The COVID-19 pandemic has cost the world so much since it emerged in late 2019. More than 6 million people have lost their lives, and there has scarcely been an aspect of modern life untouched by the pandemic.
While there is much to mourn, the seismic events of the last two and a half years have presented the global community with an opportunity to rebuild our societies and systems to be more effective, prosperous, sustainable, and equitable.
Common Futures Conversations members from Africa and Europe drew from their own pandemic experiences and collaborated with one another to formulate the following policy proposals for how countries can ‘build back better’ after COVID-19:
Support citizens and increase inclusivity through a universal income
– Hakim Benbadra, France
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on poverty and inequality. The gap between rich and poor has broadened and the number of people living in poverty has increased in most countries. Providing a universal income to everyone would ease the living conditions of the most vulnerable people. Solidarity can and should be the foundation of our society after the pandemic and implementing a universal basic income will be one step towards a more inclusive world.
The universal basic income could be tested first with a sample of a country’s population and then be enlarged to the whole population if the results are satisfactory.
Taking into consideration economic disparities between countries, it will be necessary to adjust the value of the universal basic income to each country and its socio-economic context. Being universal, it will be the one economic measure that treats everyone equally.
Empower women in the workforce
– Stephanie Schandorf, Ghana
Across the globe, women have arguably borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the deepening of existing income disparities between men and women. These disparities have historically resulted from the systematic segmentation of women into less profitable areas of work.
This is true in the case of coastal fishing communities in West Africa, where women are often found at the periphery of the fisheries value chain, with much lower profit margins. At the peak of the pandemic, in addition to earning relatively lower income, these women had the additional burden of having to shelve revenue-generation tasks to focus on childcare during lockdown periods.
A viable pathway to building resilience in women is to empower them, through community-led programmes, to venture into traditionally male-dominated roles. Such programmes would involve two elements: a technical track which would help women gain the requisite knowledge necessary to access credit facilities, manage funds or investments, and an empowerment track, aimed directly at shifting mindsets and motivating women to move beyond mental barriers that may inhibit them from taking bold steps.
In these male-dominated roles women are likely to generate higher revenues and have greater opportunities for exponential impact within their communities.
Allocate minimum budgets for mental health care
– Tom Rhys Jones, UK
The first collective policy action after COVID-19, should be an agreement of a percentage-based minimum allocation for wellbeing- and mental health-related treatment. According to the WHO, the uncertainty and societal isolation brought in by the pandemic triggered a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. Women and young people are disproportionately at risk.
From an economic standpoint, the annual direct cost of anxiety and depression to governments vastly exceeds the average proportion of health budgets allocated to wellbeing. There is space for a greater multilateral commitment, at the policy level, to the treatment of mental ill health in the aftermath of COVID-19.
As society emerges from the pandemic, lifting people up to be their best will be impossible if those suffering from mental ill health are left behind.
Re-engineer food security
– Chamilah Rughony, Mauritius
COVID-19, alongside climate change, has highlighted our vulnerability when it comes to global food security. Panic buying entailed queues and disturbed equitable access to food provision across the world. A situation unequivocally witnessed by developing countries without forgetting the Small Islands State Developing Nations (SIDS) which also suffered a hard blow in the food supply chain and increasing freight costs.
To build back better, nations across the world should adopt a food security policy with bold actions in land reallocation, climate-adaptive technologies. Local investment along with the help of triangular cooperation to ensure food security at both the national and regional levels can be harnessed for further support.
The effort must endorse local community mobilization and the youth who can creatively initiate sustainable permaculture and explore ocean economies.
Incentivize green, transformative circular economies
– Chiara Savanco, Italy
The post-COVID-19 recovery period, marked by the disclosure of new national ‘resilience’ plans, has given governments and key stakeholders the opportunity to redesign economies that are resilient and circular. These plans must address issues related to corporate emission disclosure, national over-reliance on carbon offset schemes and retro-active decarbonization strategies that are keeping countries off-track from the 2030 agenda goals. States must use this policy-making momentum to gear their economies towards resilient and circular structures.
Nationally, economic policy should prioritize ‘technology-push’ measures, supported by government subsidies that incentivize research and development for renewable energy and production. Research and development investment should systematically replace less successful retroactive de-carbonization policies (i.e carbon tariffs/taxes).
Internationally, states must agree to the improved monitoring of carbon trading schemes, and the regulation of carbon-offsetting projects, to ensure liable environmental governance. National plans should also prescribe a step-up in sustainable investing, creating more rigorous climate-related financial taxonomies. Overall, economic plans should allow for more private-public sector cooperation to reach a circular economy.
Introduce regular health screening
– Michel Rutendo Mandiopera, Zimbabwe
The early detection of diseases and underlying conditions results in better management and treatment of disease. Therefore, health screening should be mandated at regular intervals or when a person reaches a certain age.
That said, governments alone cannot handle health screening. There is need for robust public-private partnership initiative or a memorandum of understanding where private entities can collaborate with the government or exercise social corporate responsibility and pool resources to help subsidize the costs of health screening.
In the community, the model of a ‘Global Healthy Citizen’ should be promoted at health forums. These would be online and in-person groups that campaign for health screening health talks, and counselling so that people are aware and become proactive regarding their health.
These measures would decrease the risk of complications and increase the chances of better health outcomes for populations at all times, not only during pandemics.
Seize the opportunity of remote learning
– Manfredi Morello, Italy
Smart and flexible working preserved the fundamental ‘right to work’ throughout lockdown, but what about the right to study? If education is increased through e-education, not only would people be more likely to find a job and increase their prosperity, but more individuals would have the potential to ease the labour market equilibrium.