We also explain the need for catalytic catch-up investments to recover the losses in human capital caused by the COVID-19 crisis, a crisis we know has erased years of progress in poverty reduction. In our Year 3 Progress Report on the World Bank’s Africa Human Capital Plan, we describe COVID-19 as a wake-up call for increased investments in human capital and preparedness, seeing in it an urgent need to strengthen systems for social services to help make people more resilient to shocks-including climate events and food shortages-all of which threaten lives today. Health teams, made up of nurses like Alice, hike rough, mountainous terrain to vaccinate residents isolated in remote villages. Getting vaccines to 400,000 people spread across 10 islands is no small feat but, thanks to a strong health system and a sound supply strategy, Cabo Verde has become a global model for COVID-19 response. Cabo Verde’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted sharply by 14.8% in 2020 during the pandemic, one of the largest drops in GDP in Africa. Many did so to allow the tourism sector-so vital to Cabo Verde-to reopen in the summer of 2021. Thousands of miles away, off the coast of West Africa in Cabo Verde, Alice Bentoub is the reason people in her community were quick to agree to being vaccinated against COVID-19. Low-income families in Zambia are benefiting from cash transfer programs that support women’s livelihoods and keep girls in school. Adaptive social protection programs are becoming increasingly important as people across the continent weather multiple shocks, including recurrent droughts, and the negative effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on local economies. She credits the help she received from the World Bank’s supported Girls’ Education and Women’s Empowerment and Livelihoods (GEWEL) Project in Zambia, for making it possible for her to complete her education and go on to university. Rose Tembo knows how easily her education could have ended in secondary school, years earlier than she wished, when her family ran out of money to pay school fees.
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