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Cardboard boxes filled with paper files

Pandemic provides unprecedented opportunities to take justice online

By
  • Joyce Sadka
  • Isabel Mejía Fontanot
Labor courts in Mexico and many other low- and middle-income countries often provide low quality services. Since 2015, we have partnered with the Mexico City Labor Court, one of the largest courts dealing with firing cases in Latin America, to innovate in improving the court’s functioning.
parent child digital report

How filling in the information gaps can increase student learning

Educators around the world are currently engaging in many creative strategies to encourage learning despite closed schools, social distancing policies, and other COVID-imposed obstacles to traditional classroom-based learning. This blog summarizes the key takeaway messages from J-PAL’s new policy...
The photo depicts a close-up shot of a man distributing medication into the hands of a woman wearing a sari.

Connecting the dots from detection to cure

If governments don’t have a good picture of the health care needs of their citizens, how can they begin to address them effectively and efficiently? Governments around the world are all too familiar with this paradox, which can be particularly challenging if administrative data on health care...
A woman wearing a medical face mask counts rupee notes after collecting cash of financial assistance through a mobile wallet under the governmental Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme for families in need during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Islamabad on April 9, 2020.

Hard data for hard choices

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Before COVID-19 arrived, social scientists had already established that cash transfers and mobile money are two of the most effective tools for assisting the poor and vulnerable in difficult conditions. Now is the time for governments to act on those findings, and to build up additional data for the...
The image pictures a women's hand with the palm facing out.

Evidence-based approaches to tackling recent increases in gender-based violence

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Many countries have witnessed a surge in cases of domestic violence due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders. This phenomenon is especially concerning in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia, where rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) are...
A man stands behind a counter that displays phone cards in a small shop. A woman sits in front of the counter typing on a laptop.

Dapatkah layanan keuangan digital dan e-commerce membantu mengurangi dampak krisis COVID-19 pada kehidupan masyarakat?

Di bulan April, pemerintah mengumumkan pemberlakuan Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar (PSBB) dan melarang perjalanan mudik Idul Fitri, dimana puluhan juta orang Indonesia biasanya kembali ke kota/desa asal mereka untuk merayakan bersama keluarga. Pembatasan-pembatasan lainnya juga berupa instruksi...
A man stands behind a counter that displays phone cards in a small shop. A woman sits in front of the counter typing on a laptop.

How digital financial services and e-commerce can help curb the impact of COVID-19 on people's livelihoods

For those in Indonesia with access to mobile phones and digital literacy, e-commerce and digital financial services may help people to maintain their livelihoods. Not only do digital financial services offer a fast and contactless means of payment and transfer, but evidence from around the world has...
A person is standing at the side of the road behind a cart of fruit, while a cloud of smog obscures the background.

Toward evidence-informed climate policy: A reflection on Earth Day 2020

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This Earth Day, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the connections between our health and well-being and that of the planet are more present than ever. COVID-19 and climate change share the dubious distinction of taking the greatest toll on the world’s most vulnerable.