products and byproducts - and the circular economy is becoming increasingly relevant during COVID-19. Consider:

• Developing more 'pay for service' models that do not require people to own goods in times of financial uncertainty e.g. using launderettes rather than having the burden of owning a washing machine provides alternatives to manage consumption, either by reducing expenditure, or opting for the basic alternative. These can be designed to support social distancing and COVID-19 measures
• Redefining and classifying what is considered essential if resources are limited or strained in order to prioritise needs. The circular economy may require redefining and rethinking the importance of certain roles, tasks, products and services e.g. the shift in perceptions of those in retail or waste management have been classified as essential workers
• Focus on local supply chains. Local supply chains can be more environmentally friendly and can also be more secure. De-globalization is a clear post COVID-19 trend. World trade is expected to contract between 13% and 32% in 2020, which indicates reliance on international supply chains may be seen as riskier than sourcing products and components locally
• Incentivize businesses, big and small, to become part of the circular economy e.g. encouraging businesses to take more responsibility for providing reusable facemasks to their staff, or supporting projects which aim to clean up and protect ecosystems from plastic waste such as disposable gloves and masks

The scale of COVID-19 requires information to the shared across countries and regions effectively. Consider how your organization can contribute to open data sets such as The Living Repository and the 'OECD - GOVLAB- Call for Evidence: Use of Open Government Data in COVID-19 Outbreak'. Consider contributing or using open data to identify:

• COVID-19 cases, individuals at risk, and forecasting future scenarios, including disease spread/contraction, and possible treatments for those infected
• Availability and demand for supplies, locating and connecting actors with medical supplies
• Whether communities adhere to guidelines and recommendations outlined by health authorities
• Public perceptions and how restrictions are affecting well-being, including crime e.g. the rise in domestic violence and child abuse
• Whether efforts are efficient, transparent, meet needs, and do not violate democracy, privacy, ethics or fundamental human rights
• Misinformation including accuracy, speed and scale of fact-checking
• How, where, and when lockdowns are lifted
• How the pandemic affects those who live and travel outside their country of national origin
• The most effective forms of aid to those most vulnerable to the pandemic's economic shocks
• The risks and challenges workers face to their health and safety and the protections available
• The impact on the ability of students and workers to meet learning and training outcomes
• Institutions most likely to close as a result of the pandemic and providing support
• The pandemic's effect on climate-related activities, global emissions, energy usage, and wildlife
• Disruptions caused by confinement measures on the economy e.g. analysing data on supply chains, trade, impacts on inclusive growth

Consider:

• How digitization can facilitate capacity for longer-term economic recovery. For example, in Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa, increased migration from cash to digital transactions has resulted in more account-to-account transfers and e-commerce sales which boosts economic activity and maintains social distancing
• The role of digital-payment platforms in increasing financial inclusion outside of traditional banking systems e.g. in Togo through cash transfers that disburse social welfare payments through mobiles
• Collaboration with banks and non-bank payments players to restructure transaction fees and limits to encourage digital payments
• Promoting easier access to digital-payment tools e.g. the Ghanaian government eased account-opening regulations

Processing information on coronavirus can be stressful. Consider how detailed information can be publicly shared, displayed and disseminated in an engaging and simple way, for example, through an infographic. The audience of the infographic should be clear but may include stakeholders, staff, citizens, tourists, customers, suppliers, volunteers, etc. Consider creating an infographic that includes:

• Number of people affected, recovered, died, tested, traced
• Number of volunteers, business contributions, donations, and the scope of effects they have had on COVID-19 response and recovery
• Number of travellers, visitors, business trips into the country/city
• Distribution of supplies and services e.g. PPE, number of service beneficiaries
• Other local government duties performed during the period of COVID-19 response and success of those
• Where to get more information from
• The date of the information contained in the infographic

Much information can be included and a regular circulation of such a graphic may keep stakeholders updated in an engaging way.

For example, Cape Town has an official government website to post messages of support.