Browse by Theme: Covid19

September 11th marks six months since the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic. It’s hard to believe both how long this has continued and that we have only been operating in pandemic mode for six months. Some days it’s hard to remember what the world looked like before coronavirus.

As children across Europe head back to school, we look to their counterparts across the world. How are children in countries like Madagascar, Afghanistan and Haiti returning to school?

It’s hard to believe the changes in the world today. They are coming so fast and so completely that we can lose track of what’s happening. It can be hard to feel hopeful as COVID-19 cases rise, economies crash, and underlying inequality skyrockets. In the upheaval, there is also hope.

“Youth are rarely informed about their rights. During COVID, we’ve imposed ourselves so even the most disadvantaged young people have access to information about COVID. We hold sessions for young beggars and street children so they have information. I’ve been a part of that, and it makes me very happy.” – Bizo Rachid is 25, and getting a degree in Law and Communication in Niger.

As part of London Climate Action Week 2020, CARE hosted 'Gender-just climate resilience in the COVID-19 response'.

Governments, NGOs, and society at large must work towards the end of child marriage, but it is also critical to recognise the power of girls to lead the way to end this practice in their own communities. UNFPA estimates that 13 million more child marriages could take place by 2030 than would have prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, programmes that work to end child marriage are unable to operate due to shelter-in-place directives. However, girl activists, within their own communities, are able to subversively challenge the norms and attitudes that put them at risk for child marriage.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a huge threat to billions of people around the world, but it can’t be the only priority for aid. Other humanitarian disasters and emergencies have not gone away. Countries that still don’t meet the UN target of sharing 7p in every £10 with people in poorer countries, should try as hard as possible to increase their aid budget to respond to the new COVID-19 pandemic, and try to avoid taking aid away from other emergencies.