Supporting knowledge translation for research on COVID-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) ̶ Phase 2

The health impacts of COVID-19 are now apparent in low-income countries, as are the social, economic and political impacts, as well as the potential for these to widen inequalities, deepen poverty, generate insecurity, undermine governance and leave lasting effects on capacities to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. As wide-ranging measures have been put in place in low-income contexts, there is an urgent need for reliable, contextually grounded local data and evidence to inform appropriate responses to this global pandemic. A rapid-response funding mechanism is now supporting 21 projects to contribute research, evidence and data for policy and practice solutions to mitigate the social and economic impacts of COVID-19 and promote recovery from the pandemic across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. A mix of single-organization and consortium projects will generate research to inform immediate, medium-term and longer-term measures that leverage opportunities to 'Äúbuild back better'Äù by generating policies that are more robust and practices that are more effective and equitable. These projects work across three thematic focus areas: macro-economic policy; supporting essential economic activity, protecting workers and small producers; and promoting democratic governance and effective, accountable responses. In addition to these rapid-response research projects, the COVID-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) initiative will support a second phase to design and implement a knowledge-translation strategy to promote and capture learning from and beyond individual projects. This second phase will emphasize synthesis of findings and positioning of southern voices and leadership in national, regional and global policy spaces. The project will also include a second round of reflective learning on practice to deepen findings on rapid-response pandemic support of this kind.