<p>On March 11, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus (or COVID-19) as a global pandemic.Since then, many governments have introduced guidelines and orders in the hopes of stopping the spread of coronavirus within their country.With people staying indoors and severely limiting their activities, their interpersonal and societal interactions are undergoing significant transformation.However, there has been little documentation and understanding of how individuals are perceiving the crisis and behaving in response.</p>

<p>This project is comprised of two parts.First, researchers are conducting an evidence review on how women’s groups have functioned under prior economic and health shocks.The evidence synthesis will include both quantitative and qualitative research.The proposed evidence synthesis will consolidate the existing evidence on the ability of women’s groups to cope with negative health and economic shocks in order to inform our understanding of how groups may respond to the economic and health consequences of COVID-19.&nbsp;Second, researchers are&nbsp;documenting the effects of COVID-19 on the implementation and functioning of women's groups&nbsp;in different contexts in India, Nigeria, and Uganda.</p>

<p>Escaping Poverty (EP) explores the link between mental health and efforts to improve economic productivity for those in extreme poverty through a multi-arm field experiment with a sample of 7,330 households.It identifies barriers to exiting poverty through random assignment of anti-poverty asset transfer and training program intervention components, as well as cognitive-behavioral therapy.In particular, EP examines the link between psychological distress and poverty from two perspectives.</p>