Inequality in the face of COVID-19: how grassroots communities are taking action

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the inequalities for groups that are particularly vulnerable to disasters, such as female-headed households, children, people with disabilities, indigenous and ethnic minority groups, landless tenants, migrant workers, older people, and other socially marginalised groups.

People living in densely populated informal settlements fall into this highly vulnerable category, with poor access to public services including health care, water, and sanitation. It is these communities that are also on the frontline of the climate crisis.

This online event brought together speakers from social movements and networks working with indigenous people, people living in informal settlements and women working in the informal economy, to reflect on the response of their communities to COVID-19.

The speakers reviewed inequalities in impacts and coping strategies, and discussed mechanisms to address inequality and manage future risks and shocks.

How do we make room for innovation, how do we become more accepting of risk and increased experimentation? And what we can learn that will help us tackle the climate crisis?

About the series

This is the second online event in a series hosted by IIED and the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) on the climate crisis and COVID-19 - working together for the change we need which will be hosted between June and October 2020. This event is also hosted working in partnership with ICCCAD and Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) and is also a part of the London Climate Action Week series of online events.

In conversation with colleagues around the world, from civil society organisations, universities and governments, this series will look at what we can learn to make us more ready for the new ways of working we need to tackle the climate crisis.

Building resilience, capacity, and adaptation have always provided a pathway to change – how can we use what we know and have achieved so far to ramp up our climate ambition? Drawing on lessons learned through capacity building, advocacy, and grassroots action, how can we catalyse a different future?

See other events in the series:

• Climate, COVID-19, and the collaboration we need (June 2020)
• Capacity building for climate action and ambition: what have we learned? (November 2020)
• Climate adaptation and resilience vision: what will success look like? (February 2021)