Voices from the Frontline of Covid-19

The report documents community-led responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and climate risks across the Global South, highlighting the role of social capital, women's leadership, and local innovation in maintaining development progress. It identifies specific grassroots solutions—such as community grain banks, urban kitchen gardens, and village savings groups—and argues for a shift in external support toward flexible, locally-led financing and partnerships that recognise the expertise of community-based organisations.

• The Covid-19 pandemic compounded existing vulnerabilities related to climate change, poverty, and political marginalisation, but communities utilised existing coping strategies—such as women's networks and savings associations—to respond to the crisis.
• Community-led food security initiatives emerged as a critical response to pandemic-induced job losses, including the expansion of 'kitchen gardens' in Colombia and Kenya, and the use of 'Community Grain Banks' in Uttar Pradesh, India, which support over 6,000 farming families.
• Women and youth played leading roles in public health education and countering misinformation, using tools like local radio in Kenya and WhatsApp in Nepal to disseminate accurate hygiene protocols and combat harmful rumours.
• The pandemic exacerbated gender-based violence and the risk of early marriages for girls, particularly in Uganda, where families sometimes used daughters' marriages as a source of cash due to economic hardship.
• Informal settlements faced acute sanitation and waste management crises during lockdowns; in response, grassroots groups in Uganda trained youth in constructing ecological toilets, while waste pickers in Colombia successfully lobbied for recognition as 'essential service providers'.
• Local entrepreneurs diversified livelihoods to meet pandemic needs, creating micro-businesses for hygiene products or shifting from high-value fishing to seaweed farming in the Philippines when lockdowns restricted sea access.
• The intersection of Covid-19 and extreme weather events, such as Super-Cyclone Amphan in Bangladesh and monsoon floods in Assam, India, increased vulnerability by destroying housing and forcing unplanned gatherings that heightened virus exposure.
• Community-based financing mechanisms, such as Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA), profit-sharing microfinance, and crowd-funding via Kiva, provided essential survival buffers and capital for new ventures when formal credit was inaccessible.
• Effective partnerships for service delivery were observed when community activists collaborated with government officials to identify the most vulnerable residents and coordinate the distribution of relief packages.

APA

Dupar, M., & Mannan, S. (2021). Voices from the Frontline of Covid-19. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://test.cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/Voices-from-the-Frontline-of-Covid-full-synthesis-report-WEB.pdf

Chicago

Dupar, Mairi, and Shahrin Mannan. Voices from the Frontline of Covid-19. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2021. https://test.cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/Voices-from-the-Frontline-of-Covid-full-synthesis-report-WEB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dupar |first1=Mairi |last2=Mannan |first2=Shahrin |title=Voices from the Frontline of Covid-19 |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=2021 |url=https://test.cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/Voices-from-the-Frontline-of-Covid-full-synthesis-report-WEB.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dupar2021voices, author = {Dupar, Mairi and Mannan, Shahrin}, title = {{Voices from the Frontline of Covid-19}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2021}, url = {https://test.cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/Voices-from-the-Frontline-of-Covid-full-synthesis-report-WEB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }