Disrupt & Innovate

This page is part of a series of COVID-19 resource pages that we are creating to help civil society actors.

Click here to view all available pages.

Click here for our latest events news.

On this page, you will find links to readings, podcasts and videos related to the latest COVID-19 news and analysis. This selection is based on what the International Civil Society Centre and its staff find useful. If you have a recommendation or a suggestion, let us know.

This week the sections are:

Staying up-to-date: Links to sites that will keep you abreast of important developments related to our sector and the latest news.

Strategic analysis: We look at the impact and responses to COVID-19 in a general and intersectional way (i.e. impacts on human rights, climate change, etc).

NEW: Policy positions: Published policy pieces by civil society actors that respond to challenges posed by COVID-19.

Operational and leadership: A list of what your organisation can do now to navigate these unprecedented times.

    1. Staying up-to-Date

• Global Issue: COVID-19 resource page (World Economic Forum).
  WEF resource page including: government responses, avoiding infection and spread, finding a vaccine, impact on trade, travel, workforce and financial markets.
• COVID-19: how are African countries coping? (The Guardian).
  In this podcast, Prof Trudie Lang talks about the outbreak on the continent and explores how a history of responding to Ebola and other public health emergencies could help.
• Tackling COVID-19 in Africa (McKinsey).
  An unfolding health and economic crisis that requires bold action.
  
• We need creative campaigning more than ever during the coronavirus crisis (MobLab).
  This is an essential window for social change campaigners to not only defend rights, but also drive quantum leaps forward. Here are four critical new realities MobLab believes advocacy campaigners and organisations need to address in order to remain effective.

Inspiring civil society responses from around the world

• Civil Society Platform for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding  (A Society is Only as Strong as its Most Vulnerable Members).
  First in a series of articles on the role of civil society in supporting local response action, via interviews with frontline responders. Here, with the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Network (WASH-Net) in Sierra Leone.
• Indian Civil Society Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 (VANI).
  Initiative to present an Indian sector response collecting CSO inputs on COVID-19.
• What will coronavirus do to one of Africa’s largest slums? (Fast Company – Shining Hope for Communities).
  Local civil society responses in Kibera, Nairobi, to the challenges social distancing, frequent handwashing and disinformation in one of the largest slums in Africa.

    2. Strategic Analysis

Coronavirus Pandemic-Specific – Response Scenarios and Economic Impacts

• Cities after coronavirus: how COVID-19 could radically alter urban life (Guardian).
  Good summary of which urban adjustments might endure beyond the pandemic – densification for sustainability or disaggregation for public health control, digital infrastructure for safer ‘smart’ cities, and community vs. corporate interests.
  
• McKinsey COVID-19 briefing materials – Global health and crisis response (McKinsey).
  Useful piece on how corporations are dealing with COVID-19, short- and long-term. Includes five strategic phases and scenarios.
  
• What Will the World Be Like After Coronavirus? Four Possible Futures (Singularity).
  Four potential post-pandemic economic scenarios, looking at distributed/centralised response and protection of life/exchange value as the guiding economic principle.
  

Future Scenarios

• Amartya Sen writes: Overcoming a pandemic may look like fighting a war, but the real need is far from that (Indian Times).
  Tackling a social calamity is not like fighting a war which works best when a leader can use top-down power to order everyone to do what the leader wants — with no need for consultation. In contrast, what is needed is participatory governance and alert public discussion.
• The Corona Effect: Four Future Scenarios (Zukunftsinstitut).
  Good short scenarios. The Zukunftsinstitut describes four possible scenarios of how the COVID-19 crisis can transform the world, change the way we live and do business. It looks at two axes: optimism/pessimism and connected/disconnected societies.
• COVID-19 and Scenario Planning: A Thought Experiment on the Short and Long Term Impacts of the Present Crisis (Innovation Labs).
  Interesting white paper with sections on coping with uncertainty and sixteen scenarios of the future with COVID-19.
• Not Fit for this Future (Aarathi Krishnan).
  The global pandemic has shown up the fundamental cracks in our global systems and structures, our failures in reducing inequality, fragility and vulnerability. Our global institutions, structural pillars and narratives need to be radically reimagined.
• Post COVID-19 reorganisation scenarios (Multiverse Design).
  This report contains a comprehensive look at what might emerge post-COVID-19 as the fabric of our reality changes. It’s a modular set allowing everyone to navigate what’s next and create hundreds of scenarios for different contexts/organisations.
• The world remade by COVID-19: Planning scenarios for resilient leaders (Deloitte).
  Deloitte and Salesforce hosted a dialogue with the world’s best-known scenario thinkers to consider what might life be like after the crisis passes, and what will it take to thrive in a world remade, in four possible scenarios.

Intersectional Analysis

Africa

• The People vs 4G internet and other corona stories from Kenya (Wangui Kimari).
  An opinion piece on how COVID-19 mitigation strategies will not work for the poor in Africa, and how inequalities will be widened as a consequence.
• How COVID-19 affects inequality in Africa (INCLUDE).
  Weekly updated news item on the policy responses to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the impacts of this pandemic on African societies. It takes a specific inequality lens on the consequences for key vulnerable groups, and consider the broader impacts on inclusive development for the region.

Civic Space

• The Worry of Governance: Coronavirus and Emergency Politics (From Poverty to Power).
  What could happen to state-society relations and the functioning of states once the pandemic has been brought under control? Which of the unprecedented actions that governments are now taking will have impacts – positive or negative – on these relationships and how?

Data and Digital

• Mobilising collective intelligence to tackle the COVID-19 threat (Nesta).
  The changes the pandemic will bring to bear on existing systems will be seismic, including the data governance ecosystem, integral to our everyday lives.
• What will the first pandemic of the algorithmic age mean for data governance? (Ada Lovelace Institute).
  The changes the pandemic will bring to bear on existing systems will be seismic, including the data governance ecosystem, integral to our everyday lives.

Gender Equality

• Feminist Resources on the Pandemic (Center for Feminist Foreign Policy).
  The response to the current pandemic is in dire need of feminist perspectives, especially as we are already seeing the gendered impact it is having. This is a useful and up-to-date resource page for feminist dimensions of the pandemic.

Multilateralism and international cooperation

• Lessons from coronavirus for the future of ‘aid’ (Development Initiatives).
  How a coordinated and well-funded global response is needed to combat health crises. This blog is the second in DI’s series on Global Public Investment and the future of foreign aid.
• This global pandemic must be the impetus for a new era of international cooperation and financing for Global Public Goods (Development Initiatives).
  The COVID-19 crisis highlights just how much the world needs a well-coordinated and well-resourced system of international public financing. Global public investment offers an ambitious approach towards pooling resources and knowledge.

Narratives

• COVID-19 – an unfolding story that hasn’t been written yet. How can we shape the narrative?
  Key storytelling features to emphasise during this time – about the beginning, middle and end – and other resources on how to communicate during the pandemic. The narratives we use about COVID-19 way we respond strategically will shape how others refer to this time in the future.
• This is a Love Story: thinking globally during COVID-19 (Kirsty McNeill, Save the Children’s Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns).
  12 rules for communicating during COVID-19

    3. Policy Positions

• Business and COVID-19: Supporting the most vulnerable – Business Fights Poverty COVID-19 Response Framework (Business Fights Poverty).
  Useful reference from the private sector – this response framework sets out practical guidance on how businesses can support the most vulnerable in their value chains, communities and beyond.
• Call for a Feminist COVID-19 Policy (Feminist Alliance for Right).
  This statement has been endorsed by 1160 individuals and women’s networks and organisations globally, from more than 100 countries, to demand states adopt a feminist policy to address the COVID-19 pandemic in a manner that is consistent with human rights standards and principles.
• CBM Global COVID-19 resource (CBM Global)
  Key advocacy messages, questions to ask on disability inclusion and resources to learn more.
• Collecting Open Government Approaches to COVID-19 (Open Government Partnership)
  Crowd-sourced examples of open government approaches to tackling COVID-19 being implemented, either by governments themselves or civil society, citizens or the private sector.
• Key policy responses from the OECD (OECD)
  Policy responses spanning a range of topics, from health to education and taxes, guidance on the short-term measures needed in affected sectors and a specific focus on the vulnerable sectors of society and the economy, and analysis on the longer-term consequences and impacts.
• Oxfam media briefing: How to confront the coronavirus catastrophe: The Global Public Health Plan and Emergency Response needed now (Oxfam).
  G20 and other leaders can develop a Global Public Health Plan and Emergency Response to tackle the disease head on – preventing and delaying its spread, saving lives now and into the future.
• Responding to COVID-19: A social security protocol for civil society (CIVICUS).
  CIVICUS’ draft ‘social security protocol’ in response to the projected economic and social impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic, intended as a voluntary commitment from CSOs to lead by example.
• Towards A People-Focused COVID-19 Response (ActionAid India)
  Stopping the spread of infection, ensuring protection and reducing the impact of lockdown: The swift measures by the Indian government to close  borders and enforce social isolation must be implemented with due respect for civil rights/liberties, and without the use of indiscriminate force.

    4. Operational and Leadership Advice

• COVID-19 and the disability movement (International Disability Alliance)
  Recommendations toward a disability-inclusive COVID-19 response – hub-page with recent updates/resources as they become available. In English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic.
• COVID-19 reveals weak spots in NGO contingency planning (Devex).
  The business continuity plans of many NGOs, detailing how to keep operating in the face of unprecedented disruption, are inadequate or nonexistent, according to the latest findings of a poll about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development sector.
• COVID-19 resources for NGOs and humanitarian action (ICVA)
  The International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) is collecting guidelines, tools, statements, papers and links, including humanitarian coordination, forced migration, community engagement, inclusion and diversity, and funding.
• Key considerations: informal urban settlements and COVID-19 (Institute of Development Studies).
  Key considerations for protecting informal urban settlements from the  impacts of COVID-19, amid heightened concern due to the combination of population density and limited infrastructure. This briefing discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local action.
• Resources for civil society in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic (CIVICUS).
  CIVICUS’ civil society resources webpage outlines the key priorities shaping CIVICUS’ response, which includes information others can use to build their operational/advocacy responses.
• Responding to Coronavirus: Learning from each other (Center for Public Impact).
  Digital platform sharing innovative examples of how individuals, organisations and local authorities are changing the way they deliver services in the age of COVID-19.
• Save the Children’s COVID-19 Program Framework and Guidance and Companion Pieces (Save the Children).
  Save the Children’s planning assumptions and priority areas for implementation over four phases of programming: preparedness, initial response, large-scale response, and recovery. The guidance allows staff to locate which phase their country/community are in and implementation of key actions and activities by sector.
• The COVID-19 Learning Pathway (Open Access) (Save the Children).
  Save the Children’s new learning resource to support responders in their work within the new environment created by COVID-19. It covers a number of critical topics, including public health, child protection and gender/equality.

• COVID-19 Resources

Thomas Howie

Communications Manager

International Civil Society Centre

Thomas joined the Centre in June 2017 as the Communications Coordinator. He is responsible for developing and implementing the Centre’s global communication strategy, as well as the Disrupt & Innovate platform – a place for civil society professionals and activists to discuss current innovations and future trends in the civil society sector. Prior to the Centre, Thomas worked for 5 years in the European Parliament firstly as the Digital and Social Media Coordinator for the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, and then, after the 2014 European elections, for Jude Kirton-Darling and Paul Brannen as Head of Communications, where he worked on issues such as the EU-US trade deal, issues around Brexit and as a specialist on the Petitions Committee. Thomas graduated from Bristol University with BSci in Geographical Sciences and holds an MA in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, where he completed research into the role of civil society in the post war peace settlement in northern Uganda.