Listening to young lives at work: impact of the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on young people in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam

The survey aims to answer questions about impact of the pandemic, policies to contain the spread of the virus, and the subsequent economic slowdown in four developing countries. Building on almost twenty years of the project, the survey will examine impacts on health, labour market, education, food security and mental health of young people in four developing countries. The research questions include: 1. What proportion of the Young Lives Cohorts aged 19 and 25 in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam have been affected by Covid-19: through illness (specified symptoms, or test result) of themselves or a family member ; through death of a family member; through income (and savings) and job; through food insecurity; through disruption to education plans and aspirations for those who were attending or plan to attend school/university/technical institute; and migration? 2. What behavior changes have occurred since the crisis began and how have they affected wellbeing: for example, effectiveness of lockdown or restrictions on movement and social gathering; positive health behaviors, including access to health services; beliefs about virus spreading and effective behavior; access to information from different sources (e.g. government, friends, social media, radio, etc.) 3. What are the short-term effects of the crisis on individual outcomes: for example health (including mental health); subjective well-being; educational attainment of 19 year olds; employment and earnings; sale of assets; time use and care responsibilities; 4. To what extent the impact of the pandemic has a differential effect by gender, economic sector (essential vs non-essential sectors), area of residence (highly-dense urban vs urban vs rural), living in poverty, possibly contributing to exacerbate existing inequalities; 5. What strategies and policies implemented have a positive impact in mitigating the immediate impact of the pandemic or promoting positive behaviors: for example, access to cash transfers, food donation, credit relief, access to credit, and other forms of economic assistance (from central and municipal governments, NGOs, religious organizations, etc), access to information about testing and/or treatment.