Opportunities and Imperatives Arising from COVID-19: Guidance on More Inclusive Digital Adoption

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COVID-19 is creating rapid and dramatic shifts in the global economy and how business is transacted. This disruption is fueling fast-paced innovation and uptake of digital technology in all spheres of life, but also poses real risks, exacerbating the existing vulnerabilities of poor women and men and leaving them even further behind. This brief is designed to equip private sector (PSD) and market systems development (MSD) practitioners with practical and actionable guidance to optimize outreach and engagement and minimize unintentional exclusion in the development sector’s move to the use of more digital technology.

Andrew Panton

Senior Consultant

I am committed to improving human livelihoods and resilience in balance with nature. At the Canopy Lab, I provide research and advisory support to projects working on biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and resilience, nature-based solutions, sustainable tourism, and market systems development. Outside work, I’m a keen guitarist, cyclist and bookworm, with a love for food, travelling and learning languages.

JESSICA RUST-SMITH

Senior Consultant

I work across markets, business and supply chains, impact investing, agriculture, and women’s economic empowerment. I am an experienced monitoring, evaluation, research and learning consultant and project manager with expertise in the use of mixed methods, theory-based approaches and data collection and analysis. I have been working in M&E for market systems development for 10 years now, and going strong.