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.