Chapter Two

Resilience

From Policy Responses to Resilient Policy Systems

John McDermott, Danielle Resnick, and Nichola Naylor

Responding to a complex shock like the coronavirus requires both speed and care in balancing trade-offs among health, economic, and social policy goals.

KEY FINDINGS

Policy responses across countries have followed a similar course — beginning with lockdowns and health measures, then shifting toward fiscal, monetary, and social protection interventions — as the pandemic progressed.
Policymakers must balance critical trade-offs among policy actions and spending priorities for health, food systems, and economies. This requires a multisectoral perspective and clearly defined values.
Rapid policy actions must build on existing systems; therefore, the quality of established policy and delivery systems is an important determinant of success.

Three broad features of policy systems — adaptability, coherence and coordination, and efficacy — contribute to the success of public policies.
Policy system efficacy requires state capacity for administrative efficiency and appropriate enforcement, as well as citizen trust in government.
Rolling out and scaling up innovations during crises depends on an underlying business environment that enables decision-making and experimentation in partnership with the private sector.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Build effective and resilient policy systems and programs to enable decision-makers to respond to future crises in an informed, timely, and cohesive manner and in a way that builds credibility and confidence among citizens.
Increase understanding of the interplay of health, economic, and social policy actions, gather more data, and review experience to aid decision-making.
Develop robust public systems for the poor and vulnerable, such as social protection, nutrition, and education programs that can be quickly scaled up and adapted.

Support an enabling business environment to spur private innovation in food systems, particularly by small and medium enterprises.
Develop processes for policy coordination and increase capacity of policymakers to work across multiple sectors, vertically, horizontally, and temporally, to address crises and support transformation toward more resilient food systems.

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