Community Responses to COVID-19: From the Horn of Africa to the Solomon Islands – World – ReliefWeb

Highlights

Community-driven development (CDD) programs, which put people at the center of designing their own solutions, are a critical part of the World Banks response to the global COVID-19 crisis.

The Bank is supporting countries in Horn of Africa and in Solomon Islands through CDD programs that are delivering cash and basic services to the most vulnerable.

To tackle a crisis of this magnitude and scale, our countries need an equitable, whole-of-society approach, which lies at the heart of CDD programs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended lives across the world. The crisis continues to have devasting impacts on people, with a disproportionate impact on the poor and the vulnerable, who are faced with job and income loss, uncertain food supply, and disruptions in health and education programs.

The most vulnerable lack the essential services they need to prevent or manage an outbreak, including migrants, persons living with disability, women, the elderly, LGBTI, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized groups will struggle. For example, refugees living in camps and settlements already battling overcrowding, limited water and sanitation facilities, and shortages of medical supplies could face disastrous outcomes. Similarly, persons with disabilities will face constraints in accessing basic necessities or critical medical appointments due to reduction of public transportation services.

The World Bank Group recognizes the urgency of the issue and is taking broad, fast action to help developing countries respond to COVID-19. In a health, social, and economic crisis of this scale, no single intervention is enough, and countries need to use every available platform and tool. As part of the World Banks operational response to the pandemic, community-driven development (CDD) programs, which put people at the center of designing their own solutions, have been effective in providing quick, large scale responses to tackle this crisis, including in remote and conflict ridden areas. These programs often complement traditional safety net systems by delivering cash transfers and basic services to the poorest and most vulnerable, including sanitation, water, and food through urban and rural programs that involve hundreds of thousands of communities and local civic leaders. CDD programs also protect the most marginalized by targeting livelihood support for women, persons with disabilities, unemployed youth, refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and returned migrants.

During a crisis like this, trusted community leaders and local governments face enormous demands with limited administrative and financial capacity. In this context, CDD platforms are a critical part of the World Banks response by providing an opportunity to tap into productive partnerships between community groups, civil society, private sector and governments. These partnerships operate on the principles of transparency, participation, accountability, sustainability, and enhanced local capacity all of which are crucial to deliver essential services to people who need it most.

While this pandemic has the potential to fracture societies, it is the resilience, solidarity, strength, and ingenuity of communities at their best that will overcome this. Here are a few examples of World Bank operations are that using community-based approaches to get the vital resources to communities in the Horn of Africa and Solomon Islands.

Horn of Africa: Uganda, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia

As the Horn of Africa was just starting to grapple with the displacement crisis, the largest in recorded history, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In response to the mass and protracted displacement of over four million refugees, the World Bank began to support Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda with the Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP) aimed at improving access to basic social services, expanding economic opportunities, and enhancing environmental management for communities hosting refugees.. The DRDIP is a 428 million regional operation that has reached more than 1.5 million beneficiaries, including host communities and refugees. Today, this community-led platform is being adapted to meet the social demands brought on by COVID-19.

For both refugees and their host communities, a common set of challenges have emerged. For one, the relationship between the two can often be fragile and complex. False or misleading information on COVID-19 has the potential to polarize, and further any stigmatization between the two groups. With government lockdowns come the need to effectively and accurately disseminate information related to the virus as many are forced to follow stay-at-home orders and, as a result, may not otherwise come across this important information.

The disruption of informal sector livelihoods, which are a mainstay for refugees and host communities, is also reportedly causing social tensions. Since the lockdown began in several countries, there has also been a marked increase in instances and reporting of gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children. The pandemic threatens to unravel the important progress made in recent years to improve womens and girls accumulation of human capital, economic empowerment, voice and agency.

In response to the pandemic, the World Bank will scale up the DRDIP project to help mitigate its social and economic risks. The mapping of health and WASH facilities is underway and will inform post-COVID infrastructure investments. Under Ugandas DRDIP, social and water conservation and land clearing activities are being implemented in small groups of five people working in rotation and following new protocols of social distancing. Individual agriculture cultivation and livestock rearing continue. The operation in Uganda is also refocusing its efforts by helping community organizations share prevention and basic hygiene messages through radio, short message services (SMS), and other digital means. The focus has also shifted to providing support to health centers, Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) related investments, doubling beneficiary numbers that will participate in LIPW, and increasing funding to support enterprise-based livelihoods like produce and livestock trading, cage fish farming, and grinding mills for women and youth. Furthermore, the operation will also monitor information on GBV and violence against children and support rapid and adequate referral of cases that have increased following COVID outbreak. Approximately 3 million beneficiaries will be reached across the DRDIP countries.

Solomon Islands

Like many Pacific Island nations, the Solomon Islands are home to a strong community-based culture. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the existing CDD project has been adapted to tackle immediate needs, and is already showing signs of progress. The World Bank-financed Community Access and Urban Services Enhancement (CAUSE) project in the Solomon Islands aims to improve the delivery of basic infrastructure and services through the provision of skills training, short-term job opportunities, and income generation for vulnerable populations, including unemployed youth and women, who may not otherwise have any other opportunities for formal employment.

As in the Horn of Africa, social unrest and violence have plagued the Solomon Islands. From 1998 to 2003, the country underwent a period of conflict known as Tensions, with additional periodic violence in 2006 and more recently in April 2019, following the elections. To offset the risk of violence and social unrest, the World Bank is scaling up short-term employment and training activities for vulnerable groups, especially women, youth, the urban poor and the majority of workers in the informal sector who many have lost their main source of income. The World Bank is also supporting the Ministry of Health and Medical Services in their effort to increase prevention and awareness efforts through the sanitation of public areas, construction of public hand washing stations, and training workers and communities on key symptoms and prevention measures.

CDD programs are often chosen because of their ability to adapt swiftly in responding to emergencies and disseminating resources to aid recovery efforts. The agility of the CAUSE project illustrates this point. Amid the government-issued closure of schools and certain businesses, this project is supporting COVID-19 prevention efforts by reinstating critical roads and access for frontline works. It is also delivering additional strategic investments to help stimulate the local economy and protect the livelihoods and incomes of vulnerable groups. The World Bank is coordinating with a range of development partners from the private, public and civil society sectors on investments ranging from the promotion of tourism-enabling infrastructure and services to the construction of markets to help to promote economic activity and create employment.

These are early days in the World Banks response to COVID-19. The operations are drawing lessons from previous pandemics, including the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak, which highlighted the importance of CDD programs in crisis management and recovery to complement medical efforts. In the case of COVID-19, partnerships between communities, healthcare systems, local governments, and the private sector can play a critical role in slowing the spread, mitigating impacts, enhancing ownership and sustainability, and supporting local recovery.

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Community Responses to COVID-19: From the Horn of Africa to the Solomon Islands - World - ReliefWeb