Calling Tech-Focused Ideas to Help Address COVID-19 Learning Emergency
The disruption will be felt long after the immediate crisis has passed and schools reopen and will be particularly serious in low-income countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The evidence shows that disruptions to schooling due to things such as pandemics can cause: continued negative impacts on student enrolment and retention in school […]
How Can Business Help in the Building of National Coalitions to Fight COVID-19
On 30 April 2020, Business Fights Poverty convened an online discussion, which examined how business can help build national coalitions and collaborations to fight COVID-19. What is making these collaborations work, what lessons need to be learned, and how can these be replicated to make a greater impact? What examples of national collaborative platforms to […]
Bringing Impact Investing to Life
Eight million people die each year because of poor or no access to proper healthcare. As COVID ravages our world fueling poverty, millions more will have less access to quality care. Patient impactful capital has an unprecedented opportunity to leap in and support well-led businesses that are improving or saving the lives of those under-served, […]
COVID-19: How Business and NGOs Can Partner to Support our Global Community Through the Pandemic
As I, like many others in the UK and around the world, continue to work from home, much of my day is informed by hearing from our teams about the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic continues to inflict on our global community. While deeply concerning, I could not feel more proud to be part of […]
COVID-19 Could Drive Millions of Women into Poverty, When They are Agents of Recovery
Women working in garment factories have already lost their jobs, often their households’ only income, while the pandemic is exacerbating other families’ food insecurity. For those living in areas of conflict, COVID-19 is exacerbating an already terrible situation. Like an earthquake exposing a fault line, as the pandemic plays out it is exposing deep structural inequalities. […]
When Will the Pandemic Cure Be Worse Than the Disease?
As of today, almost half the world’s population, nearly four billion people, are under government-mandated lockdowns in an effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. How long should the lockdowns last? The obvious answer, to paraphrase UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is until we’ve “beaten” COVID-19. But when exactly will that be? Until […]
The Informal Economy is Complicating Government Responses to COVID-19: Will the Crisis Push Millions Toward Formality?
As COVID-19 spreads in countries around the world, governments have already started to address the economic and livelihood challenges posed by the constraints the pandemic has put on behavior and employment. Wealthier OECD countries are designing economic support measures to target the backbone of most economies – the tens of thousands to millions of small businesses. […]
From ‘Immediate Response’ to ‘Building Back Better’: Public Webinar
The Business and COVID-19 Response Centre has been launched by Business Fights Poverty to empower companies to take action in support of their most vulnerable employees, suppliers, customers and communities. I would like to personally invite you to join a webinar on Thursday 7 May 2.30pm BST / 9.30am EDT / 4.30pm EAT to explore […]
Saving Main Street in the Wake of COVID-19
Why saving small businesses matters Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy. Under the most expansive definition, small businesses account for nearly half of the nation’s employees and almost 65 percent of new jobs created. Owning a small business is also associated with faster wealth-building. Since 1990, families in which the head of the household was […]
Three Promises Lidl Has Made to Protect its Food Workers
But there is another group of frontline food workers doing the same, hidden from view, those who produce the products we are all trying to buy, such as tea, coffee, prawns, fruit and vegetables. Even before Coronavirus, Oxfam research highlighted workers’ vulnerability, earning low wages on insecure contracts, often with poor sick pay and hygiene arrangements. In 2018, we launched the Behind the […]
CEOS from 25 countries Call for G20 Support to Help Developing Country Producers Fight Covid-19
At Fairtrade, our mission is to help farmers and workers in some of the world’s poorest countries to get a better deal and escape poverty. We’re deeply worried that this virus will devastate the communities we work with – not only because of its impact on people’s health, but also the very real possibility that […]
COVID-19 and the Garment Industry: Protect Workers, Transform the Industry
What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Women in the Garment Industry? Brands and retailers are cancelling orders from their supplier factories and many governments are imposing restrictions on travel and gatherings. As a result, a large number of garment factories are suspending production and either firing or temporarily suspending their workers. Over 1 million […]
Covid-19 and Creating the Future We Want
As the world comes to terms with a global pandemic that has threatened and turned upside-down the lives and livelihoods of people across the globe, it is clear we are living in extraordinary times. Many people will be feeling uncertain, anxious and even scared. And of course, for others things have already reached crisis point. Like […]
Covid-19 and the Voluntary Sector
Businesses and the self-employed have received significant financial support from the UK Government during the Covid-19 crisis, and the debts of NHS hospital trusts have been wiped out. Many voluntary organisations and community groups are under pressure too, facing reduced income at just the time when demand for their services has risen hugely. Should voluntary […]
UNIDO Helps Tajik Textile Enterprises Diversify into PPE Production
To further help avoid a health crisis, some national textile enterprises are diversifying production to include medical masks and gowns. The move will provide much-needed supplies of protective equipment to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Tajikistan. Two enterprises making this move, Guldaston and Suman, have received assistance from the United Nations Industrial Development […]
The Business and COVID-19 Action Mapping Tool is Now Live
Over the last few weeks, it has become clear that we are facing the worst humanitarian and economic crisis of our generation. In these troubling times, it has been heartening to see multinational corporations across the world urgently mobilising to support the most vulnerable. At Business Fights Poverty, we have been directing all our energy […]
Vulnerable Workers in Global Value Chains – Ambitious Collaboration Needed
Global brands and large companies acted swiftly to stabilise cash flow and protect their staff in developed countries. Attention in the next part of the ‘respond and stabilise’ phase needs to shift rapidly and ambitiously to workers throughout the value chain. Damage has already been done, but much can still be done to mitigate the […]
How Can Business Respond to the Increase in Domestic Violence During COVID-19?
There is a 30% increase in reported cases in France and a 25% increase in calls to emergency lines in Spain. In the UK, the charity Refuge reported a 700% increase in calls to its web helpline over a 24 hour period. The pandemic is also likely to increase the amount of online harassment and abuse […]
How Start-Ups are Helping to Fight COVID-19? An Emerging Market View: Kerala
Social distancing has been the buzz-word of COVID-19 response globally. But how do you #BreakTheChain of contact in public spaces like airports or bus stations? Kerala start-up, Asimov Robotics has deployed robots at entrances of office buildings and other public places to dispense hand sanitizers and for delivering public awareness messages on precautionary measures to […]
Practical Steps Large Companies Can Take to Support their MSME Partners through the COVID-19 Crisis
As MSMEs struggle, the impact on their communities is also significant as they are often the only source of goods and key services for the most poor and vulnerable populations. For large companies, who rely on MSMEs in their value chains as suppliers (including small-scale farmers), distributors, retailers and customers, beyond the immediate humanitarian imperative, supporting […]