COVID-19 Conflict & Resilience Monitor – 15 July 2020

If we do not change the face of politics, if we continue to ignore the lessons of decades of women’s activism, if we continue to spend our resources on weapons rather than on social services, we will have a harder time recovering from this pandemic, preventing the next one, or overcoming the climate crisis. It is an easy choice to make.

The measures taken by African governments to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic may have saved thousands of lives, but they have also left many struggling socially and economically in one way or another. In this turbulent moment, we need solidarity, inspired by ubuntu, so that we can be fully human together amidst COVID-19 for a common purpose of social protection, human dignity and economic stability.

COVID-19 could deepen fragility and exacerbate violent conflict, though data from regional security interventions to date suggest that not much has changed. However, with the rapid spread of COVID-19, the likelihood of a worsening security situation and a more constrained operational effectiveness of security personnel is a possibility.

Conflict-sensitive approaches to developing national strategies for addressing COVID-19 in Ghana – including strategic communication, situating preventive and response measures within the rule of law, broad-based stakeholder consultations and reliance on evidence-based information for decision-making – were critical to minimising the conflict multiplier potential of the COVID-19 prevention and response efforts.