Revisiting poverty trends and the role of social protection systems in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic

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cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
cg.contributor.donorAfrican Economic Research Consortiumen
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden
cg.contributor.donorForeign, Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdomen
cg.contributor.initiativeNational Policies and Strategies
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africa
cg.coverage.regionMiddle Africa
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.coverage.regionNorthern Africa
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Africa
cg.coverage.regionWestern Africa
cg.creator.identifierKibrom Abay: 0000-0003-1451-2421
cg.creator.identifierSikandra Kurdi: 0000-0001-7399-6003
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136411en
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC)
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Development Strategy and Governance Division
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot ranked
cg.number2142en
cg.placeWashington, D.C.en
cg.reviewStatusInternal Reviewen
cg.subject.actionAreaSystems Transformation
dc.contributor.authorAbay, Kibrom A.en
dc.contributor.authorYonzan, Nishanten
dc.contributor.authorKurdi, Sikandraen
dc.contributor.authorTafere, Kibromen
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-17T08:14:00Zen
dc.date.available2023-01-17T08:14:00Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/127257
dc.titleRevisiting poverty trends and the role of social protection systems in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemicen
dcterms.abstractQuantifying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty in Africa has been as difficult as predicting the path of the pandemic, mainly due to data limitations. The advent of new data sources, including national accounts and phone survey data, provides an opportunity for a thorough reassessment of the impact of the pandemic and the subsequent expansion of social protection systems on the evolution of poverty in Africa. In this paper, we combine per capita GDP growth from national accounts with data from High-Frequency Phone Surveys for several countries to estimate the net impact of the pandemic on poverty. We find that the pandemic has increased poverty in Africa by 1.5-1.7 percentage points in 2020, relatively smaller than early estimates and projections. We also find that countries affected by Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) experienced the greatest increases in poverty, about 2.1 percentage points in 2020. Furthermore, we assess and synthesize empirical evidence on the role that social protection systems played in mitigating the adverse impact of the COVID-19 crisis in Africa. We review social protection responses in various African countries, mainly focusing on the impact of these programs and effectiveness of targeting systems. Although the evidence base on the protective role of social protection programs during the pandemic remains scarce, we highlight important findings on the impacts of these programs while also uncovering some vulnerabilities in social protection programming in Africa. We finally draw important lessons related to the delivery, targeting and impact of various social protection programs launched in Africa in response to the pandemic.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.available2022
dcterms.bibliographicCitationAbay, Kibrom A.; Yonzan, Nishant; Kurdi, Sikandra; and Tafere, Kibrom. 2022. Revisiting poverty trends and the role of social protection systems in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2142. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136411.en
dcterms.extent42 p.en
dcterms.isPartOfIFPRI Discussion Paperen
dcterms.issued2022-10-18
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseOther
dcterms.publisherInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll2/id/136411en
dcterms.subjectpandemicsen
dcterms.subjectsocial protectionen
dcterms.subjectsurveysen
dcterms.subjectcoronavirusen
dcterms.subjectcoronavirus diseaseen
dcterms.subjectcoronavirinaeen
dcterms.subjectcovid-19en
dcterms.subjectpovertyen
dcterms.subjecthealthen
dcterms.subjectdataen
dcterms.typeWorking Paper

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