©PEGNet
The COVID-19 pandemic puts enormous pressure on economies and societies worldwide. This is particularly true for low and middle income countries, where many people are engaged in low-wage informal employment. The online event took place on 29 January 2021 and was jointly organised by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and PEGNet.
©DIE
Four distinguished speakers from leading universities presented their latest empirical studies on the role of social protection in cushioning the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Garima Sharma (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) started and presented latest evidence on the impacts of a pension scheme in India. She was followed by Christian Oldiges (University of Oxford), who showed how the employment guarantee programme (MGNREGA) support beneficiaries in dealing with the COVID-19 lockdowns in India. Kevin Donovan (Yale University) presented evidence that cash transfers have positive economic impacts on microenterprises in Kenya during the COVID-19 lockdowns. At last, Kibrom Tafere (World Bank) discussed the protective impacts of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia. After the presentations, the moderator, Christoph Strupat (DIE), discussed with the speakers and the audience what kind of social protection policies have been most effective in cushioning the effects of the pandemic and which ones could improve the resilience of people in low and middle income countries in the future.
You can re-watch the event here