No one is safe until everyone is safe
By Dalton Otim, Research Administrator of the Ugandan hub
It’s approximate 5 months now, almost all the countries in the world have focused their attention on the fight against Covid-19 disease caused by Coronavirus. In Africa, particularly in Uganda, its now approximately 3 months since the socio political and economic situation started to be destabilized and affected due to a series of lockdown instituted in phases.
Immediately the first positive patient with Covid-19 was tested, the government swung into action by curtailing personal movements and social gatherings. This was supplemented by a nationwide curfew where people were ordered not to make any movement past 2:00 pm during the lockdown. It is this that made life hard for majority of Ugandans especially those that live in urban areas.
Economically, all businesses not dealing in food stuffs and medicines were ordered to close with immediate effect. All private vehicles were not allowed on the road save for those from institutions which had to be cleared by the minister of transport. It was only big trucks carrying goods from and too neighbouring countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo that were allowed to move freely. Actually, the truck drivers have turned out to be the big challenge that the country has come to struggle with as they are the ones that are testing positive in most testing centres.
Campaigns on encouraging citizens to keep social distance, thorough hand washing and use of face coverings were run everywhere on radios and televisions. The security forces were deployed everywhere to effect the lockdown and indeed many people who tried to do the contrary were beaten, arrested and jailed.
Lessons learnt by the Ugandan hub members from the lockdown
- The government measures put in place to limit the spread of the virus have been largely effective as the country has got no any fatality as of 15th May 2020.
- Decentralization of policies can work if given support from the centre. In every district, a task force was created, facilitated and given full authority to make sure that all the new people that come in are tested. This has increased community vigilance. How we wish this is extended to other social challenges facing the communities and households.
- Many urban dwellers are not food secure not because there is no food supplies but due to lack of purchasing power to access the food. This is a big crisis that all concerned individuals need to interest themselves in. As someone said “No one is safe until everyone is safe”. So as researchers and community practitioners we need to initiate and engage in projects that will improve people’s ability to withstand such calamities in the area of food security.
- Uganda having gone through previous epidemics such as Ebola and others, it prepared it to quickly respond to Covid-19 as well. Click here for details.
Dr Alex Okot, is in Lira during the lockdown and shares some issues this situation brought for the communities the hub works with in Alebtong district.
The Twin COVID-CLIMATE Crisis
By Deepa Pullanikkatil, SFA Co-Director and Chair of Tourism and Economic Recovery Team – Unlocking Climate Finance for COVID response (Eswatini)
“Adversity is the mother of progress” Mahatma Gandhi
Our world is facing extreme adversity in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, with severe effects on economies and human wellbeing. Globally, Governments are busy setting up stimulus packages and recovery plans to get the economy back on a growth trajectory post COVID. COVID-19 and economic recovery dominates the global news today. But just a few months ago, the news reports were about Australia being on fire, near record melting of ice in the Arctic, millions of school children striking on the streets and about the extinction rebellion movement gaining momentum. The United Nations has declared that this is the decade of climate action to have a 50% chance to preventing catastrophic climate change by keeping emissions below 1.5degC below pre-industrial levels. Just a few months ago we realized that “our house is on fire”, and 28 countries declared a climate emergency. But today, amidst the attention given to the COVID emergency, the climate emergency seems to have faded away. Today, our priority is to save lives and bring the economy back to life. We will overcome the COVID-19 crisis eventually, but will we overcome the climate crisis?
The political moment is now, for taking the right actions for a green recovery path. COVID could be a catalyst for greening the world and thereby averting the climate crisis. Instead of unsustainable industrial expansion, we need to include into recovery plans, environment friendly growth, creation of green jobs and actions to take us on low emissions pathways. This could include greening of investments in critical public sector areas, expanding clean energy, moving away from fossil fuels and polluting practices, encouraging transportation that is less polluting and building sustainable infrastructure. Already some countries have started expanding infrastructure for cyclists, companies have announced more work-from-home options for workers and industries such as the Royal Dutch Shell said they would aim to reduce their emissions to net-zero by 2050.
During the lockdowns we have experienced what it would be like for the world when greenhouse gas emissions drop from reduced industrial activity and reduced traffic with humans under lockdown. Beautiful blue skies, clean air and thriving wildlife were some of the signs of a healing earth that we have seen during the lockdowns. There could be a double win coming out of this twin crisis. Governments can help their economies recover, at the same time help solve the climate crisis and achieve their climate commitments faster.
This is the time to transform our thinking. This adversity can be turned into an opportunity.
Webinar- Ecosystem Based Disaster Risk Reduction
By Dora Nyirenda, Malawi Hub Research Administrator
The hub was privileged to engage in a Webinar led by Dr Deepa Pullanikkatil on Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction at the end of April, 2020. The aim of the webinar was to educate and inform members about ecosystems and how protecting them have disaster risk reduction benefits.
Ecosystem services are nature benefits to human beings and they can be divided into in four categories: Provisioning (physical material products), Regulating (services provided by nature that regulate our environment), Cultural (non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems) and Supporting (services that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services). She exposed how ecosystem services are threatened by disasters arising naturally or as a result of poor management of ecosystems. Dr Pullanikkatil explained how the terms associated with such issues, i.e. hazards, vulnerability, risk and resilience are interconnected. For instance to understand the risks associated with poor ecosystem management, we have to look at the exposure to hazards and the consequent vulnerability of ecosystems. Then to identify the recovery process when facing threats to ecosystem services, we relate to the resilience of the ecosystems.
Dr Pullanikkatil highlighted the importance of ecosystem management and risk reduction. The latter can, for instance, involve disaster preparedness which is when communities are warned before a disaster strikes and therefore can implement mitigation actions. This can be done through media and other modes of communication. When disasters strike, a country has to provide emergency relief and work towards post disaster recovery or reconstruction – which is called disaster management. This rebuilding requires much more resources than implementing risk reduction initiatives.
Sometimes local disasters can be prevented by taking care of our ecosystems as they provide disaster risk reduction services. For example wetlands, or trees and shrubs on a sloped ground, are acting as protective barriers against floods. Wetlands also act as a natural way of purifying waste water.
Dr Pullannikkatil gave some examples of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction activities including but not limited to: 1) rehabilitating eroded areas through nature-based interventions (grazing land management and tree planting in gullies); 2) promoting ecosystem management practices like integrated water resource management for improving river stability, water provisioning and flood and drought risk reduction.
After the Webinar, the Malawi hub better understood the importance of preserving ecosystem services as they provide free services by protecting land, animals, communities and infrastructures from natural disasters.
Let’s all protect our river banks, wetlands and manage our forests as healthy ecosystems!
If you would like to engage in such a Webinar, please contact us!
Lockdown - week 8
By Dr Brian Barrett, Scottish Hub Director
We are in the thick of it now. With almost a third of the global population under some form of lockdown, our behaviours and lives have unexpectedly been forced to change. A return to the pre Covid-19 conditions, which many of us expected or possibly hoped for in the early stages of inconvenience, appears more fanciful by the day.
While the pandemic has brought about a heightened sense of unity and the reassurance that ‘we are all in this together’, this doesn’t represent the reality for everyone. Covid-19 does not discriminate based on class or nationality, but it does disproportionately affect older demographics and black and ethnic minority (BAME) groups. As the most developed and richest nations with the most sophisticated healthcare and welfare systems in the world are struggling to cope, how poorer nations will fare is almost unthinkable. It is those that are less well-off and the least developed nations that will likely suffer the most from the virus. The gendered impacts of virus interventions are demonstrating that they could actually be more harmful to women than the virus, with countries around the world reporting sharp increases in the number of women suffering from physical and mental abuse in the home by their aggressors.
All of us are anxious for the future, for the health of our loved ones, our environment, and our livelihoods. We are at a critical juncture, and with our collective expertise and experiences in the SFA Network, from local to regional, we are in a privileged position to lead and shape where we go from here. We have been afforded time to reflect and confront the inconvenient realities of our current pathways and indeed the behaviours that led us here. Our health is intimately linked to the health of our environment, our wildlife and our livestock. Collectively, we can push for a sustainable recovery where we treat one another and the planet in the way that we know we should, to secure a symbiotic socio-ecological functioning now and for the future. Encouragingly, the green shoots of an equitable and sustainable recovery are emerging across nations. Past behavioural norms are being disrupted and need to be made irreparable.
Embracing the new normal
By Professor Oitshepile MmaB Modise, Director of the SFA Botswana Hub
Covid-19’s greatest lesson is that it has taught us that we are all one, humanity interdependent by all means practical. We are more aware of common things that bind us together irrespective of our nationalities. We feel for each other, care for each other and wish all good life. This togetherness can be likened though at a macro level to SFA family, an international network of researchers, practitioners and communities of practice which has brought together people from different educational and geographic regions. Though to a greater extent virtual, Covid-19 has propelled the need to think together, think of each other and has driven concerted international commitment to seek solutions to combat the disease. Countries of the world have realised more than ever before that they need each other to win the war against this disease.
The network did not suffer adverse effects because sooner than later, members came to the party and acclimatised to the new normal in an encouraging manner. SFA Botswana Hub has been equally affected by corona and its offshoots like lockdown. However, with members’ determination to keep together, we quickly established a WhatsApp group for ease of communication in addition to our usual e-mail. By the first week of lockdown, it was apparent that there was fear, uncertainty and a feeling of loneliness and sharing our experiences eased these emotions. All could not help but feel the pressure of Covid-19, we talked about it, shared our fears and supported each other. We sooner realised that work has to continue under our new normal. The team continued the normal business such as looking for grant applications and other opportunities for growth coming along with this pandemic. Creating time for work at home with family members around became a source of support and where necessary flexibility was exercised on work-hours based on home circumstances.
Our ‘new normal’, (referring to emerging and new ways of adapting to life forced on us by the Corona Virus) is working away from official premises using internet, for example, communicating to each other online and through phone calls. Practical steps to create a new normal such as ensuring internet connectivity and securing devices that will facilitate our work were taken. This proved to work for the Hub as we continued to share information and communicate with our administrator and the larger network. The current circumstances also enabled us to think outside the box. We became aware of the fact that some areas of Botswana are not benefiting from the government information dissemination channels like television, newspaper and some cannot even afford to buy a radio. These people get very little or no reliable information about Covid-19. The Hub then thought it would be prudent to initiate the process of securing support for community lifelong learning radios as crisis tools for disseminating and providing education during a time of crisis as well instil lifelong learning principles especially on issues that affect communities. We were able to successfully create a new relationships with colleagues in the Health Sciences and Engineering departments of the University of Botswana. This was meant to facilitate successful implementation of the Rapid Response to Covid 19 project recently submitted to the SFC-GCRF internal scheme at the University of Glasgow. Unfortunately, this application was not successful. Nevertheless, these new connections for the Hub was a great step because the two departments have expressed interest in working with us in the future. We also saw our team members exercise their creative capacity in sharing the Covid-19 message with the Network through art. Finally, while home online connectivity can be a challenge, access has made coping better. We experienced a model of coordinating activities that ensured resilience in the Network.
COVID-19 and being Nimble
By Dr Deepa Pullanikkatil, SFA Co-Director
I have just concluded an hour-long “Zoom” call with colleagues from the University of Glasgow. It was one of several digital meetings we have had these past weeks with members from the Sustainable Futures in Africa (SFA) network. The network has members from UK, Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi and Botswana. The majority of the meetings have been to discuss the way forward, after our symposium (which was to be held in Malawi in mid-March) was postponed due to COVID-19. Today’s call touched upon exploring possibilities of holding digital conferences in the future. We would miss the face to face connection, but there are advantages to digital conferences including the opportunity to open up participation to a larger group and eliminate carbon emissions from the flights needed to hold physical meetings. We realized that some countries may have bandwidth challenges, and poor connectivity issues, while some members may not have good digital devices if they are at home without access to work computers. One thing was clear: as a network, we have to change and change quickly in this transforming situation.
The word that stayed in my mind from the meeting was “nimble”. A nimble person is quick, light, agile in movement or action, clever, and adaptable. In today’s situation, individuals, organizations and countries have to be nimble and here I share some examples. Around the world, companies including information technology companies immediately made “work from home” the norm. Speed and agility were demonstrated by Unilever, which launched initiatives in the US, India, China, UK, Netherlands, Italy and other countries around the world, with teams manufacturing and distributing millions of bars of free soap. Companies active across West Africa are sharing information and coordinating their responses through the West Africa Private Sector Coronavirus Platform (WAPSCON19) which is focusing on the livelihoods and health of the wider community as well as keeping employees healthy and safe and businesses running. Singapore received a lot of praise at how nimble they were in their response to COVID-19 with quick action through testing, quarantining, information sharing, and the sanitization of public spaces. They adopted financial measures such as bringing forth a supplementary solidarity budget to safeguard jobs during the social distancing period. Similarly, China’s neighbour Vietnam, also received praise for responding to the outbreak early with a risk assessment in January and the proactive National Steering Committee for COVID-19 response and preparedness. There are some examples of how being nimble is proving to be an asset in these times to avoid massive losses.
While the world is mostly focusing (rightly so) on the health-care aspects and how to revive the economy, we, at SFA feel that there is need to give attention to the social impacts too. These may include getting appropriate and culturally relevant messages across to rural communities whose livelihoods depend on stepping out of their homes every day; documenting stories of how people are coping and discussing mental health issues; promoting small scale home based mask making and soap making to help with income generation while safe distancing etc. As a network, we are trying to respond to this pandemic in meaningful ways using our strengths. We issued a survey to understand what has worked with COVID-19 responses in our country hubs and beyond. We are exploring making digital conferencing a norm, and we are trying to use the opportunity of going digital to open up the network and allow greater participation. We are rethinking “normal”, abandoning rigidness and wholeheartedly, if on wobbly legs, embracing being “nimble”.
Translation into arts
By Vanessa Duclos and Reagan Kandole
Reagan Kandole, Executive Director of ECOaction, an NGO based in Kampala, Uganda, shares with us how the current worldwide crisis coverage inspired him to translate information into arts – channeling the doubts during the lockdown into creativity. If you want to get in touch with the artist, you can do so here.
Corona
By Tom Ketlogetswe, Thapong Visual Arts Centre, Botswana
Your strength is not in doubt
You are stronger than many imagined
Nations are perishing
Locals are hiding in fear
Your strength knows no boundaries
Your sweeping powers are unimaginable
Leaders across the globe shiver
Heroes are neither spared
The poor have no place to hide
The rich are contemplating hiding in cosy closets
You have unleashed your strength
Indeed you have surpassed your immediate predecessors
Copyright: Tom Ketlogetswe 2020
COVID-19 and Rethinking the Unsustainable “Normal”
By Dr Deepa Pullanikkatil, Co-Director, Sustainable Futures in Africa
Reconsidering Development Pathways: What is the “New Normal”?
“Sustainable Development”, that often overused term in development work, calls us to action to end poverty, protect the environment and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. However, our development pathways have been far from that ideal. With rising inequality, increasing carbon emissions, pollution, wildlife crime, and the exploitation of natural resources and environmental degradation, we have continued our immoral growth beyond the carrying capacity of our earth. COVID-19 may be a wake-up call to humanity to stop this self-destruction of our home planet, lest our actions eliminate us as a species.
Reflecting on the status of the world
With the majority of us under lockdown in our homes, this is a good time to pause and look at our lives, our countries’ priorities, global development and the meaning of sustainability. While we have advanced our knowledge about green economic models, good practices for reducing extreme poverty and the use of technologies to promote wellbeing, we still have 700 million people living on less than $1.90 a day. Our consumerism and continued emissions are compromising our chances of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and our global health care inequalities have come to haunt us.
Should we go back to “normal”?
Many of us can’t wait to get back to the same “normal” that got us into this predicament. COVID-19 has revealed that this pathway of unsustainable consumption, growth, ecological degradation and inequality simply cannot continue. In an increasingly interconnected world, the pandemic has taught us that none of us is safe unless all of us are safe. Business-as-usual may not be the “normal” we want to return to.
Economic slowdown may not be all that bad
This is also a good time to reflect on what life looks like when we slow down economic growth. With air travel grinding to a halt and a large number of people working from home, we are seeing the prevalence of digital conferences and meetings taking off, making us wonder why working remotely and meeting locally wasn’t already a norm? With the lockdown, the burning of fossil fuels has dropped, causing air quality to improve significantly, triggering social media posts of beautiful clear skies and views of mountains kilometres away. With humans locked in, animals and birds are courageously stepping out and enjoying their newfound freedom. The earth is healing.
We can work together
All sectors are working hand in hand to tackle this pandemic: funds are flowing from various sources; the private sector which hitherto cared mostly about profits is stepping in and helping the health sector. Governments are realising that spending on key sectors such as health and education is more important. Scientists and doctors are collaborating for the greater good, development partners are giving NGOs flexibility to divert their funding to COVID response, and each of us is checking in on our friends and family. It took this pandemic to ignite our sense of community, to get us to make sacrifices, recognise our priorities, work for a common purpose and cherish solidarity. We now realise that we’re all in this together and we can work together.
Three lessons learnt
Three things have become clear since the emergence of COVID-19. First, we are an interconnected world and only if all of us are safe, will each once of us become safe. In that regard, the virus is an equaliser because it does not discriminate. Second, although the virus has impacted every country, regardless of wealth or power, it has also made us realise how unequal our society is. There will be many who will not be able to recover at all or recover as fast as some others. Our global interconnectivity should wake us up to our responsibility for ensuring that each and every country recovers from this shock (not just our own country). We can no longer afford to be selfish, we have to broaden our minds and assume a global identity.
Finally, the unsustainable “normal” that has caused so many challenges to the world is a social construction; that means, we can change it. We, as a society, have been able to come together and make drastic changes to our lives and economy to respond to COVID-19. This proves that it is possible to take action to create a changed future for the better. After the pandemic ends, we must not slip back to the old normal, but consciously strive towards a “new normal” that is more sustainable, climate-proof, equitable, compassionate and humane.
What is your idea of the “new normal”?
How would you envision this “new normal”? Drop your answers/comments below.