COVID-19 Archives - Oxfam Policy & Practice

Research report

India’s Invisible Half: Unpacking the Paradox of Indian Women’s Labour

27/08/2026

1 documents

65 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

India’s female labour force participation has followed a paradoxical, non-linear path rather than a steady climb. The female Worker Population Ratio (WPR) peaked at 29.7% in 1977-78, then declined steadily through subsequent decades, with sharp drops in 1999-2000 and 2009-10, bottoming out at a historic low of 16.5% in 2017-18 — coinciding with record national […]

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Research report

Centering Women’s Rights Organizations: Evaluative research on Oxfam’s COVID-19 response in Colombia, Iraq, and Kenya

01/07/2024

13 documents

54 pages long

Languages: Arabic, English, French, Kurdish, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

The purpose of this research is to understand the broader context of the humanitarian response to COVID-19 from the perspective of women’s rights organizations (WROs) and to understand how well Oxfam has upheld local humanitarian leadership (LHL) commitments in relation to its partnerships with WROs. From the literature, as well as from Oxfam’s experience in […]

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Briefing paper

Sick Development: How rich-country government and World Bank funding to for-profit private hospitals causes harm and should be stopped

29/06/2023

6 documents

80 pages long

Languages: English, French

Keywords

Overview

Development finance institutions owned by European governments and the World Bank Group are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expensive for-profit hospitals in the Global South that block patients from getting care, or bankrupt them, with some even imprisoning patients who cannot afford their bills. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of […]

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Journal article

Intersectional analysis of women human rights defenders’ lived experiences under COVID-19 lockdowns in Zimbabwe

23/05/2023

19 pages long

Free access through journal website

Intersectional analysis of women human rights defenders’ lived experiences under COVID-19 lockdowns in Zimbabwe

Keywords

Overview

This paper focuses on providing a nuanced understanding of how COVID-19 lockdowns in Zimbabwe exacerbated the vulnerability of women human rights defenders (WHRDs). It utilises a desk research approach to narrate the lived experiences of WHRDs in a context where historically they have faced abuse, exclusion, and social and political stigma. COVID-19 evolved from a […]

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Briefing paper

Pandemic Responses in the MENA Region: Lessons learned for an inclusive economic recovery

22/05/2023

3 documents

31 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities and poor governance practices in the MENA region and had a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable people. These persistent and structural issues also threaten a post-COVID inclusive recovery process. Austerity steers from institutions like the IMF risk further inequality and social exclusion, as evidenced by diverse and gendered […]

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Research report

Emergent Agency in a Time of COVID-19: Research report

28/02/2023

4 documents

Languages: Arabic, English, French, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event in the modern era. Earlier studies demonstrated how ‘critical junctures’, which comprise major historical events and emergencies, often play an essential role in social change. This paper seeks to explore whether the COVID-19 pandemic would prove to be a similar pivotal moment, and what lessons […]

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Briefing paper

Emergent Agency in a Time of COVID-19: Key takeaways for donors, INGOs and the wider sector

28/02/2023

4 documents

10 pages long

Languages: Arabic, English, French, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event in the modern era. Earlier studies demonstrated how ‘critical junctures’, which comprise major historical events and emergencies, often play an essential role in social change. This paper seeks to explore whether the COVID-19 pandemic would prove to be a similar pivotal moment, and what lessons […]

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Journal article

Leveraging digital technologies to enable women’s co-operatives: experience of national insurance VimoSEWA Co-operative Ltd.

07/12/2022

21 pages long

Free access through journal website

Leveraging digital technologies to enable women’s co-operatives: experience of national insurance VimoSEWA Co-operative Ltd.

Keywords

Overview

This paper discusses how VimoSEWA, a micro-insurance entity serving informal workers since 1992 across several states in India, leveraged digital technologies in its entire operation to ensure that women from marginalised groups continued to be financially covered throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

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Research report

The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2022

11/10/2022

12 documents

Languages: Arabic, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

The 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index is the first detailed analysis published looking at governments’ policies and actions to fight inequality during the first two years of the pandemic. This fourth edition of the CRI Index reviews the spending, tax and labour policies and actions of 161 governments during 2020–2022. COVID-19 has increased […]

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Briefing paper

Asia’s Extreme Inequality Crisis: Building back fairer after COVID-19

26/09/2022

1 documents

36 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

COVID-19 has exacerbated Asia’s crisis of extreme inequality. This is undermining growth and preventing poverty eradication. Asian governments have done almost nothing to combat this rise in inequality and are constrained in their policy choices as debt burdens grow and post-COVID austerity begins. A few Asian governments have done a lot to fight inequality during […]

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