Fostering Regional Cooperation and Integration for Recovery and Resilience: Guidance Note

The coronavirus disease or COVID-19 has brought countries together to mitigate its spread and cushion its adverse consequences. Regional cooperation will be perhaps even more important in building an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economic revival. This guidance note advocates wider, deeper, and more open regional cooperation and integration. Cooperation can be widened to include regional health security, trade in information and communication technology-enabled services, and financial safety nets, for example. It can be deepened to reach more stakeholders and sectors. It can also become more open through flexible collaboration and greater sharing of knowledge and expertise.

FOOD-RELATED COPING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY SOME HOUSEHOLDS DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN IN NIGERIA

As part of the measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Nigeria during the early stages of the pandemic, a lockdown of movements within and from outside the country was declared by the federal government. This article presents findings on food-related coping strategies adopted during the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria. A cross sectional survey using an online based questionnaire received responses from 883 households regarding information on food consumption, health seeking behaviour and food coping strategies during the COVID-19 lockdown. Food Coping Strategy Index (FCSI) was computed from the data received based on standard methods. Analysis and presentation of data was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. The key findings show that daily mealtimes generally reduced from an average of 3 to 2 times. The storage capacity of households showed an average of 2-week food stock of staples, and most of the respondents had started reducing either their usual portion sizes or frequency of meals in order to cope with food shortages. As regards health seeking behavior, older respondents were more likely to take prophylactic medication (p<0.004) and there was a higher preference for fruits and Vitamin C as prophylactic items. A negative correlation between FCSI with mealtime during COVID-19 lockdown (p<0.000) and monthly income (p<0.000) was observed. The findings presented provide information for policy intervention in the areas of social safety nets and palliatives disbursement in the event of similar lockdown restrictions in the future.

Care precarity among older British migrants in Spain

Northern European international retirement migrants are often viewed as affluent and use migration as a route to a better quality of life. However, as these migrants transition into the ‘fourth age’, the onset of age-related illnesses, frailty and care needs can lead to increased levels of risk and insecurity. Through 34 qualitative interviews with older British migrants in Spain, the paper explores how these migrants access and experience care as they age. It draws on a lens of precarity that allows an understanding not only of individual care needs, but of the political, economic and social context in which they are situated, including social protections and public safety nets. The findings suggest that distant family relationships and limited access to formal social protection can both create and exacerbate precarity. These older migrants therefore develop different strategies to access care that include drawing on informal relationships and voluntary organisations within the British community in Spain. The paper contributes to understanding how international retirement migrants manage their care needs, and theoretically extends our understanding of how the intersection of old age, migration and care can create new forms of precarity.

Social Safety Nets and Sustainable Development in Fragile Environments: A Field Social Study of Slums in the City of Baghdad/Al-Karkh

Almost human societies are not void of poverty, as the latter accompanied the emergence of humanity, and it, thus, represents an eternal problem. To advance an individual's reality and raise the level of the poor social classes, social security networks have been established. Such networks operate in society following social systems and laws to provide food, and material support. Besides, such networks help to rehabilitate the individual academically and vocationally. They empower vulnerable groups through the establishment of courses and workshop, provide (conditional) subsidies related to the health and educational aspects in order to achieve the sustainable development goals of (2030), and apply developmental roles of social safety nets that target the needy and poor groups living in slums, especially in the city of Baghdad. They further stand on the humanitarian and social conditions experienced by the residents of those areas. the study also examines the role of both formal and informal organizations in achieving sustainable development goals. The data of the study involves five complexes in Baghdad, specifically Al- Karkh side; these include the following: (Mu'amel Al-Masdar Complex, Al-Rahman Complex, Noor Complex), Al-Huda, Al-Raja’ Complex, and Al-Noor Village Complex). That is, the number of families was 250; 50 from each complex. A statistical program (SPSS) and scientific tools have been used to collect the data, such as observational questionnaire, interview, and groups focal point. The study has revealed that most of the respondents received food aids from different parties at a rate of (64.80%), especially during the crises that the country witnessed. The vast majority of the respondents, (1-87%), who benefited from the social assistance, do not have an alternative financial source.

Food Insecurity, Safety Nets, and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multi-Country Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected food security across the world. As governments respond in different ways both with regards to containing the pandemic and addressing food insecurity, in parallel detailed datasets are being collected and analysed. To date, literature addressing food insecurity during the pandemic, using these datasets, has tended to focus on individual countries. By contrast, this paper provides the first detailed multi-country cross-sectional snapshot of the social dimensions of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic across nine African countries (Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda). Econometric analysis reveals that female-headed households, the poor, and the less-formally educated, appear to suffer more in terms of food insecurity during this global pandemic. Importantly, our findings show that the negative consequences of the pandemic are disproportionately higher for lower-income households and those who had to borrow to make ends meet rather than relying on savings; impacts are country-specific; and there is considerable spatial heterogeneity within country food insecurity, suggesting that tailored policies will be required. These nine countries employ both food and cash safety nets, with the evidence suggesting that, at least when these data were collected, cash safety nets have been slightly more effective at reducing food insecurity. Our results provide a baseline that can be used by governments to help design and implement tailored policies to address food insecurity. Our findings can also be used as lessons to reshape policies to tackle the heterogeneous impacts of climate change.