<p>The COVID-19 pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, and, with that, has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities.This study focuses on implications for local microfinance institutions in Pakistan, a country with a mature microfinance sector, serving a large number of households.The institutions serve populations poorly-served by traditional commercial banks, helping customers invest in microenterprises, save, and maintain liquidity.Researchers&nbsp;report results from ‘rapid response’ phone surveys of about 1,000 microenterprise owners, a survey of about 200 microfinance loan officers, and interviews with regulators and senior representatives of microfinance institutions.</p>

<p>Several governments in LAC are increasingly imposing mandatory quarantines for all citizens to contain the expansion of the COVID-19 pandemic.In Peru, the government is trying to smooth the impact of the shock on the consumption of vulnerable households by providing an emergency cash transfer for the poorest households.Eligibility for the transfer was based on living in urban areas and to be classified as poor according to an index elaborated by the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion (MIDIS).</p>

<p>An increasingly popular anti-poverty program in many developing countries is to simply give poor people cash unconditionally.In principle, giving cash can be transferred relatively efficiently to households, with minimal overhead.The relatively recent technological innovation of mobile money marks a huge leap forward in this respect—it is now possible to text money to poor beneficiaries quickly and securely.In Liberia, IPA&nbsp;is evaluating the first large unconditional cash transfer implemented by GiveDirectly.Within this project, a monthly high-frequency phone survey has been running since early 2019.</p>