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IDS Briefing

Covid-19: A Stress Test for Trust?

Published on 4 March 2021

To tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, governments need citizens to trust messages on behaviour change, and to support more draconian steps like lockdowns. Yet, lack of trust in public authority and a prevalence of rumours are shaping people’s responses to the virus, especially in fragile, conflict-affected places.

Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) research among poor and marginalised households in such areas shows how distrust causes serious problems – and how approaches tailored to local contexts can mitigate these.

Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) research programme

This paper was produced as part of the A4EA research programme.

Cite this publication

Governance at the Margins Research Team (2021) ‘Covid-19: A Stress Test for Trust?’, IDS Briefing, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/A4EA.2021.001

Publication details

published by
Institute of Development Studies
authors
Governance at the Margins Research Team
doi
10.19088/A4EA.2021.001
language
English

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