Vayda Megannon is a doctoral candidate at The University of Cape Town whose areas of expertise are social protection, social grants, families and the digitisation of social grants in South Africa. Her PhD is on the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD grant, Covid grant), and focuses on the experience of people who receive grants in rural and urban areas around South Africa. Vayda is also the regional programme manager for The Family Caregiving of Older Persons in Southern Africa Programme working in Malawi, Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.