ABSTRACT

In South Africa, the first stringent COVID-19 lockdown led to joblessness, poverty and isolation from protective social networks stripping many families of the resources they needed to care for children. Whilst widespread hardship was reported, this viewpoint teases out the range of experiences to support policy-making for future pandemics. The authors draw on the findings from the National Income Dynamics Study: Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey and projects that elicited children’s perspectives. These sources reveal that children living in socially and spatially diverse families and locations had different experiences. Vital safety nets include a strong civil society, a culture of ubuntu in rural and peri-urban communities, and the school feeding programme in low-income neighbourhoods. However, permanently raising the child support grant above the food poverty line would protect children during pandemics, mitigate against hunger and reduce the hidden inequalities that exist around access to food between urban and rural areas.

摘要

在南非，第一次严格的 COVID-19 封锁导致失业、贫困和与保护性社交网络的隔离，剥夺了许多家庭照顾孩子所需的资源。虽然报告了普遍的困难，但这一观点梳理了支持未来流行病政策制定的经验范围。作者借鉴了国民收入动态研究的结果：冠状病毒快速移动调查以及引发儿童观点的项目。这些资料表明，生活在社会和空间多样化的家庭和地点的儿童有不同的经历。重要的安全网包括强大的公民社会、农村和城郊社区的 ubuntu 文化，以及低收入社区的学校供餐计划。然而，