Rethinking Vulnerability to COVID-19 Lockdowns in Gulu, Uganda

Lockdowns have been central to the COVID-19 response in much of Africa and look likely to continue on-and-off for months to come. Concerns have been raised about lockdowns' negative social and economic impact; there is a pressing need for careful research on that impact, with special attention to the hidden costs borne by the most vulnerable. Simultaneously, research is needed on how communities facing COVID-19 lockdowns are developing innovative, collective ways of ensuring livelihoods and charting paths towards modes of communal well-being amidst the pandemic and in its wake. This project will use participatory methods to map the impact of the lockdown in Gulu District and explore creative community responses 'beyond coping'. The research will focus in particular on how youth are negotiating the rural-urban interface and on lockdown's differential impact upon women. The results will feed directly into district and national policy.

Dr Adam Branch, University of Cambridge; Dr Pamela Atim, Gulu University, Uganda; Dr Daniel Komakech, Gulu University, Uganda; Dr David Monk, Gulu University, Uganda