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To control the spread of coronavirus, the Kenyan Ministry of Health COVID-19 Taskforce has implemented initial prevention and mitigation measures. Of concern are the densely overcrowded, poor urban slums where sanitation and social distancing measures are near impossible. COVID-19 would spread rapidly and be devastating under these conditions. To inform the Taskforce strategy, the Population Council COVID-19 study team utilizes rapid phone-based surveys to collection information on knowledge, attitudes and practices among ~2,000 heads of household sampled from existing prospective cohort studies across five Nairobi urban slums. Iterations of the survey will be conducted every 1-2 weeks. Baseline findings on awareness of COVID-19 symptoms, perceived risk, awareness of and ability to carry out preventive behaviors, misconceptions, and fears will inform Taskforce interventions. In subsequent rounds, behavior change messages will be randomly assigned to measure effectiveness, or if randomization is not feasible, survey questions on exposure and response to government campaigns will be evaluated using causal inference approaches.

This presentation recounts findings on COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices in Guatemala's indigenous municipalities. A total of 144 phone-based key informant interviews were conducted from April 14–18, 2020, in ten municipalities. Key informants included indigenous women, heads of households, teachers, community leaders, municipal officers, and frontline health workers. Recommendations include: 1) intensifying government efforts to deliver accurate information on the prevention of COVID-19 to indigenous communities with a focus on developing a COVID-19 roadmap for community action after the first case is identified in a given municipality, and considering alternatives for self-isolation for the poorest households; 2) conveying tailored, actionable information with a multilingual approach; 3) engaging and mobilizing community leaders, teachers, midwives, and young indigenous female mentors to deliver information at the community and household levels. Recommended government emergency plans include: supporting frontline health workers and municipal officers who are at high risk and not able to stay home due to their profession by providing personal protective equipment; intensifying efforts to address the impact of food insecurity and loss of income; and guaranteeing indigenous communities access to hygiene products and medicine.

NOTE: This brief represents research in progress. Content has not been peer reviewed, and this version may be updated with additional analyses in subsequent publications. --- The Population Council has a longstanding partnership with indigenous communities through the Abriendo Oportunidades program. Our experience working in indigenous settings has allowed us to witness a lack of indigenous inclusion in government activities. To better understand indigenous knowledge, perspectives, and needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Guatemala, we conducted 144 key informant interviews using mobile phones in ten municipalities from April 14–18, 2020. This brief describes highlights of the key informant interviews; participants' knowledge of infection, symptoms, and prevention measures; risk perception; challenges to community prevention; and recommendations.

From April 20–30, 2020, during a nationwide lockdown, the Population Council Bangladesh conducted the first round of a rapid phone-based survey on COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices. The survey randomly selected girls who had provided phone numbers during enrollment in a skills-building program that began before the pandemic. The survey's objective was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on adolescent lives and to design programs that would contribute to protecting girls and meet social distancing guidelines imposed by the government. Phone interviews were conducted with 479 girls living in the districts of Chapainawabganj, Kushtia, and Sherpur who were participants in a program focused on reducing child marriage by increasing school attendance and grade progression among girls ages 12–15. A follow-up survey was conducted from June 12–22, 2020, prior to the introduction of virtual skills sessions as school closure and social distancing protocols were in effect. The nationwide lockdown had been withdrawn by that time. A third round of remote data collection took place September 5–11, 2020. This brief presents the findings and comparisons from the three rounds of phone surveys.

Consistent and inexpensive energy access is pivotal for human development and sustainable living standard. Pakistan is facing a huge gap in the demand and supply of energy which is brewing since 2007. This study analysed the factor influencing the households' willingness to pay for the alternative energy source. Using a world bank data, collected from 8500 households our study presented the findings of the ordered logit model. Our results indicate that there exists a positive willingness to pay for energy alternatives for socio-economic characteristics and energy attributes. Besides, it indicates the affordability and cost-saving factor of potential alternative significantly influence the WTP for the alternative energy source. We suggested the policymakers to make policies to encourage the invention of the affordable energy products that result in reliable and long-running energy alternatives. Similarly, the financial assistance in the form of easily accessible loans, subsidies, and attractive instalments for the energy products.

Consistent and inexpensive energy access is pivotal for human development and sustainable living standard. Pakistan is facing a huge gap in the demand and supply of energy which is brewing since 2007. This study analysed the factor influencing the households' willingness to pay for the alternative energy source. Using a world bank data, collected from 8500 households our study presented the findings of the ordered logit model. Our results indicate that there exists a positive willingness to pay for energy alternatives for socio-economic characteristics and energy attributes. Besides, it indicates the affordability and cost-saving factor of potential alternative significantly influence the WTP for the alternative energy source. We suggested the policymakers to make policies to encourage the invention of the affordable energy products that result in reliable and long-running energy alternatives. Similarly, the financial assistance in the form of easily accessible loans, subsidies, and attractive instalments for the energy products.

"Welfare Politics in Africa" published on by Oxford University Press.

Wage theft occurs whenever a worker is denied the wages or benefits to which they are legally entitled. Violations of low-wage workers' basic workplace rights is common, and these violations collectively cost working people and various levels of government tens of billions of dollars per year. Due to growing awareness over this problem, some states and cities have recently passed new laws designed to better remedy and deter wage theft. The District of Columbia is one such city, and has among the strongest anti-wage theft laws in the country. Through approximately sixty semi-structured, qualitative interviews with low-wage workers, employment lawyers, workers' rights activists, and a small number of employers, this research explores the personal and social consequences of wage theft among low-wage workers in Washington, DC.Low-wage workers report significant harm as a result of wage theft, which extends far beyond the immediate economic consequence of being underpaid. Wage theft often causes a variety of cascading economic harms, as low-wage workers struggle to pay for the basics of life, including rent, food, and utilities. Many victims of wage theft also report feeling angry, depressed, powerless, and frustrated, and some report stress-related health problems.Despite the powerful effect that wage theft has on its victims, low-wage workers are highly unlikely to attempt legal action, either by filing a lawsuit or seeking help from the government. Many are afraid of retaliation by their employers, and cannot afford to leave their jobs. Many also lack knowledge of their substantive and procedural rights, and either do not know that their workplace rights have been violated, or do not know where to go for help. Workers also report that they lack faith in the government's ability and willingness to help them. These findings have significant implications for labor standards enforcement. While the District's legal reforms have helped to address the problem of wage theft in some limited ways, the city primarily utilizes a complaint-based system for finding and remedying wage theft. However, given that wage theft is common and that those who experience it are extremely unlikely to notify the government, this passive approach is a deeply inadequate response to the problem. To effectively find, remediate, and deter wage theft, enforcement agencies must adopt more proactive strategies. At a minimum, this must include improving working relationships with community organizations, expanding the frequency and scope of agency-directed workplace investigations, and streamlining government processes.

Wachsende regionale Entwicklungsunterschiede und über 350 Millionen Chinesen, die nach internationalen Standards unterhalb der Armutsgrenze leben, stehen in krassem Gegensatz zum Image des Wirtschaftswunderlandes. Das zunehmende regionale Entwicklungsgefälle, das Millionen von Wanderarbeitern in die Städte an der Ostküste drängen läßt, um der ländlichen Armut zu entfliehen, verstärkte Anfang der 90er Jahre die Diskussion um die Zunahme zentrifugaler Kräfte. Als Szenario des politisch-wirtschaftlichen Auseinanderfallens Chinas in Teilregionen fand diese Diskussion unter westlichen China-Experten große Beachtung. Seit Mitte der 90er Jahre hat sich in der politischen Führung ein Stimmungswechsel hinsichtlich der Beurteilung der regionalen Disparitäten und der Armutsbekämpfung vollzogen. Partei und Regierung wollen eine stärker ausgeglichene Regionalentwicklung und mehr Ressourcen für die Reduzierung der Armut einsetzen. Die neuen Zielsetzungen finden ihren Niederschlag in den mittelfristigen Wirtschaftsplanungen, in neuen Gesetzen und Bestimmungen sowie in einer Reihe von wirtschaftspolitischen Maßnahmen. Wie stark die politische Führung vor allem das Thema der Armutsbekämpfung in der Öffentlichkeit besetzt hat, davon konnte sich die Autorin des vorliegenden Beitrages im Herbst 1996 während eines Forschungsaufenthaltes in China selbst überzeugen. Sowohl im Fernsehen als auch in den regierungsamtlichen Tageszeitungen wurde täglich über die Besuche politischer Führer in den Armutsgebieten und über die Position der Partei und Regierung zu diesem Problemkreis berichtet. Welche Bedeutung diesem Thema nach wie vor eingeräumt wird, zeigen die im Januar 1997 veröffentlichten Reden des Ministerpräsidenten Li Peng und des Parteivorsitzenden Jiang Zemin auf der ZK-Konferenz zur Armutsbekämpfung und Entwicklung sowie der Staatsratsbeschluß zur Armutspolitik, die alle von Ende September 1996 datieren. Im folgenden Beitrag werden Fragen der regionalen Wirtschaftsentwicklung und der Armut in China gemeinsam betrachtet, da Armut ...

Government compensation of kidney donors would likely increase the supply of kidneys and prevent the premature deaths of tens of thousands of patients with kidney failure each year. The major argument against it is that it would exploit the poor who would be more likely to accept the offers of compensation. This overlooks the fact that many poor patients desperately need a kidney transplant and would greatly benefit from an increased supply of kidneys. The objective of this study is to empirically test the hypothesis that government compensation of kidney donors would exploit the poor. Exploitation is defined by economists and several noted ethicists as paying donors less than the fair market value of their kidney. Exploitation is expressed in monetary terms and compared with the economic benefit recipients receive from a transplant. Data are from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and the United States Renal Data System annual data reports. Educational attainment is used as a proxy for income. We estimate that if the government rewards living donors with a package of non-cash benefits worth $75,000 per kidney, donors would not be exploited. Much more important, this compensation would likely end the kidney shortage, enabling many more patients with kidney failure to obtain transplants and live longer and healthier lives. The value of kidney transplantation to a U.S. recipient is about $1,330,000, which is an order of magnitude greater than any purported exploitation of a living donor (zero to $75,000). Consequently, the aggregate net benefit to the poor alone from kidney transplantation would increase to about $12 billion per year from $1 billion per year currently. Most of the benefit would accrue to poor kidney recipients. But poor donors would receive the fair market value of their kidney, and hence would not be exploited. If the government wanted to ensure that donors also received a net benefit, it could easily do so by increasing the compensation above $75,000 per donor.

The Human Development Reports (HDRs) are documents that systematize a large number of diagnoses, prescriptions and proposals directed mainly to governments, states and general political leaders (including those of the organized civil society). The object of this research is the prescriptions, contained in the HDRs, of actions and procedures to expand the financing sources of policies that lead to human development. Among the many suggestions are those aimed at the containment of military expenditures and the increase of the chances of forming funds in poor countries in order to finance human development policies. Because it is a documentary research, the HDRs are the main material of this analysis targeted to verify, through their narratives and arguments, how authors build different ways to convince various sectors, groups and social segments of the need to find financing sources of policies that could lead to human development. ; Los Informes de Desarrollo Humano (IDH) son documentos que sistematizan un gran número de diagnósticos, prescripciones y propuestas dirigidas principalmente a los gobiernos, a los estados y al liderazgo político en general (incluyéndose los líderes de la sociedad civil organizada). El objeto de esta investigación, son las prescripciones contenidas en los Informes, de acciones y procedimientos para expandir las fuentes de financiación que conducen al desarrollo humano. Entre las muchas sugerencias están las dirigidas a la contención de los gastos militares y la ampliación de las posibilidades de los países pobres para obtener fondos, que serían invertidos en políticas de desarrollo humano. Debido a que es una investigación documental, los informes sobre desarrollo humano son los principales materiales de este análisis, con el objetivo de comprobar, a través de sus relatos y argumentos, como sus formuladores construyen diversos medios de convencer a diversos sectores, grupos y sectores sociales sobre la necesidad de encontrar fuentes de financiación de políticas que podrían conducir al desarrollo humano. Se nota que entre las fuentes (ya que hay otras) de financiación estarían las que podrían resultar de la reducción de los recursos asignados a los gastos militares, que son muy altos en muchos países que no invierten lo suficiente en las áreas que podrían mejorar la vida de las poblaciones más pobres. ; Os Relatórios do Desenvolvimento Humano (RDHs) são documentos que sistematizam um grande número de diagnósticos, prescrições e propostas direcionadas, principalmente, aos governantes, Estados e lideranças políticas de modo geral (incluindo-se aquelas da sociedade civil organizada). O objeto desta pesquisa são as prescrições, contidas nos RDHs, de ações e procedimentos para expandir as fontes de financiamento de políticas que levem ao desenvolvimento humano. Entre as muitas sugestões estão aquelas direcionadas aos processos de contenção dos gastos militares e de ampliação das chances, nos países pobres, de formação de fundos para serem aplicados em políticas de desenvolvimento humano. Por se tratar de uma pesquisa documental, os RDHs são os materiais principais desta análise voltada para verificar, por meio de suas narrativas e argumentos, como seus formuladores constroem caminhos diversos para convencer diversos setores, grupos e segmentos sociais acerca da necessidade de encontrar fontes de financiamento das políticas que poderiam levar ao desenvolvimento humano.