The Covid Collective is expanding its existing portfolio of projects to include urgent social science research in Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines on key development challenges related to Covid-19.
The following eight research projects will help expand knowledge on how Covid-19 is playing out in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as emerging responses, lessons and solutions. This timely knowledge will help address evidence needs of policy actors and communities in these seven countries.
- Understanding the Impact of Covid-19 on Asian Health and Care Worker Migration to Support Older People Care: This research project, led by the Center for Global Development (CGD), will seek to examine the impact of Covid-19 on patterns of health and care worker migration for older people care throughout Asia, and the potential for expanding ethical and sustainable migration pathways.
- Innovative Network Mapping of Post-Coup Governance in the Pandemic: Drawing on its Political Settlement Research Programme and partnerships, the University of Edinburgh will bring key stakeholders together to map new constellations of actors, and better understand how the competing structures of ‘interim governance’ are impacting on Covid-19 operations in Myanmar.
- Poverty Monitoring in the Context of Covid-19: The research, led by Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in partnership with Cambodia Development Research Institute (CDRI), will explore the impacts of Covid-19 and policies and interventions which can assist building back better, more inclusively and sustainably in Cambodia.
- Towards Community-Led, Inclusive Covid-19 Partnerships in ASEAN Cities: The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) will examine how community-led projects and precedent-setting initiatives can enhance food security, develop inclusive official partnerships, and contribute to a transformative Covid-19 recovery in cities in Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand.
- Disability and Covid-19 in Vietnam: This research complements work led by the International Centre for Evidence in Disability (ICED) at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) which aims to explore the experience of people with disabilities during the Covid-19 pandemic in different settings and their inclusion in response actions. This project will be led by LSHTM in partnership with Hanoi University of Public Health (HUPH).
- The Impacts of Covid-19 on Trafficking and Child Labour in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam: Stories will be elicited through interviews with key stakeholders in each of the research contexts to help identify key patterns on how Covid-19 has impacted structures and dynamics shaping the lives and outcomes of vulnerable and marginalised groups. This work will be led by Humanity Research Consultancy and Terre des Hommes (Myanmar) with support from researchers at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS).
- Governance of Equitable Access to Vaccination and Food Security for Internal Migrants in Vietnam and Laos: The project aims to understand the governance of access to vaccination and food for internal migrants in urban and peri-urban areas, and industrial zones, and make recommendations to ensure both effectiveness and equity of the state’s vaccination and food policies. Partners include the Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP), Vietnamese National University of Agriculture (VNUA), the Faculty of Public Health, University of Health Sciences of Lao PDR (UHS-Laos) and IDS.
- Exploring the Nexus of Covid-19, Precarious Migration and Child Labour on the Cambodian-Thai Border: How has Covid-19 impacted on the patterns of migration of Cambodian migrant workers and what, if any, are the implications on patterns of child labour within this vulnerable population? This is the question at the heart of this research led by Analyzing Development Issues Centre (ADIC) in collaboration with Cambodia Aphiwat Strey (AS), Akphivat Neary Khmer Organization (ANKO) and IDS.
