5 BD 05 Ac 22

UNDER
SIEGE
Impact of COVID-19
on Girls in Africa
UNDER SIEGE
Impact of COVID-19 on Girls in Africa
June 2020
AFRICAN CHILD POLICY FORUM (ACPF)
The African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) is an independent, not-for-profit, Pan-African institute of policy
research and dialogue on the African child. ACPF was established with the conviction that putting
children first on the public agenda is fundamental for the realisation of their rights and wellbeing and
for bringing about lasting social and economic progress in Africa.
ACPF’s work is rights based, inspired by universal values and informed by global experiences and
knowledge and is committed to Internationalism. Its work is guided by the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and other regional and
international human rights instruments. ACPF aims to specifically contribute to improved knowledge on
children in Africa; monitor and report progress; identify policy options; provide a platform for dialogue;
collaborate with governments, intergovernmental organisations and civil society in the development
and implementation of effective pro-child policies and programmes and promote a common voice for
children in and out of Africa.
P.O. Box 1179, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Telephone: + 251 116 62 81 92/96/97/99
Fax: +251 116 62 82 00
E-mail: info@africanchildforum.org
Website: www.africanchildforum.org
www.africanchild.info
PLAN INTERNATIONAL
Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances
children’s rights and equality for girls all over the world. We recognise the power and potential of every
single child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is
girls who are most affected.
As an independent non-profit development and humanitarian organisation, we work alongside

children, young people, our supporters and partners to tackle the root causes of the challenges facing
girls and all vulnerable children. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global
levels of our reach, experience and knowledge.
For over 80 years we have been building powerful partnerships for children, and we are active in over
70 countries.
Dukes Court, Block A, Duke Street,

Woking, Surrey GU21 5BH, United Kingdom
Tel: (+44)1483 755 155
https://plan-international.org
© 2020 African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) and Plan International
This report was made possible with financial

assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Netherlands through the Girls Advocacy
Alliance Regional Africa Programme.
i UNDER SIEGE: IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GIRLS IN AFRICA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This report is the result of technical contributions from various individuals. We
would like to express our special thanks to them all.
Writer: Shimelis Tsegaye Tesemma
Contributors:
• From ACPF: Stella Ayo Odongo, Violet Odala, Addis Yimer, Joan Nyanyuki,
Negussie Dejene, Sarah Guebreyes, Retta Getachew, Saba Lishan and
Ashenafi Tesema
• From Plan International: Samuel Norgah, Nana A. Ndada, Nastasia Thebaud,

Anteneh Bizuayehu, Sara Tabit, Tayachew Moges, Selam Abraha, Zemzem
Jemal and Yodit Mekuria
Key informants and respondents: From Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra
Leone, South Sudan and Uganda
Reviewer: Joan Nyanyuki
Design and layout: Diana De León

UNDER SIEGE: IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GIRLS IN AFRICA ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i
LIST OF BOXES & CHARTS iii
OVERVIEW 1
SUMMARY 2
1. MULTIDIMENSIONAL IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GIRLS 5
1.1 STATE OF ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION 5
1.2 FACTORS AGGRAVATING ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION 10
1.3 ACCESS TO PROTECTION SERVICES 11
2. POVERTY AND HUNGER 13
3. ACCESS TO BASIC HEALTHCARE SERVICES 16
4. ACCESS TO EDUCATION 18
5. CHILD MARRIAGE AND FGM 20
6. ACCESS TO SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES 23
7. GIRLS IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS 25
8. CONCLUSION 30
9. RECOMMENDATIONS 31
ENDNOTES 34
iii UNDER SIEGE: IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GIRLS IN AFRICA
LIST OF BOXES & CHARTS

Box 1.1: Methodology 4
Box 1.2: Violence against girls in the Context of COVID-19:
Uganda case study 6
Chart 1.1: Total Child Helpline calls by type of reported issues related
to girls, 10 Apr to 14 June 2020, Uganda 6
Chart 1.2: Total number of abuses by callers, Jan-May 2020, Uganda 7
Box 1.3: Online Sexual Exploitation 9
Chart 2.1: Potential impact of COVID-19 on poverty in sub-Saharan Africa 14
Chart 2.2: Number of girls missing out on school meals in Africa, by country 15
Chart 3.1: Total number of children vaccinated, month by month,
2019 vs 2020, Uganda 17
Box 5.1: COVID-19 fuelling an increase in cases of FGM in Africa 22
UNDER SIEGE: IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GIRLS IN AFRICA 1
OVERVIEW
Throughout history, women and girls in the African continent, which
have been affected negatively and constitute about 49% of the total
at a disproportionately higher rate child population. Critically, gender
by the outbreaks of epidemics and equality and girls’ multidimensional
pandemics, and COVID-19 hasn’t vulnerability have been accentuated
been an exception. Existing social to an unprecedented level. The
and cultural norms and practices that pandemic has triggered major
underlie structures of systemic gender concerns about the potential reversal
discrimination and marginalisation of the strides achieved over the years
glaringly manifest themselves. towards gender equality and human
Otherwise hidden and suppressed development in Africa.
attitudes and practices are laid bare
as communities and institutions
resort to instincts to control and
survive within emergency situations.
In Africa, an intersection of factors

leaves girls and adolescents at greater
risk of marginalisation, discrimination
and neglect. Gender and social
norms have traditionally placed girls
at a greater disadvantage than other
segments of the population.
Pandemics, like other crises,

often result in the breakdown of
social infrastructure and services,
leading to health, transport, food,
sanitation, legal, security and
other governance structures being
temporarily contracted or becoming
dysfunctional.1 This may result in
increased exposure of women and
children to human rights abuses,
including exposure to gender-based
violence.2
The COVID-19 pandemic has

exacerbated and added yet another
layer of vulnerability to an already Photo credit: dreamstime.com
dire web of vulnerabilities of girls
2 UNDER SIEGE: IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GIRLS IN AFRICA
SUMMARY
Since the onset of the COVID-19 Millions of girls have been deprived
pandemic, hundreds of thousands of access to food, basic healthcare
of people have been infected and protection and thousands were
in Africa and the livelihoods of exposed to abuse and exploitation.
millions has been disrupted. It is
also important to note that some The control and mitigation measures
countries have effectively used the related to the pandemic have been
lead time before the pandemic hit felt more acutely among children,
the continent and have managed to especially in poor communities of
put in place the necessary control Africa. But even then, girls more than
and mitigation measures. The fast boys have been severely affected.
evolving nature of the pandemic and According to 2020 estimates, Africa
its multidimensional impact has, counts about 308,768,000 girls
however, caught many governments under 18.4 The majority of them
and other actors off guard, making are school-going children, hence
it difficult to respond proactively and currently staying at home in the midst
effectively. This has been worsened of lockdowns across the continent.
by the already weak health systems Report after report is revealing that
across the continent. On average, the homes are becoming physically and
continent has less than 2 hospital emotionally suffocating spaces for
beds per 1,000 people, and with girls, where the well-established
many western countries (more than dictum ‘home sweet home’ is no
71 so far) restricting exports of longer tenable for most. Quarantines
COVID-19 essential supplies, Africa’s and stay-home measures and
posture to combat the pandemic has movement restrictions related to
become precarious.3 COVID-19 have brought potential
victims and potential perpetrators
Control and mitigation measures together under the confines of the
targeted at minimising infections home setting, increasing girls’ close
have also exacerbated the situation of and constant exposure to abuse and
already vulnerable children, especially violence.
in Africa where child protection
systems were already fragile. The pandemic has also thrown
millions of families – up to 29 million
– further into extreme poverty and
affected access to social services.
With less than 2 hospital beds, on
Health systems have diverted
average, per 1,000 people, and
attention from immunisation
more than 71 countries restricting
programs, sexual and reproductive
exports of COVID-19 essential
services and high prevalence
supplies, Africa’s posture to
conditions such as malaria, HIV/AIDS
combat the pandemic has become
and TB. Schools have been disrupted,
precarious.
which are not only the only safe space
for many girls in Africa, but also the

only source of a decent meal for Heightened anxiety engendered
hundreds of thousands. More than by the circumstances surrounding
120 million school-going girls are quarantine and confinement
currently at home and many of them have accentuated perpetrators’
fear that they may not be able to go predisposition to abuse their
back to school. This is what Halima, positions of power, trust and
a 16-year-old girl from Niger, had to authority over others under
say: “I pray the government finds a lockdown.
solution to this disease as soon as
possible, so girls like me can go back
to school. My dream of becoming a
doctor should not be broken, please.”
Further, heightened anxiety

engendered by the circumstances
surrounding quarantine and
confinement have emboldened
perpetrators’ predisposition to abuse
their positions of power, trust and
authority over others under lockdown
with them.
Efforts to enforce curfews and

lockdowns have also resulted in
assault and killings of civilians
who did not adhere to movement
restrictions. Under those
circumstances, young women and
girls would be fearful to go to a
hospital to seek healthcare or sexual
and reproductive services. Even in
emergency situations, they do so at
the real risk of assaults, unreasonable
quarantines, or arbitrary detention for
lockdown, movement restriction and
curfew violations.
This rapid assessment seeks to

document the impact of COVID-19 on
girls and the corresponding control Photo credit: Plan International
measures put in place by African
governments across a spectrum of circumstances such as displaced
issues, including deprivation, hunger, girls and girls in refugee settings,
violence and access to healthcare and girls living in urban slums, girls with
education services. It also highlights disabilities and those living and/or
the special plight of girls in crises working on the street.
Box 1.1: Methodology
This rapid assessment covered as many countries in Africa as data

is available, with selected country case studies, analysing the gender
dimensions of COVID-19, with a thematic focus on the impact of the
pandemic on girls across an array of issues, including abuse, exploitation,
exclusion from basic services, hunger and poverty.
The assessment relied both on primary and secondary data. Skype

and phone call interviews were conducted with government officials,
parliamentarians, NGO executives and child protection officers in
Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and
Uganda. In addition to the virtual interviews, an online questionnaire was
administered and written responses received. The assessment was also
enriched by secondary sources and documents, including documents
and guidelines issued by global, regional and national bodies and their
organs; reports by child focused agencies and relevant international and
African organizations such as AU, ACERWC, CDC, Plan International, Save
the Children International, UNESCO, UNICEF and WHO, among others;
media and webinar reports; and relevant literature from academia.
Photo credit: dreamstime.com

1. MULTIDIMENSIONAL IMPACT OF
COVID-19 ON GIRLS
1.1 STATE OF ABUSE AND
EXPLOITATION
The effects of response measures to
COVID-19 pandemic, including stay-
home measures and the resultant
close physical proximity between
perpetrators and victims in the
confines of the home setting – usually
overcrowded – coupled with family
economic hardships have created a
perfect storm of circumstances for
sexual and physical violence, abuse
and exploitation to happen with
limited public scrutiny.
With more than 120 million school

girls at home in Africa, there have
been numerous reports from
countries of child abuse and
exploitation, including domestic
violence and child marriage. As a
respondent from Nigeria noted, school
teachers are mostly the first people
that abused children come in contact
with and thus report the abuse to;
that is no longer the case now that
schools are closed, enabling violence
against girls in the home to go on
without someone noticing or trying to
stop it.5
The UN Special Rapporteur on

Violence against Women, has rightly
noted that “For too many women and More than 120 million school girls
children, home can be a place of fear in Africa are currently staying at
and abuse. That situation worsens home, living in close proximity
considerably in cases of isolation such with potential perpetrators with
as the lockdowns imposed during the limited public scrutiny.
COVID-19 pandemic.”6
“My fear with this virus [COVID-19] is that women will really
suffer. We will suffer over food. Men will abuse us. Because if I
don’t have food and a boy has food, if I ask him for help, he will
ask me for sex before he gives me some. This is the suffering I
am talking about.” Janet 14, Liberia
Source: Plan International (2020).
Living UnderLockdown: Girls and COVID-19.
Box 1.2: Violence against girls in the Context of COVID-19:

Uganda case study
In Uganda, a taskforce undertaking a rapid assessment in selected

districts found that physical/domestic violence, psychological torture/
emotional violence and sexual violence are on the rise. In February 2020,
a total of 2344 gender-based violence cases were registered and the
numbers increased to 2808 in March 2020.7 Within the space of two
weeks of the lockdown in the country, there were 53 reported cases of
child neglect, 25 cases of child abandonment, 28 cases of child abuse,
43 cases of missing children and 4 cases of torture of children.8 Seventy
percent of girls contacted reported having witnessed incidents of domestic
violence, involving physical fights between parents.9 In fact, the Ugandan
police released a report that recorded over 5000 cases of gender-based
violence that happened in between mid-April and mid-June alone.10 Alcohol
abuse by men occasioned by idleness, redundancy and stress due to
inability to adequately provide for the families have been cited as some of
the factors for the increase in incidents of domestic violence.11
Child Helpline Uganda received a total of 718 calls related to girls from
10 April to 14 June 2020. About 73% of these calls were related to abuse
against girls. Mothers account for the largest percentage of people who
reported the abuse followed by non-related adults, including neighbours.
Chart 1.1: Total Child Helpline calls by type of reported issues

related to girls, 10 Apr to 14 Jun 2020, Uganda
10%
Abuse
17%
Counseling
Information inquiry
73%
Access to services has been a major issue for victims of gender-based

violence. In some of the districts such as in the Buhweju district, some
victims have been asked to wait to report their cases until after the
lockdown. In the Kabarole district, for instance, where access to Police
stations is difficult because of transportation, many gender-based violence
cases are being handled at community level by elders through mediation
as well as Local Council leaders.
Given the patriarchal nature of the customary justice practices

administered by elders, there’s a possibility for justice to be compromised.
In terms of access to sexual and reproductive services, the only service
listed as essential is related to pregnant mothers. Other sexual and
reproductive health services such as contraception, post-rape care and
treatment for sexually transmitted infections, have not been listed as
essential, thus excluding women and girls who are in need of such
services.12
Chart 1.2: Total number of abuses by callers, Jan-May 2020,

Uganda
830
583
287 268
188 159
Caller relationship
including Neighbor
(Brother, Sister, Gran

Father
Others(Teache,
Not related Adults
Mother
friends,….)
not Specified
Other relatives
father, Grand
mother,…)
Reports from other countries also such as rape and defilement have
paint a grim picture: constituted more than 35% of all
reported cases.13
• The Kenya National Council
on Administration of Justice, • Similarly, the Gender-Based
reported a significant spike in Violence Command Centre in
sexual offences in many parts South Africa recorded a sharp
of the country. Sexual offences increase in cases of up to 10,660
reported through phone calls Niamey between January and

during the lockdown from 27 April 2020 (86 in January to 212
March to 16 April and about in April), which points out to a
1503 calls through unstructured worrying increase as a result of
supplementary services data COVID-19.19 Also of concern is
and 616 through SMS. In one the increase in cases of forced
single day, on 16 April, the Centre marriage.
received reports of 674 cases.14
The above figures are likely to be
• In Ethiopia, data from few an underestimation because of
hospitals in Addis Ababa, showed the scarcity of abuse reporting
that, between mid-March and mechanisms, and given the fact
mid-May 2020, within the space that the most widely used avenue to
of less than two months, more report abuse is the school system,
than 100 girls have been raped, mostly through teachers and peers.
some of them by close family With the predominant majority of
members.15 schools closed, it is extremely difficult
• In Zimbabwe, there have to identify children who may be
been reports of an increase in experiencing violence in the home
cases of young girls forced into and seek appropriate intervention.20
transactional sex in return for
cash, food, or even sanitary According to UNFPA estimates, if the
products.16 lockdown continues for six months,
31 million additional gender-based
• In Tunisia, in the first five days violence cases can be expected, up
after lockdown, calls to a hotline to an additional 15 million additional
for women suffering abuse cases of gender-based violence
increased fivefold.17 every 3 months.21 This indicates that
the projections that the COVID-19
• In Somalia, there has been a 50% pandemic is likely to cause a one-third
increase in calls to helplines/ reduction in progress towards ending
hotlines across the country.18 gender-based violence by 2030 are
regrettably highly probable.22
• In Niger, 499 gender-based
violence cases were reported in
COVID-19 pandemic is
In Ethiopia, within the space of
less than two months, data from
likely to CAUSE A ONE-
few hospitals in Addis Ababa, THIRD REDUCTION IN
showed that more than 100 girls PROGRESS towards
have been raped, some of them by
close family members. ending gender-based
violence by 2030.
Box 1.3: Online Sexual Exploitation
In the context of COVID-19 online sexual exploitation is becoming more

pervasive on the continent. Limited social contact and the school closures
mean that there is a growing digitalisation of children’s lives. With more
than 120 million girls at home due to school closures in Africa, and a
fair number of them, especially those living in urban centres, accessing
education through online platforms, there is already a heightened risk
of online sexual exploitation. Further, because Africa’s legal and policy
framework and technical capacity to protect children from online violence
is still evolving, the shifts caused by the pandemic have resulted in
children’s access to unlimited and uncensored online content and use
of less secure online educational applications. There is fear that children
could be groomed by predators who are soliciting for sex online. This
has been reported by various organisations, including the Anti Human
Trafficking and Child Protection Unit in Kenya.
The US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported
a 106% increase in global reports of suspected child sexual exploitation
to its CyberTipline compared with March 2019. Europol has reported that
as a result of COVID-19, law enforcement partners are reporting a global
increase in online activity by those seeking child abuse material.
The Internet Watch Foundation, which identifies child sexual abuse content
online, is also having to operate at reduced capacity and has warned
that the number of child sexual abuse images being removed globally
has fallen by 89% during the pandemic. Capitalising on this weakness,
distributors of child sexual exploitation and child pornography material are
becoming emboldened and are targeting mainstream platforms to reach
wider audiences. While online sexual violence is a risk for all children, it is
feared that girls are more likely to fall victims than boys. It is to be noted
that online sexual exploitation is an already fast-growing phenomenon
affecting many countries in Africa. Rapid expansion of internet access
in Africa, which is at an annual average rate of 42% between 2016 and
2021, in a context of limited or no regulation, meant that online sexual
exploitation of children was already on the rise. Moreover, given the near
total absence of laws and regulations in Africa governing data privacy and
protection, online educational attendance means that children’s personal
data, which often reveals names, home addresses, hobbies and other
highly personal details, can be accessed and misused.
1.2 FACTORS AGGRAVATING

ABUSE AND
EXPLOITATION
Abuse and violence in the home
setting are expected to increase
partly because of the household
arrangements in Africa, where
household sizes are very large and
where households are mostly living
in single room accommodations. The
average household size in Africa is
5.4 in West Africa, 5.2 in Central
Africa, 4.5 in East and North Africa
respectively and 3.3 in Southern
Africa. Household size goes as high
as 8.4 in Mali and 6 in Niger.23 A
rapid assessment of the impact of
COVID-19 in children in Ethiopia by Photo credit: Plan International
Children Believe Ethiopia revealed
that having a large family size living both single-father and single-mother
together in a small house has been households with children in Africa. For
a factor in the increase in violence instance, single father households
against children in Addis Ababa.24 account for more than 15% of
households with children in Sierra
Leone and Côte d’Ivoire.26
COVID-19 could cost about 20
million jobs in Africa, and this is In a context where most formal jobs
likely to fuel inter-partner violence. are male jobs, potential job loss is
also likely to complicate the situation
of gender-based violence in the family
setting. The ILO estimates that the
Mainly because of resource
pandemic could cost between 5
limitations, Africa is a continent
million and 25 million jobs.27 This
where multi-generational living
has the potential to trigger severe
arrangements are common. Eight in
economic stress and anxiety over
ten households include at least one
finances, a situation that, for families,
child under 15 years of age and an
will exacerbate the risk of violence
older person. For instance, in Senegal,
in the home, including both violence
37% of households include both a
between partners and by caregivers
child under 15 years of age and an
against children. There is evidence
older person aged 60 years or over.25
to suggest that male unemployment,
and the resultant feeling of failure to
According to the UN Population
fulfil the traditional male breadwinner
Division, there is a substantial
role, triggers feelings of inadequacy
number of single-headed households,
and emasculation,28 in which case
violence against women can be a and Kenya, facilities providing care

means of resolving this crisis as an and support services to survivors of
expression of male power.29 A global violence are now operating at their
study by the World Bank in 2019 lowest capacity. A respondent from
revealed that just a 1% increase in Kenya noted that the biggest issue
male unemployment is associated in the country has been the lack of
with a 2.5% increase in physical inter shelters for survivors of gender-based
partner violence against women.30 violence.33 Provisions for the clinical
management of rape and sexual
Because of their resilience at times of violence have also been disrupted.34
crisis, women and girls are often the This situation has not only created a
last resort to ensure family survival sense of helplessness by victims or
by taking up more responsibilities, in survivors but has also emboldened
which case they can be exposed to perpetrators by expanding the space
increased sexual exploitation. Under for impunity.35
those circumstances, girls have In a continent where women and girls
often been forced into ‘transactional
sex’ as a survival strategy. This has
been confirmed by many studies. In many countries, there is a sense
According to an earlier study in Kenya, of laxity in terms of detaining
87% of adults who participated in people who commit crimes,
a survey associated exploitation of including abuse because of the
children through ‘transactional sex’ fear of prison overcrowding.
with poverty. In Rwanda, a 2012
study with girls who had engaged in
transactional sex indicated that they
were forced to do so due to conditions already face numerous barriers in
of adversity and financial hardships.31 accessing justice for gender-based
violence and related crimes and
where there are consistently low
1.3 ACCESS TO conviction rates, a total or partial
PROTECTION SERVICES disruption of court processes
due to the pandemic might
The other challenge brought about create a positive feedback loop,
by the COVID-19 crisis unfolding in wherein malfunctioning systems
Africa is the decrease in availability discourage women from reporting
and accessibility of support services incidents of violence, thus shielding
to survivors of abuse. As countries perpetrators.36 In Ethiopia and Kenya,
mobilise their resources to address there has been a partial lockdown
COVID-19, very limited services are of courts, where half of the court
now available to life-saving care and officials have been advised to stay
support to gender-based violence home, and hearings have been
survivors, including in the area of postponed. And in many countries,
clinical management of rape and there is reluctance to detain people
mental health and psycho-social who commit crimes, including gender
support.32 based crimes because of the fear of
In countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda prison overcrowding. In such cases
police officers, who are also enforcing when little is known about the ways of
curfews and lockdowns, will give less transmission of a pandemic such as
priority to investigating cases of abuse COVID-19. They might also withhold
and violence.37 economic support, health insurance,
protective and safety items such as
Equally important, challenges in hand sanitisers, soaps, disinfectants,
accessing information has made masks as a tactic to further exploit the
girls more vulnerable to abuse. Their girls’ vulnerability.
limited knowledge of the ways of
transmission of the pandemic may The implementation of curfews,
create an opportunity for would-be lockdowns or movement restrictions
perpetrators to abuse their positions has curtailed girls’ capacity to access
of authority as well as their apparent basic services in the midst of police
dominant access to information brutality, excessive use of force which
within the household. Studies have ultimately poses a risk of sexual
revealed that perpetrators may use violence and exploitation for girls.38
misinformation or scare tactics to
subjugate or blame victims especially
Photo credit: Plan International

2. POVERTY AND HUNGER

COVID-19 has not only severely expected to face a 4.2% increased
affected health, education and probability of staying in poverty for
other services in Africa, but it is years into the future.40 In Ethiopia,
also pushing millions into extreme for instance, on average, COVID-19
poverty. According to the UN Economic is estimated to increase the number
Commission for Africa (UNECA) of poor families by about 26 million
estimates, up to 29 million Africans people this year and next year,
are expected to be pushed below the doubling the current poverty rate of
extreme poverty line of USD 1.90 per 22% to 48%.41
day owing to the impact of COVID-19.
An estimated 42-66 million children
could fall into extreme poverty as a Up to 29 million Africans are
result of the crisis this year, adding expected to be pushed below the
to the estimated 386 million children extreme poverty line of USD 1.90
already in extreme poverty in 2019.39 per day owing to the impact of
COVID-19.
According to the UNECA, vulnerable
households affected by COVID-19 are
Chart 2.1: Potential impact of COVID-19 on poverty in sub-Saharan Africa
90 87.9
Poverty lines
87.2
85.6 USD 5.50
USD 3.20
80
USD 1.90
Population living in poverty (%)
71.6
70
70.1
66.8
60
50
46.9
41.6 45.2
40
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Save the Children based on World Bank’s PovcalNet database. Reduction in consumption of 7%/10% based
on World Bank’s “Africa’s Pulse”, April 2020. Upper and lower bounds based on chosen scenario.
Already within the space of a couple malnutrition more than doubled

of months, household consumption in Sierra Leone during the Ebola
in sub-Saharan Africa has gone down outbreak.43 And COVID-19 is no
by 7% to 10% due to the COVID-19 different. The pandemic has already
crisis.42 Diminishing household thrown millions of children into
consumption will inevitably lead to hunger and they are now at risk of
prioritisation of food and other basic malnutrition.
goods within the household, in which
case girls are likely to lose out. More than 50 million people would
suffer from hunger in West Africa
During crises there is often an alone, and the number of food
increase in the number of children insecure people could more than
suffering from malnutrition. double in East Africa, jumping to 43
The prevalence of severe acute million. In Ethiopia, for instance, an
additional 800,000 cases of child
malnutrition are expected in 2020,
In Ethiopia, for instance, an on top of the 3.5 million cases
additional 800,000 cases of anticipated previously.44
severe and moderate acute
malnutrition are expected in 2020 Early estimates suggest that there
on top of the 3.5 million cases will be significant increases in the
anticipated previously. prevalence of stunting for children,
ranging between 2% and 5%.45 This
is further complicated by the fact

that more than 26 million girls across In Africa, more than 26 million
Africa normally rely on school meals girls miss out their school meals
for a reliable source of daily nutrition with more than 5.2 million of
must now look for other sources.46 them in Egypt and more than 4.5
Some countries, given their large million in South Africa.
child population, are the hardest hit.
For instance, more than 5.2 million
girls in Egypt, more than 4.5 million
girls in South Africa and more than labourers cannot work or travel and
1.8 million girls in Burkina Faso are transportation delays are causing
missing out on school meals because shortages.49 Several sub-Saharan
of COVID-19.47 The disruption of African countries such as Somalia and
school feeding programmes not South Sudan imported more than 40
only affects girls’ access to food but million tons of cereals from around
it also aggravates the household the world in 2018 to plug gaps in local
poverty situation. For families, the food production.50 This reliance on
value of meals freely served in school imported food stuff, in the context of
is equivalent to about 10% of a travel restrictions, is likely to affect the
household’s income.48 availability and accessibility of food by
the general population, including girls.
The COVID-19 crisis is disrupting food
supply chains because farmers and
Chart 2.2: Number of girls missing out on school meals in Africa,

by country
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
M a
h nda
a
M es r
So wa e
am ho
r
au
-B li
Et awi
e
Ug so
ia
ag n
te an
in a
Bu Af t
ca
ge
ea Ma
r
qu
ny
d
ut yp
ad a
rk ric
oi
Fa
op
an
iss
oz ot
as
M Sud
Cô ud
Ni
al
Ke
So Eg
bi
Iv
hi
a
d'
S
L
h
ut
in
Gu
Source: WFP, Global Monitoring of School Meals During COVID-19 School Closures
3. ACCESS TO BASIC
HEALTHCARE
SERVICES
The disruptions in healthcare service
provision created by the COVID-19
pandemic, mainly due to diversions of
health care resources to combating
the pandemic, has left many people
with chronic illnesses in a limbo. So
far, measles campaigns have already
been suspended in 27 countries and
polio campaigns put on hold in 38
countries, exposing at least 80 million
children under one to the risk of
diseases such as diphtheria, measles
and polio, according to WHO.51
In many countries, transport to malaria because health centres

restrictions amidst lockdowns and and their staff have been mobilised
reduced health-seeking behaviour to the fight against COVID-19. In
due to fear of contracting the virus a survey among young people in
are affecting peoples’ ability to access Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi,
essential healthcare services.52 In South Sudan and Tanzania, 38.4%
Ethiopia, many people in the rural of them mentioned that their access
parts of the country are now dying due to healthcare has been impacted
because of the de-prioritisation of
illnesses not related to COVID-19.53
Since the onset of COVID-19,
measles immunisation campaigns
In Uganda, due to the lockdown,
have been suspended in at least
girls’ access to medical facilities has
27 countries and polio campaigns
been reduced by almost 35% within
disrupted in 38 countries,
the lock down period alone.54 Before
cumulatively affecting at least 80
the outbreak of COVID-19 the health
million children under one.
facility run by the Hunger Project
Chart 3.1: Total number of children vaccinated, month by month, 2019 vs

2020, Uganda
160K
140K
120K
100K
80K
0K
01/19 03/19 05/19 07/19 09/19 11/19 01/20 03/20
EPI - BCG doses given

EPI - DPT-HepB-HIB 3 doses given
EPI - MR 1 doses given
EPI - PCV 3 doses under 1
Source: Republic of Uganda, Monitoring the Impact of COVID-19 Containment Measures on RMNCAH, Nutrition
and HIV Service Delivery and Utilization, 02 June 2020
Uganda in Namayumba Sub-county, Immunisation (EPI) since the onset of

Wakiso district, would receive 20 to the pandemic in the country.
25 young people seeking for services
and information every week. The Estimates have it that the diversion
number has drastically fallen to less of healthcare resources away from
than 5 young persons.55 chronic illnesses and immunisation
programmes could potentially lead to
Disruptions in immunisation will have an additional 6,000 child deaths per
long-lasting negative consequences, day from preventable causes over the
by complicating efforts to eradicate next 6 months across 118 low-income
polio and manage measles and middle-income countries.57
outbreaks.56 According to another study, for one
excess COVID-19 death attributable
In Uganda, for instance, there to infection at service delivery points,
has been a sharp drop in the continuing routine vaccination
number of children covered by the programmes would prevent
country’s Expanded Programme of approximately 101 future deaths in
children of up to 5 years of age.58
4. ACCESS TO EDUCATION
Following the COVID-19 crisis, more “I am really missing classes.
than 120 million girls have been Sometimes I try to study at
affected by school closures across home but the house chores
Africa.59 This presents serious are so much that I can’t revise
challenges for girls from the poorest my notes. I take care of my
households who are likely to be
siblings as well as the house
the hardest hit and their education
severely set back, unless immediate
and the farm. I start working
and comprehensive measures are very early and go to bed very
taken. late” Halima, 16, from Niger
Source: https://plan-international.org/
Currently, more than two-thirds of
news/2020-06-16-girls-risk-covid-19-
African countries have introduced threatens-leave-african-children-behind
national distance learning platforms.
Even in those countries where
distance education is made available, these distance learning platforms also
it is only accessible in one or two use digital and online media.
major languages, excluding the vast
majority of learners. Only 15 countries Increased digitalisation of schooling
are offering distance instruction in is likely to widen inequalities between
more than one language.60 Most of boys and girls, as girls from poor
economic backgrounds are least

likely to have access to smartphones, traditional values in rural areas, which

television, and the internet.61 We dictate that educational investment
know that almost one third of the decisions, resources, often be
world’s young people, most of them redirected to boys over girls.69 Girls
in sub-Saharan Africa, are already from poor backgrounds and those
digitally excluded.62 In Ethiopia, only living in rural areas are also less
2% of rural households have access likely to have a quiet place in their
to television, resulting in the current home to concentrate on their studies
TV-based learning options, excluding and/ or to get the necessary parental
the vast majority of learners in the pedagogical support.70 Consequently,
country.63 the pandemic is magnifying the social
inequities between girls and boys on
When disaggregated by gender, one level, but also between children
overall, in Sub-Saharan Africa women living in rural and urban settings.
are 50% less likely to use the internet
than men.64 Boys are 1.5 times more There is fear that the pandemic and
likely to own a phone than girls in its fallouts might leave an adverse
low and middle-income countries lasting impact on girls’ education
and are 1.8 times more likely to own after the crisis is over. Girls are likely
a smartphone that can access the to drop out of school to look for jobs
internet.65 Even where smartphones to sustain families in post-pandemic
and internet are accessible, the cost economic crises. The Liberia
associated with using internet data is experience during the Ebola outbreak,
prohibitively high for many girls. Thirty- where 21% of girls of primary school
seven percent of the girls contacted in age girls did not go back to school
Uganda as part of this study reported might repeat itself across Africa.71
having no access to television and The Malala Foundation estimates
radio-based study material run by that, globally, about 10 million more
Ministry of Education. They said they secondary school age girls could be
relied on their school notes/handouts. out of school after the COVID-19 crisis
Fifty percent of them reported not has passed. African girls are likely
having any home school help.66 to be a significant portion of these
millions.72
In Ethiopia, even in urban areas, only
one in four households in the country
has access to television.67 In Nigeria, Globally, ABOUT
a respondent stated that following 10 MILLION more
the introduction of online and TV and
radio-based schooling, most girls secondary school age
in the rural communities are totally GIRLS COULD BE OUT
excluded from education.68 It is also
likely that such home-schooling OF SCHOOL after the
options might discriminate against COVID-19 crisis has
girls, as social and gender norms,
which are more inclined towards
passed.
5. CHILD MARRIAGE AND FGM

The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated Families facing economic hardships
many of the interwoven factors such as job loss may feel they have
that drive child marriage in stable no choice but to marry daughters
environments, as economic hardship off as soon as possible to reduce
bites, schools and safe houses remain the number of dependents in the
shut and families and communities household. Because of strong
facing social, economic challenges patriarchal influence on marriage
fall back on traditional gender practices as well as social and
social norms. The community and gender norms some may believe
social safeguards have also become their daughter is better off with a
difficult to access, as have the family with greater financial resources
formal reporting and child protection while persistent cultural practices
mechanisms. around dowry and bride price mean
that families in financial crisis have
a monetary incentive for arranging a
marriage. Widespread school closures
may also increase risks of child
marriage, as research shows that
leaving education is highly correlated
with girls being married off.73
“Things have become very

uncomfortable for me since
the state of emergency began.
Being at home all day with my
family is dreadful, because
they are rushing me to get
married.” Angelina, 17, from
Mozambique
Source: https://plan-international.org/
news/2020-06-16-girls-risk-covid-19-
threatens-leave-african-children-behind
While lockdowns and being out of

school have increased the incidences
of sexual violence and transactional
sex, they have also presented
increased opportunities to engage
in sexual activity. Combined with
the breakdown of community social
Photo credit: Plan International support networks this can also
heighten families’ and communities’
desire to control girls’ sexuality in the

name of protecting their “honour.” In School closures are compounding
communities where strong traditional the problem of child marriage
gender and social norms dominate, in Africa. In the northern part
marriage is often viewed as a means of Ethiopia, a month into the
to protect girls and their families from COVID-19 crisis, 766 planned
the shame and social stigma that child marriages were averted by
can result from teenage pregnancy, authorities.
surviving rape or sexual assault.
Inevitably, this forces many girls into
child marriages.
Many girls may also be prevented or

afraid to seek sexual and reproductive
services, particularly contraception
and abortion services, post-rape care
and antenatal care.74 Going by past
reports, higher levels of education
are correlated with a reduction in
child marriages and over 60% of child
brides in developing countries have no
formal education. The ongoing school
closures have created fertile ground
for child marriages to happen in large
numbers with no early detection or
scrutiny by child protection workers.
Experts have projected that child
marriage in Africa would fall by 64%
if all girls in sub-Saharan Africa had
secondary education.75
A combination of the above factors

contributed to a sharp rise in the
number of incidents of child marriage
in many countries:
• In Ethiopia, the deputy chief of

the Women, Children and Youth Photo credit: dreamstime.com
Bureau of the Amhara Regional
State reported a sharp rise in
the number of children getting in Shebel Bereta, Debay Tilat and
married following the pandemic. In Gozamn woredas in East Gojjam,
Simada, Tach Gayint and Fogera child marriage is increasing at an
woredas1 of South Gondar, and unprecedented rate. A teacher
1 The woreda is the lowest administrative and political unit in the Ethiopian federal system, and is equivalent
to a district in other countries. The zone is an administrative unit consisting of several woredas.
in the area told the BBC Amharic cancelled through the intervention
Service that school closures have of local government authorities,
played an important role in the since the onset of the COVID-19
increase. A taskforce looking into pandemic.76
the situation in East Gojjam zone
reported that, out of the 1280 • In Kenya, there have been
marriages planned during this reported cases of forced child
period, 541 or more than 42% marriages, driven by economic
were child marriages. In one difficulties, with the girls being
woreda alone in this zone, 225 married off in exchange for cash
planned child marriages were and other gifts.77
Box 5.1: COVID-19 fuelling an increase in cases of FGM in Africa
FGM is on the rise in many parts of the continent, especially in countries

where it was already a common practice. In FGM prone areas in Kenya,
following the COVID-19 crisis, the lock-down has provided an opportunity
for practitioners to carry out the cut on girls, because community and
government accountability systems are operating at minimum levels.78
Somalia, with the highest rate of FGM in the world, is witnessing a huge
increase in the practice, with circumcisers going door to door offering to cut
girls stuck at home during the pandemic, according to Plan International.
They are taking advantage of school closures to carry out FGM so that the
girls have time to recover from the ritual, which can take weeks.79
According to an Aljazeera report, an Egyptian doctor and a father of three

were prosecuted for tricking the three girls into undergoing female genital
mutilation saying that the treatment was a COVID-19 vaccination.80
UNFPA projects that disruptions in efforts to combat FGM will set back
progress towards ending FGM by 2030 by one third.81 In many countries in
Africa, rescue brigades, public awareness programmes against FGM and
referral pathways, which are the most common and effective prevention
strategies, are all disrupted.
6. ACCESS TO SEXUAL AND

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES
The COVID-19 pandemic and UNFPA estimates that, as of March
corresponding control measures 2020, there were an estimated
have affected not only access to 450 million women using modern
basic healthcare and education contraceptives across 114 low-
services, but have also disrupted and middle-income countries.
sexual and reproductive health However, 47 million women in
services. Lockdowns and diversion of these countries will be unable to
medical resources to the pandemic use modern contraceptives if the
have led to millions of women and average lockdown continues for 6
girls being forced to carry unwanted months with major disruptions to
pregnancies or risk unsafe backstreet service. Potential disruption of the
abortions. A recent survey of about production of contraceptives, coupled
80 organisations providing family with the unavailability of medical
planning services found one in five staff to provide family planning
has been forced to shut clinics, while services, is affecting the availability
others have had to cut services. and accessibility of family planning
followed by Southern Africa (20.4%),

West Africa (17.7%,) Central Africa
In Uganda, in one district alone,
(15.8%), and the lowest was in
within the space of just two
Northern Africa (9.2%). Despite being
months since the COVID-19
the region with the highest prevalence
lockdown, 40 primary school girls
of adolescent pregnancy globally,
were reported to have become
sub-Saharan Africa had witnessed
pregnant
a sharp decline, from 115 per 1000
women aged 15-19 in 2020, to 101
in 2018.87 There are serious fears
services.82 UNFPA also predicts that these gains might be reversed
that, if the lockdown continues for because of widespread lockdowns.
another 6 months, stock-outs of
many contraceptive methods are For girls who are provided
expected in more than a dozen lowest with personal and menstrual
income countries and resulting in hygiene materials through school
an additional 7 million unintended programmes, the school closures
pregnancies.83 Emerging reports have left them unable to observe
indicate that those affected will essential menstrual hygiene.
invariably include girls. In Kenya,
close to 4,000 school girls were School closures mean that girls are
impregnated during the lockdown.84 more likely to be forced to engage in
sexual activity than before, hence also
In Uganda, in one district alone, within more likely to get pregnant and suffer
the space of just two months, the from complications of pregnancy and
Luuka district reported that over 40 child birth. Studies have shown that
primary school girls have been made adolescent girls out of school are
pregnant.85 more than two times more likely to
start childbearing than those who are
This will be a huge setback for the in school.88 Going by previous studies
gains achieved over the years in that have established that girls aged
reducing adolescent pregnancy 15 to 19 are twice as likely to die from
globally and in Africa. The prevalence childbirth as women in their 20s and
of adolescent pregnancy in Sub- girls under age 15 are five times more
Saharan African countries was 101 likely to die from childbirth,89 more
births per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19, pregnant girls are likely to die or suffer
compared with the global average of from lasting health complications with
44 per 1000 girls of the same age.86 the limited availability of pre-natal and
The highest prevalence was recorded birth attendance during the COVID-19
in the East African sub-region (21.5%), lockdowns.
7. GIRLS IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected
all girls regardless of their age, social
or economic background. But, its
effect on girls who have already
been victims of marginalisation,
exclusion and discrimination has
been disproportionately severe and
more likely to have long-lasting and
irreversible impacts.
Girls with disabilities, girl domestic

workers, girls living and/or working on
the street and in urban slums, girls
in institutional care, and in detention
centres and refugee and stateless
girls have especially been more
severely affected.
Girls with disabilities: The COVID-19

pandemic lock-down measures
have left millions of girls with
disabilities without access to
disability-friendly services, including
much needed specialised face-to-
face therapeutic and medical care
services and inclusive education
services. Most of them are not able
to access information on how to
protect themselves from the virus,
as currently available messages are
largely not packaged in disability
accessible formats.
The lockdowns and quarantine
measures have also exacerbated
their exposure to sexual and physical based on age, disability and gender.
abuse and exploitation. We know that Given their limited access to sexual
girls with disabilities are up to 10 and reproductive health information
times more likely than girls without and services under normal times, the
disabilities to experience sexual, pandemic and subsequent disruptions
emotional and physical violence, in those services are also likely to
as well as forced abortions and affect girls with disabilities more than
sterilisations.90 Girls with disabilities girls without disabilities. Under non-
are victims of a triangle of factors crisis times, girls with disabilities lack
South Sudan of girls with disabilities

Girls with disabilities contacted in general encountering difficulties
in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda in quarantine centres, because
complained that the media of both physical accessibility and
messages around COVID-19 communication challenges.
are not generally packaged in a
manner that is accessible to the The situation is no less daunting
disability community. on the education front. Girls with
disabilities, who rely on face-to-face,
access to sexual and reproductive and at times individualised, pedagogic
health information and services and services are likely to be excluded
they are often denied the right to from newly introduced education
make decisions for themselves about programmes of distance learning as
their reproductive and sexual health, these are scarcely available in formats
increasing their risk of sexual violence, suitable for them.
unplanned pregnancy, and sexually
transmitted infections.91 In many Girls living and/or working on the
countries in Africa, lack of sexual and street: In the context of lockdowns,
reproductive health education means movement restrictions and closures of
that adolescents with disabilities drop-in centres and feeding services,
engage in casual sex without using any girls living and/or working on the
condoms and other contraceptives.92 street are the hardest hit by the
Only 35% of young people with COVID-19 pandemic. The causal work
disabilities used contraceptives during opportunities that somehow helped
their first sexual encounter, according these children to survive are fast
to a study in Ethiopia.93 disappearing. Shops, markets and
businesses are closed, and income
This already dire situation has generation opportunities such as
now been accentuated in many watching over parked cars, carrying
countries due to the total absence goods in the market, selling small
of messages on COVID-19 and on items or other petty trade are almost
sexual and reproductive health issues gone. The empty streets have made
in disability-accessible formats. Girls food assistance impossible. Girls living
with disabilities contacted in Ethiopia, and/or working on the street who
Kenya and Uganda complained normally rely on food handouts from
that the media messages around hotels and restaurants are starving.94
COVID-19 are not generally packaged There are reports in Ethiopia of hotel
in a manner that is accessible to leftover food now being sold for just
them. Further, there are real risks that under a dollar.95
girls with disabilities, especially those
with intellectual and behavioural These dire circumstances are likely
disabilities, might undergo feelings to force girls living on the street to
of anger, fear, stress, and confusion, resort to ‘survival sex’ and ‘sex for
which might be more severe with protection’. Street gang leaders
longer durations of lockdowns. might exploit lockdown measures to
There are also reported concerns subjugate girls, under the threat of
in countries such as Ethiopia and withdrawal of protection, resulting in
sexual exploitation.
With hotels and shops closed and
There are reports of children living streets empty, girls living and/
and/or working on the street being or working on the street who
driven out of streets by police. For normally rely on food handouts
instance, in Nigeria, where Lagos, from hotels and restaurants and
Abuja and Ojun are in lockdown, it was on street trade are struggling for
reported that children were already survival.
being chased away from the streets
by paramilitary officers. With nowhere
to observe preventative hygiene
to go, these children are in extremely
and social distancing. They have
precarious situation. In Kenya there
limited access to piped water and
were reports of children, including
hand-washing facilities and rely on
girls, living on the street wishing to
over-strained communal sanitation
be in prison for the sake of getting
facilities, making it extremely difficult
shelter.96 In Uganda and Ethiopia,
to protect themselves from the virus.
there are reports of security forces
About 56% of the urban population in
beating up children trying to enforce
sub-Saharan Africa is concentrated
social distancing measures.97 Ethiopia
in overcrowded and poorly serviced
reported having already taken children
slum dwellings and only 34% of the
off the street, but girls are still seen
households have access to basic hand
on the street, mostly begging.98
washing facilities.101 This has raised
huge concerns about the special
In Senegal, the government reported
vulnerability to COVID-19 of women
having rescued more than 2,000
and girls in those communities.
children living and/or working on
the street, including 205 from
Girls living in urban slums also
neighbouring countries since the
struggle to maintain menstrual
COVID-19 outbreak. More than 50
hygiene because of reduced access
of these children were found to have
to sexual and reproductive health and
been infected with COVID-19 and have
rights services.102 They are also the
since recovered.99
most affected by sexual and physical
abuse and exploitation. As a result,
There are fears that the reliance of
urban slums are characterised by
these children on inhalants such
high levels of teenage pregnancy.
as glue to survive, stay warm or
ward off hunger, might complicate
their chances of recovery if they are
About 56% of the urban
infected with the virus.100
population in sub-Saharan Africa
is concentrated in overcrowded
Girls living in urban slums: The
and poorly serviced slum
COVID-19 crisis has introduced
dwellings and only 34% of the
another layer of vulnerability to an
households have access to basic
already dire life situation of girls
hand washing facilities, raising
living in a crowded space deprived
serious concerns in the context of
of essential water and sanitation
COVID-19.
services where they find it difficult
In Kenyan urban slums, for 41% of of the prison population. There is

adolescents, the pregnancies were however a population of “invisible”
unintended, with 26% being mistimed children who are imprisoned with their
and 15% unwanted.103 COVID-19 is mothers or caregivers, who require
likely to aggravate this already dismal special attention during the pandemic.
situation of millions of girls living in
Africa’s urban slums. These children, and girl offenders, like
most child offenders have common
Girls in detention centres: Girls and demographic characteristics which
boys in detention centres across dictate generally poorer health than
Africa often find themselves in crowed the rest of the child population and
spaces under unhygienic conditions. are more likely to have or experience
Deprivation of liberty makes it more underlying psychosocial, physical
difficult to self-isolate, practice and mental health issues that are
physical distancing, or observe the exacerbated by their placement in
hand-hygiene required during this custody even before an emergency
pandemic especially in facilities with arises. They often receive poor
limited or overstretched sanitation nutrition and lack access to quality
facilities. medical and mental health care,
psychosocial support, social and
While no data is available on the educational services.
population of girls in pre or post
trial detention, anecdotal evidence Girls in refugee and humanitarian
suggests they are a very small portion settings: Africa hosts more than
25.2 million refugees and internally
displaced people and houses four of
the world’s six largest refugee camps
in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda. The chronic overcrowding
characteristic of most refugee and IDP
camps in Africa is already making it
extremely difficult for people in those
camps to adhere to social distancing
and proper hygiene protocols
essential for preventing COVID-19.
COVID-19 cases have already been
confirmed in Dadaab (Kenya) and
Mai-Aini (Ethiopia) refugee camps.
These are countries whose health
systems are ill-equipped to manage
significant outbreaks.104 This is further
complicated by the absence of clean
running water and soap, insufficient
medical personnel, face masks and
poor access to COVID-19 information.
In many host countries, refugees have
limited or no formal entitlements
to healthcare and social protection

systems, further complicating their
vulnerability to the pandemic.105
Girls comprise a good majority

of these refugee, migrant, or
internally displaced persons living
in overcrowded camps, informal
reception centres, or squatter
settlements, where basic COVID-19
prevention measures such as frequent
hand washing and social distancing
are nearly impossible.106 In Somali
region of Ethiopia, for instance, some attendant measures such as school
2,000 deportees/returning migrants closures, overcrowding in camps for
– mainly from Somalia – have refugees and the internally displaced,
been registered in eight quarantine closure of child friendly spaces due
locations. In Gambella, over 4000 to social distancing, lack of access to
asylum seekers from South Sudan water and sanitation as well as limited
have arrived at Pagak, including availability of hygiene materials for
unaccompanied children.107 Nearly all protection from COVID-19 create a
of these returnees, who comprise a perfect storm of challenges for girls in
good number of unaccompanied girls the region. Terrorist groups operating
and boys alike, lack access to proper in the area have also ramped up
protective and hygiene materials. their attacks taking advantage of the
crisis, further complicating mitigation
In the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, and control measures against the
COVID-19 has added yet another crisis pandemic.108
to an area already one of the most
serious humanitarian emergencies The spread of the pandemic in
in the world, plagued by conflict, pre-existing humanitarian settings,
displacement, drought and food especially in areas with little state
insecurity. There are more than 2.2 presence, exacerbates existing gender
million displaced people in the region, inequalities and vulnerabilities and
half of whom are children. Girls in has direct and indirect consequences
the region have already been facing on girls and young women’s rights. For
multiple challenges including early instance, Niger and Central African
and forced marriage, lack of access to Republic, both affected by protracted
quality education and lack of access crises, are the two countries in the
to sexual and reproductive health world with the highest prevalence of
services, among others. Niger, the child marriage.109
country with the highest rate of child
marriage in the world, is found in this Evidence from the Ebola outbreak
region, where 3 in 4 girls are married shows that girls are more likely to
before their 18th birthday. suffer forced marriage in health
emergencies due to the lack of
TThe COVID-19 crisis and its protection and school closures.110
8. CONCLUSION
While children are not as widely infected by COVID-19, they are disproportionately
affected by the socio-economic impact. There is fear that many children may be
deprived of care or be forced to play the role of caregivers to younger siblings
when parents or caregiver become infected or die.
As it has been witnessed in other crises, in situations where millions of African

families live under extreme poverty and where adequate social protection and
community safety nets are nearly totally absent, girls will be the first to suffer
from hunger, malnutrition and ill health. The widespread closure of schools and
child care centres has effectively excluded girls from poor backgrounds from
accessing basic services that were made available in those facilities such as
school feeding schemes, thereby leading to malnutrition and accompanying
health related problems.
It is also troubling to observe that stay-home measures have brought girls in

close and routine proximity with potential perpetrators of sexual abuse. There
are many disturbing reports of girls being sexually abused by their fathers and
other family members. There is also a sharp rise in the number of cases of child
abandonment, partly seen in the rise in the number of children newly arriving on
the street.
In many African countries, schools provide safe havens for girls, where they
serve as the first port of call for reporting child marriages and sexual violence.
Schools also serve as centres for girls to access sexual and reproductive health
services, including information and sanitary materials. Many more also rely on
school meals for food. The closure of schools has disrupted all these protective
mechanisms and services, further exposing girls to multiple vulnerabilities.
Even from the millions of girls negatively affected by the pandemic, those with
disabilities, those living and/or working on the street, girl domestic workers, girls
from poor backgrounds, including those living in crowded, urban slums, and girls
in institutional and detention centres and in refugee camps, have been affected
at a disproportionately greater impact.
COVID-19 and the lockdowns and movement restrictions accompanying it, have
created a perfect storm of opportunities for potential abusers to commit sexual
crimes against girls behind closed doors with limited or no public scrutiny. Girls in
Africa are now living with a sense of being insecure and besieged in the confines
of their homes.
9. RECOMMENDATIONS
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most devastating challenges facing Africa’s
children today: it is life-threating and has the potential to shatter the childhood
dreams of many. Africa’s success in tackling the pandemic and mitigating its
impact on children now will have serious implications for its future continuity
and wellbeing as a continent. In light of this, we suggest that governments,
the African Union and other stakeholders take the following and other related
measures to better protect girls from the pandemic and its effects.
WE CALL UPON THE AU AND OTHER PAN-AFRICAN AND SUB-REGIONAL

BODIES TO:
• Coordinate and intensify efforts at all levels in the fight against the pandemic,
through political and organisational leverage to mobilise resources from
within and outside the continent;
• Provide extra support to governments in post-conflict and fragile situations,
particularly in equipping their healthcare infrastructure in their response
efforts; and
• Provide technical support to Member States as they implement the ACERWC
Guiding Note on COVID-19.
WE CALL UPON GOVERNMENTS, IN COLLABORATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY

ORGANISATIONS, THE UN AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR, TO:
adopt a rights and gender-responsive approach to COVID-19 control

measures by:
• applying a human rights approach dictated by the principle of ‘the best
interests of the child’ and with a clearly defined gender-sensitive approach in
all their efforts to prevent and respond to the pandemic;
• ensuring messages and information packages around COVID-19 are
formulated in a manner that promotes gender equality and that takes gender
differences into proper account; and
• ensuring that measures related to social distancing, quarantines, and partial
or full lockdowns are friendly to girls and cognisant of the needs, capacity and
vulnerability of girls.
recognise girls’ voice and agency by:

• consulting and taking into account girls and young women’s views in the
response and recovery to COVID-19; and
• building on girls’ power and agency to benefit from their contributions in the
efforts to control and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, not as victims but as
agents of change
alleviate poverty and provide economic support by:

• ensuring that girls get access to urgent, lifesaving provisions of nutritious food
and healthcare as well as hygiene and sanitation amenities; and
• rapidly scaling up economic safety net and poverty alleviation programmes
such as cash transfers, paid leave, and free or subsidised health services,
with proper gender-responsive orientations that prioritise women, girls
heading households and girls working on the street.
protect girls from abuse and gender-based violence by:

• reinforcing multi-sectoral child protection systems for girls who are at risk of
experiencing abuse, violence and exploitation, including by ensuring access to
justice for survivors;
• supporting community-based child protection systems to rebuild themselves
in light of the adverse impact of the pandemic on their operations;
• ensuring access to comprehensive post- rape care, including reporting and
investigations of complaints;
• addressing online abuse within their response plans for addressing child
protection and gender-based violence and ensure that there are reporting
mechanisms in place to report online abuse and that information on these
are promoted through different digital channels;
• mitigating the risks of exploitation, child, early and forced marriage, and
gender-based violence and bringing perpetrators to justice; and
• paying extra and urgent attention for protection of girls already in vulnerable
circumstances such as girls employed in domestic work, girls living on the
street and girls with disabilities, and girls living in urban slums and refugee
and humanitarian settings.
ensure access to basic and sexual and reproductive health services by:
• ensuring that funding to address immediate public health and humanitarian
concerns is paired with and complementary to mid- to long-term investments
aimed at strengthening systems, building resilience, addressing macro-
economic issues and addressing drivers of vulnerability, particularly in fragile
contexts and protracted crises;
• prioritising adolescent sexual and reproductive health services, both through
policy instruments and funding, to create safe, non-stigmatising channels for
girls in need of such services; and
• ensuring access to modern contraception, menstrual health and hygiene
management and other sexual and reproductive services as well as to
antenatal and postnatal care, and safe delivery services.
ensure access to education by:

• recognising how the gender digital divide affects educational participation,
and further marginalises certain groups;
• providing full access to existing distance and digitised learning options
by making home schooling options and materials available to girls, and
by enhancing the capacity of girls to leverage access to digitally-enabled
communications;
• enabling parents to fill in the pedagogic gaps created due to school closures
by broadcasting educational programmes that better equip parents to help
their children;
• identifying policies and approaches that encourage girls to re-enrol in school,
including by removing policies that ban re-entry for pregnant girls and young
mothers, and providing support through flexible and accelerated learning
opportunities; and
• ensuring that COVID-19 education response plans are gender and age
responsive and reflect the lived realities of girls with disabilities, girls in
rescue and humanitarian settings and other marginalised children throughout
the life cycle of education.
make gender-disaggregated data available by:

• collecting data related to the pandemic and its impact on children,
disaggregated by age, sex, gender, disability and other gender-related
indicators and updating it regularly; and
• ensuring that the voices of girls are captured in the research and data
gathering processes.
Photo credit:
Plan International
ENDNOTES
1
Briody et al. (2018). Review of attacks on health care facilities in six conflicts of the
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2
Castañeda et al. (2020). Gender-based violence and environment linkages: The
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Economic Commission for Africa (2020). COVID-19 in Africa: Protecting Lives and
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4
UN Population Division, World Population Prospects 2019.
5
A respondent from Nigeria.
6
HRW (2020). COVID-19 and Children’s Rights.
7
“COVID-19 Outbreak and Lockdown: Addressing Impact on Women, Girls.” www.
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28 cases of domestic violence reported during COVID-19 lockdown so far. https://
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9
Concern for The Girl Child Survey Report on COVID-19 Impact on Girls and their
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10
ACPF (2020). Vulnerabilities of Girls in the Context of COVID-19 In Africa: A Rapid
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Development, and the Education Sector, Directions in Human Development, World
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49
COVID-19 Puts 265 Million at Risk of ‘Hunger Pandemic,’ Experts Say, Grace Morgan,
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million-risk-hunger-pandemic-experts-say
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double acute hunger by end of 2020: Insight, April 2020. https://insight.wfp.org/
covid-19-will-almost-double-people-in-acute-hunger-by-end-of-2020-59df0c4a8072
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2020-at-least-80-million-children-under-one-at-risk-of-diseases-such-as-diphtheria-
measles-and-polio-as-covid-19-disrupts-routine-vaccination-efforts-warn-gavi-who-and-
unicef
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Key Decision-Making Considerations for Low- and Middle-Income Countries, Center for
Global Development.
53
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Disruptions to Youth life, Youth Can Kick COVID-19 out of East Africa, May 2020.
54
Isaac Obong Program Manager Plan International West Nile cited in ACPF 2020.
Vulnerabilities of Girls in The Context of COVID-19 In Africa: A Rapid Assessment.
Uganda Country Report.
55
Gerald Kato, Programme Coordinator – The Hunger Project cited in ACPF (2020).
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Uganda Country Report.
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S2214-109X(20)30229-1
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77
78
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81
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P.O. Box 1179, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Dukes Court, Block A, Duke Street,
Telephone: + 251 116 62 81 92/96/97/99 Woking, Surrey GU21 5BH, United Kingdom
Fax: +251 116 62 82 00 Tel: (+44)1483 755 155
E-mail: info@africanchildforum.org https://plan-international.org
Website: www.africanchildforum.org
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UNDER

P.O. Box 1179, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

As an independent non-profit development and humanitarian organisation, we work alongside

Dukes Court, Block A, Duke Street,

© 2020 African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) and Plan International

This report was made possible with financial

Writer: Shimelis Tsegaye Tesemma

• From Plan International: Samuel Norgah, Nana A. Ndada, Nastasia Thebaud,

Reviewer: Joan Nyanyuki

Design and layout: Diana De León

LIST OF BOXES & CHARTS

In Africa, an intersection of factors

Pandemics, like other crises,

The COVID-19 pandemic has

for many girls in Africa, but also the

Further, heightened anxiety

Efforts to enforce curfews and

This rapid assessment seeks to

Box 1.1: Methodology

This rapid assessment covered as many countries in Africa as data

The assessment relied both on primary and secondary data. Skype

Photo credit: dreamstime.com

With more than 120 million school

The UN Special Rapporteur on

Box 1.2: Violence against girls in the Context of COVID-19:

In Uganda, a taskforce undertaking a rapid assessment in selected

Chart 1.1: Total Child Helpline calls by type of reported issues

Access to services has been a major issue for victims of gender-based

Given the patriarchal nature of the customary justice practices

Chart 1.2: Total number of abuses by callers, Jan-May 2020,

(Brother, Sister, Gran

reported through phone calls Niamey between January and

Box 1.3: Online Sexual Exploitation

In the context of COVID-19 online sexual exploitation is becoming more

1.2 FACTORS AGGRAVATING

violence against women can be a and Kenya, facilities providing care

Photo credit: Plan International

Photo credit: Plan International

2. POVERTY AND HUNGER

Chart 2.1: Potential impact of COVID-19 on poverty in sub-Saharan Africa

Already within the space of a couple malnutrition more than doubled

is further complicated by the fact

Chart 2.2: Number of girls missing out on school meals in Africa,

Photo credit: Plan International

In many countries, transport to malaria because health centres

Chart 3.1: Total number of children vaccinated, month by month, 2019 vs

EPI - BCG doses given

Uganda in Namayumba Sub-county, Immunisation (EPI) since the onset of

Photo credit: Plan International

likely to have access to smartphones, traditional values in rural areas, which

5. CHILD MARRIAGE AND FGM

“Things have become very

While lockdowns and being out of

desire to control girls’ sexuality in the

Many girls may also be prevented or

A combination of the above factors

• In Ethiopia, the deputy chief of

Box 5.1: COVID-19 fuelling an increase in cases of FGM in Africa

FGM is on the rise in many parts of the continent, especially in countries