Women rise: rebuilding rural livelihoods post-COVID-19

Abstract

In rural South Africa, the well-being of communities is deeply rooted in connections - family bonds, village relations and links to urban areas. According to researcher Leslie Bank of the HSRC, these are not just threads but lifelines. "It's the relationships between people - the mutuality, the connectedness between women - that allow resources to be distributed," he says. During the COVID-19 lockdown, many of these ties were broken. Co-led by Bank, the Women Rise post-pandemic recovery and reconstruction project is using participatory research to reveal women's experiences of COVID-19 in rural areas and to support their efforts to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.