An estimated $15.9 trillion has been mobilised to respond to the health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of this has gone to multilateral and bilateral funders to support low- and middle-income countries’ (LMIC) governments. But how is this money being spent, and how is it impacting country budgets and expenditure more broadly?
Of the total $15.9 trillion mobilised for COVID-19, multilateral funders—including the IMF, UN, EU, Gavi, and the Global Fund—have committed $4.2 trillion, with a further $600 million from bilateral funders. Clear standards for tracking, reporting, and evaluating the uses of new financial commitments is critical. Real-time, formative impact evaluation can provide timely information on what is being funded and paint a picture of “what works” to inform policy approaches in real time and avoid duplication, improving the overall efficiency of response funding. Furthermore, these evaluations can and should play a pivotal role in informing the response to future pandemics and crises.
This blog sets out three big challenges for programming, monitoring, and evaluation during a pandemic, highlight ways in which these challenges can be overcome, and explore the long-term humanitarian consequences that will be left in the wake of funding decisions being made now.