Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a risk of an unprecedented global economic crisis has threatened to push millions of people into poverty and lost the few advances made in the last decades in achieving a less unequal society. However, many civil society actors are fighting to change this scenario. This is the case of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). The research center promotes studies to support evidence-informed policies against poverty, working with a global network of more than 200 affiliated professors from universities from around the world. The organization conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions related to poverty and its impacts.
In earlier studies, using community targeting methods, the research center identified those in more vulnerable economic situations and therefore more suitable for social allocations. As a result, their work and research offered scientific evidence to underpin the strategy and guide Indonesia’s COVID-19 relief cash transfer program, which has reached more than eight million recipients previously unrolled in social assistance programs in the country.
Learn more about the initiative here:
https://www.povertyactionlab.org/case-study/community-based-targeting-combat-covid-19-induced-poverty
If you want to support their work:https://www.povertyactionlab.org/page/support-us