Briefs

Increasing investments in care in the IDA20 replenishment

COVID-19 has highlighted the vital importance of care to the functioning of economies and societies, while also demonstrating that the massive care work increases borne mostly by women and girls will, if left unaddressed, exacerbate inequality for years to come. The United States is in a prime position to fulfill its commitment to gender equality and inclusive economic recovery for the world by calling for the World Bank’s twentieth International Development Association’s (IDA) replenishment (IDA20) to include transformative policy commitments on care.

IDA20 offers an important opportunity to tackle the rising gender inequality tied to the unequal distribution of unpaid care work between women, girls, and men. IDA is a crucial source of concessional finance that lower-income countries depend on and is one of the biggest providers of core support for human development and public services. Against a backdrop of fiscal consolidation and contraction in the wake of COVID-19, it is imperative for IDA20 to do its part in tackling the gendered impacts of COVID-19. Care—which has previously been neglected in IDA strategies—must be integrated into the IDA20 policy commitments. Investments in a package of care of measures (e.g., investments in care-supporting physical infrastructure, care services, care-supporting social protection, gender-responsive budgeting, and data collection) are critical to reduce the heavy, unequal, and gendered responsibility of unpaid and underpaid care work.

As the US and other IDA donors negotiate the terms of the IDA20 replenishment, Oxfam urges the USG to encourage the World Bank to include strong commitments on care in the policy package. The commitments should clearly outline how the World Bank plans to support IDA countries to recognize, reduce, and redistribute unpaid and underpaid care work, and ensure adequate representation of caregivers in decision-making.

South Sudan: 10 Years Since Independence

Ten years ago, the people of South Sudan voted almost unanimously to secede and create their own independent nation. Tragically, after initial celebrations came years of brutal conflict, hunger, poverty, and economic instability – but throughout it all, communities have held on to the promise of their new nation.

The Hunger Virus Multiplies

A year and a half since the pandemic began, deaths from hunger are outpacing the virus. Ongoing conflict, combined with the economic disruptions of the pandemic and an escalating climate crisis, has deepened poverty and catastrophic food insecurity in the world’s hunger hotspots and established strongholds in new epicenters of hunger.

Queer Community in Crisis: Trauma, Inequality & Vulnerability

Oxfam conducted a research study aiming at understanding the impact of the series of crises on the livelihoods and wellbeing of queer individuals in Lebanon, mapping available and needed services and resources, and generating recommendations to guide and support future efforts targeting the LGBTQI community in Lebanon. The findings of this research showed that members of the community have limited access to safe spaces, are facing a housing crisis, are in dire need of basic assistance, and are facing worsening mental health and psychological wellbeing.

Shining a Spotlight

A critical assessment of food and beverage companies’ delivery of sustainability commitments

The Inequality Virus

The coronavirus pandemic has the potential to lead to an increase in inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began. The virus has exposed, fed off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race. Close to two million people have died, and hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty while many of the richest – individuals and corporations – are thriving. Billionaire fortunes returned to their pre-pandemic highs in just nine months, while recovery for the world’s poorest people could take over a decade. The crisis has exposed our collective frailty and the inability of our deeply unequal economy to work for all. Yet it has also shown us the vital importance of government action to protect our health and livelihoods. Transformative policies that seemed unthinkable before the crisis have suddenly been shown to be possible. There can be no return to where we were before. Instead, citizens and governments must act on the urgency to create a more equal and sustainable world.