The outbreak of Covid-19 undoubtedly brought about drastic undesirable changes in the basic logistics of our lives, whilst ultimately posing challenges on vital aspects of our daily lives.

The youth are reported to have been greatly affected as they faced psychological disturbances such as depression, anxiety, stress as well as the uncertainties about their future, created by the novel coronavirus disease.

Following government measures to control the spread of Covid-19, the pandemic evidently brought about a massive economic disruption as many people faced unexpected job losses, business closures and saw companies downsizing as they struggled to sustain operations.

The biggest chunk of those who were affected were the youth. The Youth Café embarked on a series of events dubbed Lockdown Live, aimed at addressing the global situation as a result of Covid-19. The Lockdown Live online events brought together members of Sussex Writes at the University of Sussex and members of The Youth Café as well as various experts to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on learning, health literacy, mental health, misinformation and use of technology, and the immediate future of the global economy. The Youth Café organized 15 Zoom Webinars and over 100 Facebook Live events, which involved engaging youth from various countries in three different continents to share about the challenges that they faced as a result of the pandemic, their ideas and possible youth-led solutions to the crisis. On a positive note, the participants who attended these sessions reported that they were positively impacted. The Lockdown Live report was launched following the successful webinars. Addressed therein are issues such as education, mental health, misinformation and post covid futures. Misinformation is a great danger presented by the novel disease, as there are many falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the nature of the disease and its existence, causing unnecessary fear amongst the youth. The report ultimately provides proposed solutions as recommendations to these challenges.

Following the launch of the lockdown live report, members of The Youth Café attended a radio interview on 8th September hosted by Ruben Fm, a community radio station in Nairobi. During this interview, they held discussions about the issues addressed in the report, the inspiration for the Lockdown Live report as well as the suggested recommendations to the challenges. Despite the negativity of this pandemic, it's a blessing in disguise. Businesses can now think about how to venture into online business. In line with that, governments should give these SMEs incentives like reducing the tax burden. Another positive impact is that the environment can now 'breathe' since the emission of carbon dioxide has been reduced. Do listen in for more on this.