Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in Ethiopia, Report No. 8
Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in Ethiopia, Report No. 8

Author: Christina Wieser

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social effects on households have created an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis and protect the welfare of the least well-off Ethiopians. To track how the pandemic is affecting Ethiopia's economy and its population and to inform interventions and policy responses, the World Bank is conducting a high-frequency phone survey of households (HFPS-HH). The HFPS-HH tracks households with access to a phone, with selected respondents, typically household heads, completing phone-based interviews every month.

COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?
COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?

Author: Abay, Kibrom A.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-11-11

Total Pages: 46

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

We assess the impact of Ethiopia’s flagship social protection program, the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food and nutrition security of households, mothers, and children. We use both pre-pandemic in-person household survey data and a post-pandemic phone survey. Two thirds of our respondents reported that their incomes had fallen after the pandemic began and almost half reported that their ability to satisfy their food needs had worsened. Employing a household fixed effects difference-in-difference approach, we find that the household food insecurity increased by 11.7 percentage points and the size of the food gap by 0.47 months in the aftermath of the onset of the pandemic. Participation in the PSNP offsets virtually all of this adverse change; the likelihood of becoming food insecure increased by only 2.4 percentage points for PSNP households and the duration of the food gap increased by only 0.13 months. The protective role of PSNP is greater for poorer households and those living in remote areas. Results are robust to definitions of PSNP participation, different estimators and how we account for the non-randomness of mobile phone ownership. PSNP households were less likely to reduce expenditures on health and education by 7.7 percentage points and were less likely to reduce expenditures on agricultural inputs by 13 percentage points. By contrast, mothers’ and children’s diets changed little, despite some changes in the composition of diets with consumption of animal source foods declining significantly.

Impacts of COVID-19 on food security: Panel data evidence from Nigeria
Impacts of COVID-19 on food security: Panel data evidence from Nigeria

Author: Amare, Mulubrhan

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-08-11

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This paper combines pre-pandemic face-to-face survey data with follow up phone surveys collected in April-May 2020 to quantify the overall and differential impacts of COVID-19 on household food security, labor market participation and local food prices in Nigeria. We exploit spatial variation in exposure to COVID-19 related infections and lockdown measures along with temporal differences in our outcomes of interest using a difference-in-difference approach. We find that those households exposed to higher COVID-19 cases or mobility lockdowns experience a significant increase in measures of food insecurity. Examining possible transmission channels for this effect, we find that COVID-19 significantly reduces labor market participation and increases food prices. We find that impacts differ by economic activities and households. For instance, lockdown measures increased households' experience of food insecurity by 12 percentage points and reduced the probability of participation in non-farm business activities by 13 percentage points. These lockdown measures have smaller impacts on wage-related activities and farming activities. In terms of food security, households relying on non-farm businesses, poorer households, those with school-aged children, and those living in remote and conflicted-affected zones have experienced relatively larger deteriorations in food insecurity. These findings can help inform immediate and medium-term policy responses, including social protection policies aiming at ameliorating the impacts of the pandemic, as well as guide targeting strategies of governments and international donor agencies by identifying the most impacted sub-populations.

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020
Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2020-12-23

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1464816034

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This edition of the biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity report brings sobering news. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and its associated economic crisis, compounded by the effects of armed conflict and climate change, are reversing hard-won gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The fight to end poverty has suffered its worst setback in decades after more than 20 years of progress. The goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, already at risk before the pandemic, is now beyond reach in the absence of swift, significant, and sustained action, and the objective of advancing shared prosperity—raising the incomes of the poorest 40 percent in each country—will be much more difficult. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune presents new estimates of COVID-19's impacts on global poverty and shared prosperity. Harnessing fresh data from frontline surveys and economic simulations, it shows that pandemic-related job losses and deprivation worldwide are hitting already poor and vulnerable people hard, while also shifting the profile of global poverty to include millions of 'new poor.' Original analysis included in the report shows that the new poor are more urban, better educated, and less likely to work in agriculture than those living in extreme poverty before COVID-19. It also gives new estimates of the impact of conflict and climate change, and how they overlap. These results are important for targeting policies to safeguard lives and livelihoods. It shows how some countries are acting to reverse the crisis, protect those most vulnerable, and promote a resilient recovery. These findings call for urgent action. If the global response fails the world's poorest and most vulnerable people now, the losses they have experienced to date will be minimal compared with what lies ahead. Success over the long term will require much more than stopping COVID-19. As efforts to curb the disease and its economic fallout intensify, the interrupted development agenda in low- and middle-income countries must be put back on track. Recovering from today's reversals of fortune requires tackling the economic crisis unleashed by COVID-19 with a commitment proportional to the crisis itself. In doing so, countries can also plant the seeds for dealing with the long-term development challenges of promoting inclusive growth, capital accumulation, and risk prevention—particularly the risks of conflict and climate change.

Economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia: A review of phone survey evidence
Economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia: A review of phone survey evidence

Author: Hirvonen, Kalle

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-08-24

Total Pages: 15

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

As in most low and middle-income countries, the paucity of timely economic data in Ethiopia makes it difficult to understand the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. To mitigate this, several organizations have launched phone surveys to gather more information about the crisis. This research report reviews the available phone survey evidence as of mid-August 2020 and identifies knowledge gaps. First, the available evidence suggest that the pandemic has not led to unusually large increases in food prices. However, a case study in the vegetable sector suggests that price dynamics are highly context and crop specific, calling for more comprehensive price monitoring to identify food value chains and areas where food price increases may have been unusually rapid. Second, employment losses have concentrated on informal sector workers while redundancies in the formal sector have been less significant. Third, there is considerable uncertainty about the income, poverty, and food security implications of this crisis. While most households report income losses, the qualitative and subjective nature of these questions meanthat the magnitudes of these losses are unknown. In Addis Ababa, less subjective food security measures indicate only small negative changes in household food and nutrition security. Finally, due to limited access to mobile phones in rural areas, we have imperfect and incomplete information on how this crisis is affecting rural households.

Global Trends 2040
Global Trends 2040

Author: National Intelligence Council

Publisher: Cosimo Reports

Published: 2021-03

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 9781646794973

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

The Human Capital Index 2020 Update
The Human Capital Index 2020 Update

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2021-05-05

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1464816476

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives—is a central driver of sustainable growth, poverty reduction, and successful societies. More human capital is associated with higher earnings for people, higher income for countries, and stronger cohesion in societies. Much of the hard-won human capital gains in many economies over the past decade is at risk of being eroded by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Urgent action is needed to protect these advances, particularly among the poor and vulnerable. Designing the needed interventions, targeting them to achieve the highest effectiveness, and navigating difficult trade-offs make investing in better measurement of human capital now more important than ever. The Human Capital Index (HCI)—launched in 2018 as part of the Human Capital Project—is an international metric that benchmarks the key components of human capital across economies. The HCI is a global effort to accelerate progress toward a world where all children can achieve their full potential. Measuring the human capital that children born today can expect to attain by their 18th birthdays, the HCI highlights how current health and education outcomes shape the productivity of the next generation of workers and underscores the importance of government and societal investments in human capital. The Human Capital Index 2020 Update: Human Capital in the Time of COVID-19 presents the first update of the HCI, using health and education data available as of March 2020. It documents new evidence on trends, examples of successes, and analytical work on the utilization of human capital. The new data—collected before the global onset of COVID-19—can act as a baseline to track its effects on health and education outcomes. The report highlights how better measurement is essential for policy makers to design effective interventions and target support. In the immediate term, investments in better measurement and data use will guide pandemic containment strategies and support for those who are most affected. In the medium term, better curation and use of administrative, survey, and identification data can guide policy choices in an environment of limited fiscal space and competing priorities. In the longer term, the hope is that economies will be able to do more than simply recover lost ground. Ambitious, evidence-driven policy measures in health, education, and social protection can pave the way for today’s children to surpass the human capital achievements and quality of life of the generations that preceded them.

The State of the Global Education Crisis
The State of the Global Education Crisis

Author: UNESCO

Publisher: UNESCO Publishing

Published: 2021-12-09

Total Pages: 55

ISBN-13: 9231004913

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The global disruption to education caused by the COVD-19 pandemic is without parallel and the effects on learning are severe. The crisis brought education systems across the world to a halt, with school closures affecting more than 1.6 billion learners. While nearly every country in the world offered remote learning opportunities for students, the quality and reach of such initiatives varied greatly and were at best partial substitutes for in-person learning. Now, 21 months later, schools remain closed for millions of children and youth, and millions more are at risk of never returning to education. Evidence of the detrimental impacts of school closures on children's learning offer a harrowing reality: learning losses are substantial, with the most marginalized children and youth often disproportionately affected. Countries have an opportunity to accelerate learning recovery and make schools more efficient, equitable, and resilient by building on investments made and lessons learned during the crisis. Now is the time to shift from crisis to recovery - and beyond recovery, to resilient and transformative education systems that truly deliver learning and well-being for all children and youth."--The World Bank website.

Digital Africa
Digital Africa

Author: Tania Begazo

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2023-04-04

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1464818371

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, broader use can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of country populations averaged across Sub-Saharan Africa, but only 22 percent use such services. The average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers, as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: the affordability of these new technologies and the willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small and medium businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skill-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty across Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.

Afrique numérique
Afrique numérique

Author: Tania Begazo

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2023-08-08

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1464819718

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Tous les pays africains ont besoin d'avantage d'emplois de qualité pour leurs populations croissantes. Le rapport « Afrique numérique : Transformation technologique pour l’emploi » montre qu'une utilisation plus large, par les entreprises et les ménages, des technologies numériques génératrices de productivité est impérative afin de générer de tels emplois, y compris pour les personnes peu qualifiées. Dans le même temps, cette démarche peut soutenir non seulement l'objectif à court terme de reprise économique postpandémique des pays, mais aussi leur vision d'une transformation économique assortie d’une croissance plus inclusive. Cependant, ces résultats ne seront pas automatiques. La disponibilité de l'internet mobile a augmenté sur l’ensemble du continent ces dernières années, mais l'écart d'utilisation est le plus élevé au monde. Les zones disposant d'au moins un service internet mobile 3G couvrent désormais 84 % en moyenne de la population des pays d'Afrique subsaharienne, mais seulement 22 % utilisent ces services. Et l'entreprise africaine moyenne accuse un certain retard en matière d'utilisation de smartphones et d’ordinateurs, ainsi que de technologies numériques plus sophistiquées qui contribuent à obtenir de nouveaux gains de productivité. Deux problèmes expliquent cet écart d'utilisation : l'absence d'abordabilité de ces nouvelles technologies et la de les utiliser. Pour les 40 % d'Africains qui vivent en dessous du seuil de pauvreté extrême, les forfaits de données mobiles coûteraient à eux seuls un tiers de leurs revenus, en plus du prix des appareils d'accès, des applications et de l'électricité. Les forfaits de données pour les petites et moyennes entreprises sont également plus chers que dans d'autres régions. De plus, la qualité des services internet †“ de même que la fourniture d'applications attrayantes et adaptées aux compétences qui favorisent l'entrepreneuriat et augmentent les revenus †“ présente des lacunes qui freinent la volonté des entreprises et populations de les utiliser. Pour les pays qui utilisent déjà ces technologies, les retombées du développement sont importantes. De nouvelles études empiriques réalisées pour le présent rapport s'ajoutent aux données sans cesse croissantes qui démontrent que la disponibilité de l'internet mobile augmente directement la productivité des entreprises, accroît le nombre des emplois, et réduit la pauvreté à travers l'Afrique. Pour que ces bénéfices ainsi que d'autres avantages se concrétisent plus largement, les pays africains doivent mettre en oeuvre des politiques complémentaires et synergiques afin de renforcer à la fois la capacité de payer des consommateurs et leur volonté d'utiliser les technologies numériques. Ces interventions doivent accorder la priorité à une utilisation productive en vue de générer un grand nombre d'emplois inclusifs dans une région sur le point de bénéficier d'une main-d'oeuvre massive et jeune, laquelle est appelée à devenir la plus importante du monde d'ici la fin du siècle.