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2. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support to Sustain Peace: Four Areas to Explore for Improving Practice
- Author:
- Paige Arthur and Céline Monnier
- Publication Date:
- 04-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- After experimenting with months of lockdown and imposed social distancing measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, people everywhere now have a more immediate understanding of how prolonged crisis can create challenges for both individuals’ mental health as well as maintaining the social fabric of communities. However, social fragmentation and mental distress created by adverse environments are not new, nor are they limited to COVID-19. Gross social injustices or armed conflicts have provoked wide-spread mental suffering, broken down social norms, and undermined social cohesion since time immemorial. Generations grow up in the midst of violence, normalizing it, or losing capacity to trust others or their institutions. Hence, neglecting the psychosocial impacts of social injustices and violence on the individual and society undermines other efforts to build peaceful societies. Nevertheless, the use of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) approaches to build peace or prevent violent conflict remains anecdotal and ad hoc. This paper summarizes the existing arguments for why MHPSS should be more systematically used to sustain peace, and offers four opportunities to use MHPSS approaches in sustaining peace efforts at the UN: Support national capacities; Integrate MHPSS as a normal part of sustaining peace strategies; Increase expertise on MHPSS as part of sustaining peace; Creative partnerships to support an integrated approach.
- Topic:
- Mental Health, Peace, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
3. Inequality, Lockdown, and COVID-19: Unequal Societies Struggle to Contain the Virus
- Author:
- Paul von Chamier
- Publication Date:
- 04-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- There is nothing equal about COVID-19. It is now well established that poor and underprivileged social groups have absorbed most of the pandemic’s negative impact. However, the connection between COVID-19 and inequality might run even deeper. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, one additional point of the Gini coefficient correlated with a 1.34 percentage point higher rate of weekly new infections across countries. This difference in infection rates compounds like interest every week. This means that after twenty-one weeks of the pandemic, just one additional Gini å correlates with an approximately 1/3 higher overall number of cases in a country. More equal countries might enjoy an “equality dividend” that is associated with more shock resilience during the ongoing crisis. This new research from CIC sought to understand if pre-existing systemic inequities could be linked to higher COVID-19 infection rates, examining infection rates in 70 countries from mid-March 2020 through early August 2020, or what is widely seen as the first 21 weeks of the pandemic. It also studied these nations’ levels of inequality and other potential predictive variables: government efficiency (a measure indicating quality of public services and civil service capability), urban population share, share of the population over the age of 65, lockdown measures (calculated by stringency), and geographic mobility (a population’s physical movements as measured by Google’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports). The study tracked inequality by using the “Gini Coefficient,” a commonly used metric for measuring income inequality within nations--or, specifically, how far a country’s wealth or income distribution deviates from a completely equal distribution. Under this calculation, the higher the coefficient, the greater the income inequality within that country.
- Topic:
- Inequality, Resilience, COVID-19, Health Crisis, and Society
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
4. Solidarity Taxes in the Context of Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Author:
- Attiya Waris
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- There are multiple examples of solidarity taxes imposed across country contexts over previous decades. The solidarity taxes that were levied were done to mitigate effects of a crisis such as a pandemic, as well as rebuilding of nations that had been affected by world wars (examples include Zimbabwe and Germany). Considering the renewed interest in solidarity taxes in the wake of COVID-19, author Attiya Waris reviews the history of solidarity taxes, and discusses key lessons from the past, in addition to drawing these lessons and findings into policy reccomendations moving forward.
- Topic:
- Tax Systems, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Economic Recovery
- Political Geography:
- Germany, Zimbabwe, and Global Focus
5. Learning from COVID-19: How to make care central to economic policy around the world
- Author:
- Ruth Pearson and Eva Neitzert
- Publication Date:
- 09-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- After decades of neglect, the COVID-19 pandemic has made visible the vital role that the care economy plays in the functioning of economies and societies—and highlighted the deep crisis at the heart of it. Care recipients and providers of care have been on the COVID-19 frontlines, and the ability of governments to mount an effective response to the pandemic has been hampered by decades of policies that undervalued and neglected the care economy.
- Topic:
- Economic Policy, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6. A “Hidden Front” in the Battle Against COVID-19: How Behavioral Data is Helping Contain the Pandemic and Improve Policy
- Author:
- Paul von Chamier and Neil Martin
- Publication Date:
- 11-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- COVID-19 has provided a sharp reminder of the key role citizens’ perceptions and attitudes play in shaping the outcomes of public policy. This experience is changing the way governments use data to combat the pandemic and set priorities for the recovery.
- Topic:
- Health, Recovery, Data, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
7. COVID-19, Election Governance, and Preventing Electoral Violence
- Author:
- Sarah Cliffe
- Publication Date:
- 11-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The COVID-19 pandemic has had a global impact on the conduct of elections, with countries and territories across every region affected. Governments and electoral authorities have responded with innovative practices—but the challenges posed by the pandemic have also revealed gaps and weaknesses that must be addressed. Lessons from the COVID-19 era can help with preparedness for future challenges such as holding elections in the wake of natural disasters or in highly polarized contexts. In this briefing, Kevin Casas-Zamora, the Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, joins CIC's Sarah Cliffe and Nendirmwa Noel to take a look at how countries have handled elections during the pandemic so far, exploring options for ensuring good election governance and preventing electoral violence. The briefing examines decisions about postponing elections or holding them as scheduled, as well as changes to the campaigning and voting processes due to public health measures. It also addresses impact on turnout, lessons on the conduct of credible elections during COVID-19, lessons for preventing election-related violence, and approaches to combat electoral misinformation and disinformation.
- Topic:
- Governance, Elections, Violence, Peace, Humanitarian Crisis, COVID-19, and Society
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
8. COVID-19 has a postcode: How urban housing and spatial inequality are shaping the COVID-19 crisis
- Author:
- Jeni Klugman and Matthew Moore
- Publication Date:
- 12-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- COVID-19 has underlined that spatial inequality is relevant—and costly—everywhere: not only in developing countries. The pandemic has exposed sharp inequalities in prosperous cities, such as New York and San Francisco, as well as in slums and informal settlements in developing countries such as Kenya and Iran. For an estimated 1.4 billion people living in informal settlements, home is crowded, inadequate, and unsafe. In the words of one observer, “[w]ith COVID-19, we are all in the same storm. We are not all in the same boat.” This paper presents the results of a rapid appraisal carried out in May 2020. It surveys how existing urban inequalities have played out in practice, how spatial inequality has shaped the repercussions of COVID-19, and how housing-related program and community responses have helped close—or exacerbated—these gaps. It also outlines the opportunities and prospects for longer term reforms. While data and empirical analysis are still nascent, academic, government, and civil society groups, as well as news outlets, have quickly ramped up efforts to document and study the pandemic and its numerous effects. We assess emerging evidence about how the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts reflect residential segregation, including how they differentially affect renters, people who live in informal settlements, and the homeless. The COVID-19 crisis calls for rapid and innovative responses to address strains on lives and livelihoods. Our review identifies many promising emergency responses—from temporary eviction moratoria to cash transfer programs—aimed at mitigating COVID-19’s immediate impact.
- Topic:
- Inequality, Fragile States, Crisis Management, Cities, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
9. Food for Thought – Talking Points on Food Prices
- Author:
- Nendirmwa Noel and Sarah Cliffe
- Publication Date:
- 04-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- This short memo summarizes issues linking the COVID-19 pandemic and food prices. There is a real risk of a food price crisis emerging as a result of the pandemic, for the following reasons: Food systems are facing a complex set of demand and supply shocks during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes increased demand due to hoarding versus decreased demand due to containment measures; lower prices for food system inputs, such as petroleum, versus decreased supply due to disruption of production, transport and trade. There seems to be a risk that rice, and possibly wheat, see a price surge which disconnects them from the downward trend in other basic commodities. There is also undoubtedly a risk that specific countries and large urban settlements see sharp increases in prices of scarce commodities, as protests in Afghanistan and in Nigeria have already shown this week. The crisis is coming just as farmers in many parts of the world are about to begin planting, and action is therefore needed now.
- Topic:
- Governance, Food Security, Multilateralism, Crisis Management, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
10. Population Movements, COVID-19, and Conflict Risk
- Author:
- Sarah Cliffe, Leah Zamore, and Nendirmwa Noel
- Publication Date:
- 04-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the globe, people are also moving in response to the threat of the virus and the actions states have taken to stem its transmission. This memo examines population movements in pandemics and offers relevant policy recommendations. In this policy memo, Sarah Cliffe, Leah Zamore, and Nendirmwa Noel detail the history of population movements during pandemics, provide an overview of the internal and cross-border movements now taking place around the world, and give examples of the restrictions and other measures governments are implementing to to respond. They also supply a number of concrete policy recommendations goverments can take now to improve their management of internal and cross-border movement in the face of COVID-19.
- Topic:
- Governance, Conflict, Borders, Humanitarian Crisis, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus