CTTN Joint Regional Project Report on COVID-Induced Inequalities in Education, Health Services, Digital Access, and Female Labor Force Participation

The CTTN report “COVID-Induced Inequalities: Education, Health Services, Digital Access, and Female Labor Force Participation” is a compendium of four research papers by prominent researchers from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, focusing on some of the most important inequality issues caused by COVID-19 pandemic in the CAREC region.

The research papers on COVID-19-induced inequalities in education, health, digital access, and female labor force participation are essentially related to human development and digitalization, which are in line with the CAREC 2030 strategy and are also reflected in other strategic documents of the CAREC program. These topics are gaining traction in the development discourse, particularly for developing new metrics for human development in the post-COVID environment.

Although efforts were made to ensure each case study’s cohesiveness, consistency, comparability, and high quality, the final report exhibits significant variations in analysis, currency of data, methodology, sequence, and approach. Such variations are anticipated considering the diverse country contexts and unavailability of the latest data and literature. The joint report of the four think tanks provides valuable insights into the pre-existing inequalities and their amplification by the COVID pandemic. The report is expected to stir debate at policy level and blaze the trail for researchers for more in-depth research in the four areas—education, health, digital access, and female labor force participation.

The CAREC Institute intends to continue along this line, further strengthen ownership of joint projects by the think tanks and initiate similar projects in the future.