Caring in Times of Crisis: A UK-Chile Dialogue

The challenge

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the urgency of addressing the “care crisis”, while care needs increased, the conditions of those who provide care severely deteriorated, sometimes compromising their very capacity to survive. Who takes care of those who care for us? And how can we address the care deficit provoked, or reinforced, by the crisis? The Ciudadanas Cuidando (Caring Citizens) collective in Chile was formed in this context of struggle. They have been active in the most deprived areas of Santiago to support and take care of unpaid caregivers, moving from self-help practices to policy-impact work. This project proposes to learn from their experience.

Expected impact

This knowledge exchange project will deliver a series of webinars on the recognition of care work, organised by UCL in partnership with the Ciudadanas Cuidando collective, to allow a better understanding of the living and working conditions of unpaid caregivers in Chile and the UK. Through this comparative approach, stakeholders in each country will learn from each other and identify innovative solutions that emerged from the caregivers’ communities themselves during the crisis. With this, we aim to elaborate policy recommendations to improve the conditions of those who care for us daily, thus reducing the post-pandemic care crisis.

Both the UK and Chile are high-income economies, with liberal models of welfare states, heavily relying on unpaid care work provided at the family and community levels. In Chile, the government launched a national roundtable on care in 2022, aiming to build a National System of Care, while in the UK, the Covid-19 inquiry that just started in 2023 plans to include an entire module on care. Thus, this project is a unique opportunity to learn from the Chilean experience and influence policy-making, while promoting a South-North and bottom-up exchange of knowledge.

Funding details

ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) KEIF – £20,000

Project duration

September 2023 – September 2024

Project team

• Dr Louisa Acciari, UCL Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction
• Prof Professor Maxine Molyneux, UCL – Co-investigator
• Prof Jasmine Gideon, Birkbeck College, University of London – External consultant

Partner: Ciudadanas Cuidando

More information

• Watch previous GRRIPP webinars

Image: Chile-UK project graphic