Contributor(s): Helen Clark, Helena Puig Larrauri, Dr Mareike Schomerus | What are the consequences of the pandemic for countries affected by conflict and fragility?

Will coronavirus contribute to the further escalation or new outbreaks of conflict? How can the international community –governments, international organisations, regional actors and civil society develop a peace-building response to COVID-19? Helen Clark, head of the United Nations Development Programme 2009-2017, and former Prime Minister of New Zealand leads an expert panel to discuss the development and security risks of the current pandemic.

Helen Clark (@HelenClarkNZ) is a global leader on sustainable development, gender equality and international co-operation. She served three successive terms as Prime Minister of New Zealand between 1999 and 2008. While in government, she led policy debate on a wide range of economic, social, environmental and cultural issues, including sustainability and climate change. She then became the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator for two terms from 2009 to 2017, the first woman to lead the organisation. She was also the Chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the Heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments working on development issues. In 2019 Helen Clark became patron of The Helen Clark Foundation. She is an active member of many global organisations.

Helena Puig Larrauri (@HelenaPuigL) is a Co-founder and Director of Build Up, a non-profit that works to identify and apply innovative practices to prevent conflict and tackle polarization. She is a governance and peacebuilding professional with over a decade of experience advising and supporting UN agencies, multi-lateral organisations and NGOs working in conflict contexts and polarized environments. She specializes in the integration of digital technology and innovation processes to peace processes, and has written extensively on this subject matter. She is also an Ashoka Fellow. Helena holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and a Masters in Public Policy (Economics) from Princeton University.

Mareike Schomerus is Vice President of the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics in Nairobi. Prior to that she was the Director of Programme Politics and Governance and the Research Director of the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC) at odi in London. She is a widely published researcher with a body of work on violent conflict, political contestation and peace processes in South Sudan and Uganda and across borders, as well as behavioural insights in post-conflict recovery. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Master’s Degrees from Columbia University and the University of Bremen.

Mary Martin is Director of the UN Business and Human Security Initiative at LSE IDEAS.

This event is part of LSE's public event series - COVID-19: The Policy Response.

COVID-19 represents an enormous challenge for the social sciences to help governments and non-governmental organisations respond to the economic and societal consequences of the pandemic. Part of LSE's response to this challenge is a series of online public events that will take place over the Summer Term.

Why not visit the School of Public Policy COVID-19 Resource Centre.

This event in the series has been organised by LSE IDEAS.

The next event in this series will take place at 3pm on 24 June on Europe's New Authoritarianism? COVID-19 And The Challenges Facing Democracy.

LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. We connect academic knowledge of diplomacy and strategy with the people who use it.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSECOVID19

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download at Peace and the Pandemic.

A video of this event is available to watch at Peace and the Pandemic.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.