Challenges in Development Sector Due to COVID-19

Challenges in Development sector due to COVID-19, Carlos J. Muela | EUAV | 08 June 2020

Higher Vulnerability to COVID in Poor Countries

Millions of deaths occur every year in poor countries from causes that would not be fatal in rich countries. Poor public health services, lack of access to clean water or sewerage systems, and difficulties in maintaining a healthy and balanced diet, along with other factors, means that poor countries have a life expectancy far below the rich countries.

According to WHO data on life expectancy, published in the Global Health Observatory, in countries such as Lesotho or the Central African Republic, average life expectancy is 30 years lower than in Spain or Switzerland.

But the effects of global inequality do not end here, facing new epidemics, the countries with worse socioeconomic conditions are also the most vulnerable. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Jan, warned in March: “If we shut down our cities, then people are already suffering will die of hunger”.

Liu Zhenmin, UN Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, pointed out in April that “Urgent and bold policy measures are needed, not only to contain the pandemic and save lives, but also to protect the most vulnerable in our societies from economic ruin”.

The international authorities are well aware that poor countries have several weaknesses that put them in a much more vulnerable position. Even if some of them are not suffering a major health impact from the corona virus, they are suffering disastrous consequences due to the closure of economic activities.

A good example of this is Nepal, where tourism is the country’s main industry that sustains the national economy, and it has been at a complete standstill for several months now.

Challenges in Development sector and possible solutions

This COVID-19 crisis has cut off the principal source of income of many vulnerable families and countries, causing a horrible socioeconomic crisis that will be very difficult to solve.

That is why it is urgent to promote and support the development sector in these countries, perhaps one of the sectors most affected by this Corona Virus crisis, due to subsidy cutbacks, the difficulty of carrying out fieldwork during quarantine, the reduction of fundraising opportunities, and the massive repatriation of international staff and volunteers.

This has forced many non-profit development NGOs to close down and completely stop their activity, something that is very alarming and discouraging, both for the communities that benefit from their work, and for the local staff working in these organizations, who are forced to look for new jobs in today’s complex labor market.

But there are still some alternatives for local development NGOs which find themselves in this situation of helplessness and vulnerability.

Perhaps one of the most practical ways out for non-profit development organizations is to reconvert their activity, focusing it on preventing the spread of the COVID-19 and reducing its negative effects on the socio-economic sphere. This is something really needed in the current situation, and therefore also easier to justify to donors.

There are many possibilities, even if specialized medical personnel are not available, as the initiatives can range from supporting the most vulnerable groups with the distribution of essentials (mainly food and health products), to carrying out awareness campaigns in marginalized communities.

Another option is promoting projects to reactivate the local economies, either by encouraging and supporting the agriculture and food production, or helping to start a local production of sanitary supplies such as hand soap, masks, etc.

All these initiatives will always be much more welcome and beneficial if they are targeted and focused on the most vulnerable groups, and if they are supplemented by a gender and environmental protection perspective.

This could be done, for example, by seeking to warn of the worrying increase in domestic violence caused by isolation measures of the quarantine, or by giving priority to the use of materials that are less polluting than plastic for the distribution of resources.

In any case, it is extremely important to support the local development organizations, which are concerned with reaching the most vulnerable in the most disadvantaged areas. Let’s not let them fall.