The impact of COVID on people’s livelihood: A case study of Kawempe division, Kampala district

Abstract

The Covid-19 global pandemic and its associated containment measures have taken a heavy toll on economies and societies worldwide. In Uganda, the national lockdown, imposed on 24 March, 2020 and subsequently extended more than three times to Dec 2021, has had a profound effect on people’s livelihoods in terms of employment, earnings/income and consumption. A number of surveys clearly show that livelihoods have been devastated at unprecedented levels. Food insecurity and economic vulnerability have increased to staggering proportions. Here we present findings from a survey of 60 self-employed, casual, and regular wage workers across 5 divisions of Kampala conducted between 1st Nov 2021 and 18 January 2022. We found a massive increase in unemployment and an equally dramatic fall in earnings. Two thirds of the respondents interviewed lost work. The few formal workers who were still employed during the lockdown due to reduced working hours (26 out of the 60 saw their earnings drop by more than half. Findings also highlighted an average monthly margin of 200,000-300,000 shillings household incomes following COVID-19 restrictions. Generally household who were in the middle income group went to low income groups and the low income groups became poorer. The results of this study indicate COVID 19 having a big impact on the people’s livelihoods and encourages the government to come up with innervations that help people recover economically, it can reduce the high tax burdens on the people’s business and incomes and also creating avenues for skilling the youth in income generation activities.