7 - Covid-19 Social Relief Programmes and Distribution Mechanisms in East Africa: Lessons Learned
Corresponding Author(s) : Ivan Kagimu
Africa Development,
Vol. 48 No. 2 (2023): Africa Development: Special Issue on Covid-19 Pandemic and African Economies (Including a Revised Text of the Second Thandika Mkandawire Annual Memorial Lecture)
Abstract
Covid-19 had social, physical and economic impacts that prompted governments to develop strategies to help their citizens cope with the mandatory lockdowns and curfews. East African countries faced several uncertainties and challenges in assisting their citizens, including a lack of funds to implement large-scale relief programmes, effective identification of eligible beneficiaries and viable distribution channels. Some African countries launched cash transfer and social assistance programmes. However, the size, efficiency and proportion of the population covered varied, leading to increased fraud, corruption and embezzlement. Patronage, political exploitation and partisanship were also prevalent. This article aims to assess the success of the East African Covid-19 cash and social assistance programmes and the mechanisms used and to draw lessons by comparing them with effective programmes outside Africa, in order to better inform the efficient design of future similar programmes. Using a data triangulation research methodology, the article finds that the Covid-19 relief programmes in many East African countries failed due to a lack of up-to-date multidimensional data on people's living standards, income and poverty levels. If East African countries are to implement effective social assistance programmes, they need to develop comprehensive and multi-faceted (resident) data collection systems to guide such programmes.
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References
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Amon, J.J., and Wurth, M., 2020, 'A Virtual Roundtable on COVID-19 and Hu- man Rights with Human Rights Watch Researchers', Health and human rights, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 399–413.
Baldwin, R., 2020, The Greater Trade Collapse of 2020: Learnings from the 2008–09 Great Trade Collapse. https://voxeu.org/article/greater-trade-collapse-2020 CNBC, 2020, Weather and natural disasters, CNBC, 20 February 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/20/plague-of-locusts-threatens-east-african-economies-as-un-sounds-alarm.html
Cressman, K., 2016, 'Desert locust, in Sivanpillai', R., ed. Biological and Environ- mental Hazards, Risks and Disasters, New York: Elsevier, pp. 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-394847-2.00006-1
Damali, M., 2021, Relief cash: UBOS disowns vulnerable people statistics, Daily Monitor, 2 July 2021. www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/relief-cash-ubos-disowns-vulnerable-people-statistics3459302. Accessed 14 November 2022.
Devereux, D., 2020, Social protection responses to the Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/social-protection-responses-to-the-covid-19-lockdown-in-south-africa-134817. Accessed 14 November 2021.
Diwakar, V., Shepherd, A., and Eichsteller, M., 2018, Health, Resilience and Sus- tainable Poverty Escapes: Synthesis. https://dl.orangedox.com/duddnR
Draku, F., 2020, Did Government Get It Wrong On Covid-19 Relief Food? Monitor, 22 April 2020. https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/did-government-get-it-wrong-on-covid-19-relief-food--1886416. Accessed 22 October 2021.
Elhadi, Y.A.M., Adebisi, Y.A., Hassan, K.F., Mohammed, S.E.E., Lin, X., and Lucero-Prisno III, D.E., 2020, 'The formidable task of fighting COVID-19 in Sudan', The Pan African Medical Journal, Vol. 35, Suppl 2.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2020, Food security, resilience and well-being analysis of refugees and host communities in Northern Uganda. FAO Resilience Analysis Report 12. Rome: FAO. https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/I9708EN/
Government Accountability Office (GAO), 2022, Millions of People May Still Be Eligible For Covid-19 Stimulus Payments, But Time Is Running Out. https://www.gao.gov/blog/millions-people-may-still-be-eligible-Covid-19-stimulus-payments-time-running-out. Accessed 14 November 2022.
Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), 2021, A Drop In The Ocean: Uganda’s COVID-19 Cash Transfer. https://iser-uganda.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/A_drop_in_the_ocean_-_Ugandas_Covid-19_cash_transfer.pdf
Kazeem, Y., 2021, African governments are being forced to develop social welfare programs in an economic crisis, Quartz, 23 June 2020. https://qz.com/af-rica/1872046/african-countries-offer-cash-relief-Covid-19-welfare-programmes. Accessed 14 November 2022.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), 2020, Quarterly GDP Reports. https://www.knbs.or.ke/?page_id=1591
Kimani, J., Adhiambo, J., Kasiba, R., Mwangi, P., Were, V., Mathenge, J., … Bhat- tacharjee, P., Moses, S., Fowke, F.R., McKinnon, L.R., and Lorway, R, 2020, The effects of Covid-19 on the health and socio-economic security of sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya: Emerging intersections with HIV, Global Public Health, Vol. 15, No. 7, pp. 1073–1082. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1770831
Mukhtar, M.M. and Khogali, M., 2021, 'The accelerating COVID-19 epidemic in Sudan', Nature Immunology, Vol. 22, No. 7, pp. 797–798.
Nathan, I., and Benon, M., 2020, 'Covid-19 relief food distribution: impact and lessons for Uganda', The Pan African Medical Journal, Vol. 35, Suppl 2, p. 142. https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.142.24214
National Bureau of Statistics Tanzania (NBS), 2020, Macroeconomic Indicators. https://www.nbs.go.tz/index.php/en/
National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), 2020, GDP Quarterly Publications, https://www.statistics.gov.rw/statistical-publications/subject/gross-domestic-product-percent28gdppercent29
Nchanji, E.B., and Lutomia, C.K., 2021, 'Regional impact of COVID-19 on the production and food security of common bean smallholder farmers in Sub- Saharan Africa: Implication for SDG’s', Global Food Security, Vol. 29, 100524.
Opondo, O., 2020, Covid-18 Relief food in Kampala, the Kites, Sharks, and Lessons.
Uganda Media Centre, 30 April 2020, https://www.mediacentre.go.ug/Opinion/covid-18-relief-food-kampala-kites-sharks-and-lessons. Accessed 6 June 2020.
Rahaman, M.M.D., Saha, O., Rakhi, N.N., Chowdhury, M.G., Sammonds, P., and Kamal, A.M., 2020, 'Overlapping of locust swarms with Covid-19 pandemic: A cascading disaster for Africa', Pathogens and Global Health, Vol. 114, No. 8, pp. 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1080/20477724.2020.1793595
Shi, Y., 2020, Uganda starts relief food distribution for vulnerable people amid Covid-19 lockdown. Xinhua, 4 April 2020. Accessed 11 June 2020.
Slater, R., McCord, A., Devereux, S., Baur, D., Trotter, D., and Bright, R., 2021, Beyond COVID-19: Lessons for social protection from WFP’s work in East Africa in 2020, Rome: WFP.
Tax Outreach, 2022, What to know about the First Stimulus Check. Get it back cam- paign https://www.taxoutreach.org/tax-filing/coronavirus/what-to-know-about-the-economic-impact-payments-stimulus-checks/. Accessed 14 November 2022.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), 2020, National Accounts. https://www.ubos.org/explore-statistics/9/
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2020, The Covid-19 shock to developing countries: Towards a ‘whatever it takes’ program for two-thirds of the world’s population being left behind. https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/gds_tdr2019_Covid2_en.pdf
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2021, Covid-19 Emergency Support Packages in West and Central Africa: An overview and analysis of fraud and corruption risks. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/Covid-19-emergency-support-packages-in-west-and-central-africa.html. Accessed 14 November 2022.
World Bank, 2020a, Annual report 2020, https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1619-2
World Bank, 2020b, Emergency locust response program (P173702). Uganda Annex, 4 March 2020.
World Food Programme (WFP), 2020, Covid-19 economic and food security implications in East Africa. Relief Web, 28 2020. https://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/Covid-19
World Trade Organization (WTO), 2020, Trade Statistics and Outlook: Trade Set to Plunge as Covid-19 Pandemic Upends Global Economy. https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres20_e/pr855_e.pdf