Africa’s digital infrastructure gap is worrying, and there are few good models around the world of well-integrated, multi-country approaches to reach full and equitable connectivity. The best model may be the European Union (EU), and there is much Africa can learn from it, but accelerated investment is a fundamental need.
The Covid-19 crisis has brought social protection to the forefront as a crisis response tool. It has also exposed social protection gaps and limitations. Some of the population groups most adversely affected by the crisis – women, informal workers, urban dwellers, refugees – are also those excluded from or underserved by social protection.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected armed conflict and political violence within countries? Focusing on Africa, a continent with a particularly high number of ongoing conflicts, this policy brief analyses the immediate and long-term implications of the pandemic on conflict and reflects on its implications for international peacebuilding efforts.
Multilateralism has been in trouble for a while, particularly at the global level. Yet, the European Union (EU) and its member states have remained among its staunchest supporters. The recent EU Communication on Multilateralism, published in February 2021, seeks to lay out a European vision to uphold, extend and reform the multilateral system.
The success of the G7 summit will be judged primarily on whether concrete measures are agreed to accelerate the global response to the pandemic.
While infection rates soar, and vaccine access remains highly unequal, there has perhaps never been a public policy challenge where national and international interests are so closely aligned. We know that no one is safe until everyone is safe, but COVAX will only cover around 30% of eligible populations in low- and middle-income countries with its current financing of $9.6 billion.
Refugees have been supported by innumerable cash or voucher interventions implemented by international humanitarian and development actors during the Covid-19 pandemic, but only a few of these have explicitly aligned or integrated with government social protection responses. Refugees residing in low- and middle-income countries have mostly been excluded from government social protection responses, and where they have been included (largely in Latin America and the Caribbean) this typically represents a continuation of pre-pandemic policy.