FINDING HOPE: Experiences of women, children and adolescents during the COVID-19, in their own words

Overview

The multifaceted implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of women and adolescents are increasingly reported. Finding Hope: Experiences of women, children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in their own words illustrates the lived experiences of over 30,000 people, mainly women and young people across 43 countries (Africa, Latin America and Caribbean and India) from April to August 2020, many of which occurred during countries’ initial attempts to curb the transmission of COVID-19. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we need to better understand the lived realities of women and adolescents. We need to enable the people behind the numbers and statistics to speak for themselves to inform policy and programme responses.

Finding Hope is based on the work of five partner organizations – Amref Health Africa; the Centre for Catalyzing Change (C3); the Graça Machel Trust; International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region (IPPFWHR); and Profamilia (Colombia) – as well as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and UNICEF (Latin America and the Caribbean).

Here we highlight the challenges reported by mainly women and young people: impact on mental health and well-being due to disruption of life; limits on access to education; food insecurity; loss of livelihoods; lack of access to health information and services; limitations on sexual and reproductive health and rights; and increased violence, lack of safety and reduced agency.

The solutions being implemented are also described and the PMNCH Call to Action on COVID-19 and experiences of women and adolescents are drawn on to put forward policy asks to help shape national, regional and global responses to the challenges faced by women and adolescents during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resources

• Finding Hope: Overview
• Finding Hope: Policy asks and solutions
  
• Focus on:
  
• Impact on mental health and well-being
• Limits to access to education
• Food insecurity
  
• Loss of livelihoods
• Lack of access to health information and services
  
• Limitations on sexual and reproductive health and rights
• Increased violence, lack of safety and reduced agency
  
• Methods
• Further work in countries to amplify the voices of women and adolescents
• Finding hope: Reference document
  

Partner reports

• Amref Health Africa report
• Graça Machel Trust – ilizwi report
  
• International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region (IPPFWHR) Youth Network report
• Centre for Catalyzing Change (C3) India report
• Profamilia (Colombia) report
  
• Short version
• Extensive version
  

Related

• News release
• Stories of inequities