Background:

Covid-19 pandemic had profound impacts on economies and individuals worldwide. Nationwide lockdowns and restrictions on mobility have presented many challenges to the livelihoods of informal workers and their dependents. Governments have implemented programs to stimulate the economy and protect underprivileged populations. Research was needed on the emerging constraints governments face in reviving struggling economies to catalyze jobs and livelihood opportunities. This study focuses on ultra-poor populations in rural Upper Egypt. The data comes from a randomized control trial so the sample has been randomly assigned intro treatment and control groups at an earlier stage. The study focused on looking at impacts on income, consumption, savings and labor market participation.

Timeline:

4 months

Approach:

I used primary data collected from the field on ultrapoor households in rural Upper Egypt. After participants were recruited, they were contacted via phone to fill out the studt survey. The main objective was to see how underprivileged populations responded to COVID-19 pandemic with respect to household economic aspects: income, savings, consumption and work. One group of the participants (the treatment group) were offered earlier a suite of productive assets and trainings to help households graduate out of extreme poverty.

My Role:

In this project, I lead the design and planning of participant recruitment, as well as developing the research questions and survey. Using R for data analysis, I navigated through the numbers to uncover insights and patterns.

Outcomes:

The study contributed to the global discourse on poverty, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the future of economic resilience for underprivileged rural populations. I presented the study results and insights in an online webinar as part of a panel organized by BRAC, a leading international development organization.