In many developing countries there are large numbers of care homes for older people. Until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, they received little attention from policymakers or academics. There is now understandable concern that the pandemic will affect care home residents, as well as staff. Responsibility for care homes is mainly devolved to local governments, and many are looking to develop emergency plans. These need to take account of specific contexts, including scarce resources and very limited regulation of care homes prior to the pandemic. We will partner local government agencies in three countries (Brazil, South Africa and Mexico) to support the development and implementation of emergency plans, and to assess their effects on care homes. Based on consultations with a wider network of policy-makers and experts, we have developed a set of guiding principles (The CIAT Framework). We will work with local governments to put this framework into practice, refine it and assess its potential value for developing countries more generally. At the same time, we will develop an interactive online network with policy-makers and researchers interested in care homes and COVID-19, linked to an existing online policy network we have developed during the pandemic.