For many communities at the centre of social movements, their needs are rapidly changing with multiple global crises. What they need from global development and advocates is an open dialogue to address their concerns.
2022 will bring more intense climate catastrophes and a spike in global COVID-19 cases, among other disasters. In order to effectively manage both disasters and their effect on existing humanitarian emergencies, INGOs need to reflect on their performance this year.
Sometimes the right evidence reaches the right people at the right time. Sometimes it doesn’t, with dire consequences. The pandemic heightened the need to inject best evidence into the social impact response. And there’s never been a more pressing time to learn from what worked and what didn’t in getting best evidence to those who need it so we can better prepare for catastrophes of all kinds. From public health crises to natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies, relying on the best local and global evidence is crucially important, but it shouldn’t take an active crisis to invest in the infrastructure needed for reliable and decision-relevant data and evidence.
COVID-19 exacerbated many deadly health emergencies — including the opioid crisis — and limited the social impact sector’s ability to respond. Lessons from this time can help build readiness to respond to all types of catastrophes more effectively and proactively.
Major crises like climate disasters and pandemics are, and will continue to, increase in frequency. The good news, though, is that organizations responding to these crises and their aftershocks can use learnings from this pandemic to prepare for the next emergency.
