The COVID-19 pandemic presents a massive challenge for societies, and specifically governments, worldwide. “COVID-19 is far more than a health or socio-economic crisis; it is also a governance crisis, testing not only the resilience of governance systems and public sector institutions to adapt, function, and innovate in their delivery of public services, but also exposing underlying vulnerabilities in the social contract.”2 Governments in emerging markets are particularly tested, having to address dilemmas such as how to ensure compliance with social distancing in high-density areas like urban slums, how to provide social protection for returning migrant labourers, or how to tackle the compound effects of the pandemic and natural hazards (from locusts to typhoons).