Youthonomics, the monthly essay writing competition for the youth, organized by SANEM, has become a platform for young intellectuals for academic and policy discussions and debates. Through Youthonomics, SANEM encourages young writers to voice their views and opinions on socio-economic issues. SANEM awards prize money and certificates to the winners of each episode of Youthonomics. SANEM believes that engaging the youth in an intellectual and academic discussion is essential for developing a more informed and rational society.

The 9th episode of Youthonomics was held in May 2020. The topic of Youthonomics-9 was “Community Response for Tackling Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic: Assessment and Recommendations”. All over the world, the COVID-19 Pandemic has devastated life. The economic disruption caused by COVID-19 threatens millions of livelihoods in Bangladesh. There are wide speculations about the future consequences of the pandemic. However, all the estimations depict a grim scenario for economy and society. To tackle the challenges of the pandemic, https://iabdm.org/ambien/ many communities have stepped forward and initiated community based social response. Bangladesh’s leaders in the public and private sector must come together to respond to the immediate threats to health systems and the long-term effects to the country’s economy.Participants in Youthonomics-9 were asked to focus their writings specifically on two aspects: 1) Assessment of the current pandemic situation in the writer’s own community and 2) Proposal on the actions his/her community can undertake in response to the pandemic. This global pandemic is not only a public health concern, but a socio-economic-humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented nature and level. In line with the national preparedness, coordinated community response is needed to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The emerging challenges in this regard must be addressed accordingly through policy instruments designed to meet the unique demands of the current situation.

The winners of episode 9 were:

• 1st place: Sanjida Afroz, Department of Environmental & Resource Economics, Dhaka School of Economics

• 2nd place: Mehedi Hasan, Department of Economics, Jahangirnagar University

• 3rd place: Sumiya Rahman, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka