This book was produced in an environment of uncertainty and constantly changing narratives about COVID-19 and its effects. From a narrative of survival in 2020 to contain the spread of the virus with a central role of government leadership, evidence-informed decisions, solidarity and a scientific race to develop a vaccine taking the central stage; to a later narrative in 2021 focused on socio-economic recovery, building back better, managing vaccine inequalities and visions and proposals for post-COVID societies.

In 2022, we have seen a move to a narrative of post-pandemic (rather than post-COVID-19) and “learning to live with the virus” with societies in the global South learning to navigate the harsh economic realities by looking at opportunities emerging in the digital and regional spaces. The production of this book embeds some of these dominant narratives in different chapters, as they were developed over such unstable ground.

This experience has put a spotlight on the importance of innovative solutions, and the role of public sector, raising a new interest in governance systems and structures, and ways to strengthen governance overall. The pandemic has propelled countries across the world to innovate and develop more resilient systems and strategies that will enable us to gain the capacity to tackle complex challenges we face today and those that will come.

We hope this book helps us extract some valuable lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. After all, learning from a crisis may well be our best way to prepare for the future.