The COVID-19 pandemic saw a global health crisis with far-reaching effects that extended beyond the areas of health alone. Communities that were already disadvantaged were more adversely affected such as the B40 group, women, and children of schooling age – all faced problems relating to loss of income or decrease in quality of life.
The Malaysian government announced multiple policies and varying economic stimulus packages aimed at alleviating the loss of income in a sizeable amount of the population. The aim of this research is to collect feedback in order to improve aid distribution from a governance and institutional perspective. As such, C4 Center conducted qualitative research into local communities’ insights into their personal experience with different forms of aid – what forms of aid were available to them, the challenges they faced in the application process, whether or not the aid reached them or was able to provide substantial benefit in helping them through the pandemic.
Additional discussions based on the findings are included in the report, analysing issues from a governance angle and from the standpoint of improving existing institutions. Two focus group discussions were organised through the efforts of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Sustainable Development Goals (APPGM-SDG). The first discussion took place on 8 October 2022 at Bentong, Pahang with the aid of former Member of Parliament Wong Tack with 22 participants present. The second took place on 16 October 2022 in Selayang, Selangor with the aid of the Association of Social Services and Community Development of Gombak Selangor (PSPK) with 18 participants present.
Read the full report here .
