The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is not a great equaliser—the poor and vulnerable populations have been hit far worse. The third webinar in PEI’s economic inclusion series explored how economic inclusion programmes can help extremely poor and vulnerable people to increase incomes, build assets and grow their resilience in the face of the current health crisis and its economic aftershocks.  

This interactive webinar discussed some unfolding adaptations and early priorities in economic inclusion programmes in response to COVID-19. The session featured first-hand country experiences from Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Panama. 

Panellists: 

• Puja Vasudeva Dutta, Partnership for Economic Inclusion, World Bank 
• Gebre-Meskel Challa Motalo, Government of Ethiopia 
• Lauren Whitehead, BRAC USA 
• Virginia Barreiro, Government of Panama 
• Onelia Peralta, Government of Panama 

Moderator: Aude de Montesquiou, Social Protection Specialist, Partnership for Economic Inclusion, World Bank