'We don’t do a lot for them specifically': is COVID-19 cash assistance reaching people with diverse SOGIESC?
The devastating social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have led national government and aid sector organisations to place social protection mechanisms front and centre in their responses.
These responses have included access to mainstream contributory and tax-funded mechanisms, bespoke tax-funded COVID-19 cash-based and in-kind support programs, and aid-sector programs to supplement government programs or to fill specific gaps. Such donor-funded aid sector programs have drawn on humanitarian sector expertise gained through the growing role of cash-based assistance in crisis response over the last decade. While some of these government and aid sector programs have sought to reach the greatest number of people as quickly as possible, there is also a strong narrative of ensuring that COVID-19 social protection programs reach those whose needs are greatest.
This scoping study explores whether those mainstream or targeted programs have met the needs of people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC, aka LGBTIQ+ people).