Since December 2019, the world has been beset by the global corona virus pandemic. To date, there are an estimated 3 million confirmed cases of the disease and 200,000 deaths.

While the economic impact of the covid19 cannot be overstated—according to a recent McKinsey Africa report, Africa’s GDP growth in 2020 will contract by between three to eight percentage points—the responses by African governments have been more focused on containment: suspension of business activity, public transport, and in some cases total lockdown and curfews.

Through the “Covid-19 Reset” project, the LéO Africa Institute seeks to push more forward-looking interventions that go beyond containment of the pandemic, to discussions about a post-covid19 future and how our communities can best prepare for a fast, and sustainable recovery.

A global recession, not to mention potential political and economic fallouts, an unpredictable era of international relations all suggest that regional governments and societies need to invest heavily in understanding what comes next after the pandemic.

The focus of the project will be to galvanize leadership action within and beyond the Institute network, and redirect it to imagine a new, progressive post-covid world for our respective communities and countries.