ABSTRACT
Zambia's social policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic is unfolding against a background of severe financial challenges, a squeezed social sector and limited state capacity. There are also concerns about the upcoming general election in August 2021, which is already beginning to shape policy and spending decisions. Much of Zambia’s social policy response has focused on the formal sector, despite the country’s large informal sector, high unemployment rate and food insecurity across urban and rural areas. A Covid-19 emergency cash transfer (ECT) has been the most significant social policy intervention to help the poorest households to cope with the effects of the pandemic. However, this programme has been largely driven and funded by international donors, while the government has increased payments to agricultural subsidies and empowerment funds. Claims that the ruling party is using the ECT for election rigging suggests that there is some political interest in this scheme, but other more powerful constituencies - particularly farmers and young people - continue to be prioritised. This reflects the political dynamics of Zambia's social protection response more broadly, with domestic incentives shaping the level of government support and funding directed at various programmes.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 accentuates the case for a global, rather than an international, development paradigm. The novel disease is a prime example of a development challenge for all countries, through the failure of public health as a global public good. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the falsity of any assumption that the global North has all the expertise and solutions to tackle global challenges, and has further highlighted the need for multi-directional learning and transformation in all countries towards a more sustainable and equitable world. We illustrate our argument for a global development paradigm by examining the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic across four themes or 'vignettes': global value chains, digitalisation, debt, and climate change. We conclude that development studies must adapt to a very different context from when the field emerged in the mid-20th century.