College of Public Policy Professor Reflects on Regional Responses to Global Pandemic at Social Policy Association Conference

Dr. Anis Ben Brik, associate professor at the College of Public Policy (CPP) and founding director of the Program for Social Policy Evaluation and Research (PROSPER), presented a paper titled “Social Policy Amid the Global Pandemic: Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa” at the 2021 Social Policy Association (SPA) Annual Conference on July 7. 

The conference theme was ‘Global challenges – national social policy responses?’, and invited participants to reflect on local, national, and international responses to global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic. With the experience of COVID-19 laying bare inequalities, inequities, and structural problems within societies of diverse kinds, the gathering reflected on gendered, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographical differences. Dr. Ben Brik’s presentation offered a uniquely regional understanding of the social policy challenges and responses.