South Asia is estimated to have experienced the largest increase in poverty (+78%) and the greatest decline in the middle class (-32%) of any global region. While the challenge of the pandemic was mild in 2020, in 2021 it has been severe. A webinar organized by The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) on 18 Nov 2021 aimed to get under the surface of such figures with analysis of what has happened in Bangladesh and India, drawing on household surveys and lived experiences. The analysis was a basis for understanding what policy measures have been taken and are still needed to assist the inclusive recovery which poor and vulnerable people in South Asia require.
Dr Imran Matin, Executive Director, BIGD, BRAC University, joined a panel of experts to discuss insights from the PPRC-BIGD COVID-19 Livelihoods & Recovery Panel Survey. He was joined by Manjistha Banerjee, National Council of Applied Economic Research; Vidya Diwakar, ODI Research Fellow; Ihsanullah Ghafoor, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit; and Marta Eichsteller, University College Dublin and ODI Research Associate. The session was chaired by Andrew Shepherd, Director of the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network & Principal Research Fellow, ODI.
Panellists also discussed the policy measures already put in place and the extent to which they match up to need, and what the major constraints might be. Where there were strong social protection policies and programs in place prior to the pandemic, these could be strengthened and broadened, as with the Indian Public Distribution System and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee, though there were still gaps – in urban areas for example. Other critical policy areas – education, for example, where the digital divide has bitten hard – have received much less global and national attention.
The discussion intended to bring back much-needed focus on South Asia, and ask what can the global community as well as South Asian governments do to ensure people living in poverty are not left behind while the world ‘builds back better’.
