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. If you have a recommendation or a suggestion, let us know. Many thanks to our volunteer researcher Ineke Stemmet.

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: 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).

Policy: Civil society’s policies that respond to challenges posed by COVID-19.

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

    1. Staying up-to-Date

• Advisor resigns from ID2020 objecting to blockchain immunity passports for COVID-19 (Ledger Insights)
  The article narrates a conflict around the COVID Credentials Initiative and the allegation that tech developers have jumped on COVID-19 as a use case for their as-yet unadopted digital identity and blockchain technologies.
• How Mauritius’ unique political culture helped it beat COVID-19 (African Arguments)
  A success story from a small but densely populated island country.
• Maternal health services take a hit amid global lockdown (Devex)
  With lockdown measures beginning to ease, activists across the global south are finally beginning to gauge the impact of restrictions on maternal health, even as they move quickly to prevent any long-term damage.
• Opinion: A reminder during COVID-19 — Africa is not a monolith (Devex)
  Africa is not a monolith where challenges in one country apply to the dozens of others on the continent.
• Spain to top up incomes of poorest as coronavirus hits livelihoods (Thomson Reuters Foundation News)
  Spain introducing a new basic income scheme to help those families most at risk of poverty during the coronavirus crisis
• The Third sector in West Africa – Maimed by COVID-19 (Westt African Civil Society Institute)
  Nana Asantewa Afadzinu explains how funding and equipment shortages are crippling many CSOs during the ongoing pandemic in West Africa. As social distancing rules hamper face-to-face meetings and service delivery, she is calling for fundamental changes.
• Vulnerability Amplified: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on LGBTIQ People (OutRight Action International )
  Drawing on almost 60 rapid research interviews conducted with LGBTIQ people in 38 countries from all regions of the world, this report overwhelmingly shows that the challenges faced by LGBTIQ people as a result of the virus and surrounding containment measures are specific and amplified compared to the broader population.

    2. Strategic

Cities and Urbanisation

• COVID-19 and Shared Mobility: A New Normal (Urban Mobility Daily)
  The article lists external effects of COVID-19 on urban mobility as well as specific examples of urban design as opportunities to address the near term public health challenges and ensure a more environmentally sustainable future.
• The Ecological Roots of Pandemics (Council n Foreign Relations)
  Even as politicians promote conspiracy theories on COVID-19’s emergence, its most likely origins lie in their longstanding negligence of environmental health especially with regards to rapid urbanisation.

Civic Space and Human Rights

• How do we protect children caught up in war and a pandemic? (World Vision)
  The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone, it does not discriminate. It does, however, point out the impact of the failure of protecting civilians during the war. This article explains the vulnerability of children in these situations and what can be done to mitigate this.
• How have people with disabilities been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic? (The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes)
  Restrictions on human interactions have become mandatory in certain countries with imposed social distancing requirements. Many public services have become highly limited, if not completely halted; leaving persons with disabilities abandoned in terms of getting access to essential healthcare and social services.
• The Anxiety of the Twenty Twenties: The Quest For Relevance of Civil Society Organisations in a Digital World (International Civil Society Centre)
  Global Angst plays into the hands of “Strong State” advocates. Even with limited room for manoeuvre, CSOs have to fight a disempowering gig economy and digital spaces where the individual is reduced to a consumer and/or worker with no attributes of a cyber citizen.

Data and Digital

• Opinion: COVID-19 as the catalyst for NGOs’ digital transformation (Devex)
  Rakesh Bharania, Director at Salesforce, advocates for digital transformation, ie. the integration of modern information and communications technology within an organization at every level.

Food security

• COVID-19 and food protectionism (Vox)
  Although initial conditions in global food markets in the face of COVID-19 pandemic are good, disruptions across countries most affected could reduce global supplies of key staples. Escalating export restrictions would multiply the initial shock by a factor of three, with world food prices rising by up to 18% on average. Import food dependent countries would be most affected. Uncooperative trade policies could risk turning a health crisis into a food crisis.
• South Asia at highest risk of civil unrest as food insecurity bites (Verisk Maplecroft)
  Asia experienced one of the world’s first COVID-induced food protests when residents of Manila took to the streets on 1 April. Food insecurity has since played a role in protests across the region, including in India and Bangladesh. We expect that these initial protests are a sign of much bigger problems to come.

Futures

• COVID-19 and systems change: some reflections from the field (School of System Change)
  Four systemic practices are showing up in how systems change practitioners are deploying analysis and proposals around COVID-19: 1. working across multiple timescales, 2. engaging multiple perspectives, 3. experimenting, struggling, failing and learning, and 4. tuning into power.
• The Post-Corona Revolution (Robert Bosch Foundation)
  In his essay, Daniel Hamilton analyses the impact of the pandemic taking into account the new stages of the ongoing global-scale revolutions, namely “the three fundamental kernels of our existence: the atom, the bit, and the gene”.
• World Order after COVID-19 (Center for Strategic & International Studies)
  CSIS Risk and Foresight Group Director Sam Brannen asked four of his International Security Program colleagues to take the long view on how COVID-19 could affect geopolitics out to 2025-2030 and beyond.

Governance

• Systemic Governing – Applied systems thinking in practice (OECD Guest blog)
  Seeing governance in systemic terms makes what might otherwise seem impossibly complicated understandable, able to be acted upon, and open to change. This blog looks at how systemic governing is needed to produce and enact a new model of governance.

Multilateralism and international cooperation

• Europe’s battle lines are drawn at a uniquely perilous moment (Brookings Institution )
  This article explains the battle lines that have been drawn in Europe due to the COVID-19 response of different nation-states and argues that solidarity, instead of individualism, is the best way to handle the current crisis.

Pandemic Specific Consequences and Responses (economic, health & social impacts)

• Assessing the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Africa and Latin-America (The South African Institute of International Affairs)
  This Webinar looks at the economic impacts of domestic responses to COVID-19 in the fields of health and social protection across Africa and Latin America. The speakers also reflect on the role that civil society and technology can play in mitigating the impact of the pandemic.
• Five things you need to know this week about global education (Theirworld)
  About 12 million children have been affected by school closures across the West African countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal. This article explores the positive aspects as well as the dangers of children starting to return to school in African and other countries.
• Record-Breaking Global Mobility Grounded by COVID-19 Pandemic (PR Newswire)
  Henley & Partners, a migration broker for wealthy clients, suggests that the new focus on health security and pandemic preparedness may change the face of global mobility forever: People will seek to move from poorly governed and ill-prepared places to those with better medical care and where involuntary quarantine is more convenient.
• Rolling lockdowns could protect both economies and health in low-income countries (The Conversation)
  What would happen if we alternated between applying and lifting different types of community-based interventions to control the transmission of the virus? Would this provide a balance between avoiding health systems being overloaded and grinding economies completely to a halt?
• Social distancing in Black and white neighbourhoods in Detroit: A data-driven look at vulnerable communities (Brookings Institution)
  This article examines the Detroit area in order to see how black and poor communities in the United States are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and social distancing measures.
• Together, African Countries Have Enough to Fight COVID-19 (Chatham House)
  This article argues that Africa can mount a stronger COVID-19 response strategy by using regional trade blocs to coordinate, consolidate, and connect resources across the continent.

Populism and Authoritarianism

• The pandemic creates ideal conditions for the rise of populism (The South African Institute of International Affairs)
  In moments of crises, populists make majorities feel like minorities under siege. COVID-19 has afforded populists a biological crisis with which to work and cement themselves onto the political landscape. This has left many asking: Will the coronavirus be populism’s next victim?
  

    3. Policy

• Advocating for Age in an Age of Uncertainty (Stabford Social Innovation Review)
  How the COVID-19 crisis is amplifying ageism, and how advocates can push back: 1. appeal to the value of justice, 2. define ageism and show people how to address it, and 3. create a sense of solidarity.
  
• Donors are ignoring hygiene in the fight against COVID-19 (WaterAid)
  Despite being critical in the fight against COVID-19, efforts to improve hygiene are mostly absent in donor commitments to tackle the coronavirus, according to WaterAid. Instead, the focus is on vaccines.

Thomas Howie

Communications Coordinator

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.

The roaring 20s are long gone. A century exactly. Todays’ Twenty Twenties add to the already existing anxieties of financial meltdowns, downward social mobility, random violence, unwelcome migration, and global warming that of fear of a virus stricken planet. But this fearful narrative knows a silver lining too: Digitalization. In the absence of a medical cure or preventive immunization, digitalization is regarded as the second best option: telework and video conferencing, virus tracking, and digital health.

Well, one might argue that hope is the better option in responding to collective anxieties given that desperation and conspiracy theories around pandemics have in history often ended in outbreaks of barbaric violence. Hope is not to be dismissed but a fundamental feature of continued human existence. Nevertheless, unkept promises and false expectations might exacerbate an already volatile situation. Where does this leave Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and where lies their relevance in a world of increasing anxieties and digitalization?

Digitalization before Covid-19

In recent years a number of ideas emerged on how digitalization and globalization, as intertwined processes, affect people. Short and sketchy theories were developed, such as on the Globals, Mobals, and Locals[1].

Stratification, as a result of both digitalization and globalization, has produced winners and losers: « losers of the globalization process seek to protect themselves through protectionist measures and through an emphasis on the maintenance of national boundaries and independence. Winners, by contrast, who benefit from the increased competition, support the opening up of the national boundaries and the process of international integration.»

The industrial revolution of the 19^th century brought with it the labour movement, the trade unions, and collective bargaining.  The decreasing importance of industrial production in Western Countries, the ascent of a neo-liberal ideologies also helped CSOs to gain importance. These organizations fill the void left behind by a retreating State and a weakened labour movement. Bargaining power was replaced by advocacy while fund raising and private philanthropy took the place of welfare programmes financed by taxes.

The economic consequences of digitalization and neoliberalism have resulted in cultural and political conflict, amplified in digital spaces, whereby one side holds universalistic conceptions of community and advocates individual autonomy while the other emphasizes the right to preserve traditional communities and their moral understandings. In extreme cases this » nativism » combines nationalism and xenophobia. The antagonism between winners and losers of globalization has been described as a conflict between integration and demarcation.

Some scholars suggest that digitalization and globalization lead to a dual labor market: one consisting of insiders and outsiders. Insiders have long-term contracts and secure well-paying jobs; they support status quo. Outsiders, who are unemployed or in temporary work, form of the basis of populist reaction[2]. The social problems of the gig economy have been widely described and researched[3]. The gig economy is the frontline in the battle for the future of industrial relations. It is about the ability of employees to retain rights and benefits for themselves and their families. And there is little hope that advocacy[4] can do the trick: The gig economy needs new power relationships that allow for effective collective bargaining.

In the current Covid-19 crisis new cleavages have been observed between the (privileged) “Remotes” and the more disadvantaged “Essentials, Unpaid, and Forgotten”^[5]. In France, the trade unions launched a public debate on the perceived injustice of white collar workers allowed to earn income by distancing themselves from potential infection, while blue collar workers are still called to the shop floor risking their health^[6].

In short, at the outset of the 2020s, digitalization often drives discontent and resentment linked to modernization and globalization. It feeds anxieties. In fact, some analysts go even further and interpret the entire Covid-19 response policies in western countries as guided by the interest of an aging electorate imposing an economic lock-down policy to the detriment of younger and economically active segments of society and their children, for their own physical protection and channel resources into the build-up of extended health sector capacities for groups at risk, which means mainly for themselves[7].

20th Century Flashback

There have been times of collective anxiety and conflict before. And while we should not overstate the gravity of problems of our generation, such as a pandemic, an economic downturn and a serious ecological crisis, it might help to look back. Let’s remind ourselves that the 20^th century wasn’t spared of crisis situations either and offers clues for today and the future. First, during that period of time, technological innovation continued and the industrial revolution wasn’t reversed despite all differences in ideology and governance. It was with regard to the latter, that major differences occurred: On the one hand, authoritarian and violent models that propagated class struggle, racism, and social Darwinism pitching, on the other hand, against capitalist expansion, a new deal and the idea of the welfare state, structural exploitation through markets, and social engineering that maintained democratic and participatory discourses. This in turn allowed for the inclusion of women and social minorities into the mainstream of socio-economic development.

It is important to stress that both 20^th century solutions were State driven. It is the “strong State and big Government” that resolves anxiety and conflict weighing on the collective mind of societies.

Why people-centred digitalization?

If the Covid-19 pandemic is the defining moment of a new era of anxiety that will become the 2020s, then CSOs are facing a number of serious challenges: First and foremost, anxiety breeds the desire for a “strong State” which might be tempted to curtail the space for CSOs but not necessarily. Secondly, CSOs need to be aware that digitalization and globalization is not in all cases perceived positively by those marginalized groups they aim to serve. To the contrary, ICSOs may even be seen as part of the “integration camp”, i.e. experience problems of legitimacy, acceptance, and trust.

While it may be true that CSOs have subscribed to digital rights, ethical standards and alike, digitalization can’t be a purpose in itself but must take into account the real and perceived consequences it has on the people for which CSOs advocate, serve and seek to empower. Operationalizing a people-centred approach to digitalization and globalization is the only way to give credence to the universal principles driving the work of CSOs. They must address power imbalances in the digital space and try to create bargaining power. Advocacy that relies on the funds of the philanthropic power holders is unlikely to be successful. Hence, the digitalization efforts of CSOs should focus on advocating for, serving and empowering people. CSOs have an obligation to fight marginalization caused by digitalization. Digital tools have to serve the socio-economic inclusion and self-determination of otherwise disadvantaged and disenfranchised strata of the population. CSOs cannot accept a gig economy that is disempowering and a digital space where the individual is reduced to a digital consumer and/or worker rather than having the attributes of a cyber citizen.

Sectoral Issues: Covid-19 Response and Digital Health

The Covid-19 crisis is often cited as a water shed, showcasing the benefits and, thus, accelerating the digital transformation of our societies. That can only be true if CSOs succeed in operationalizing people-centred digitalization strategies.

Given the critical public health situation most countries are currently experiencing, it seems fitting to choose an aspect of digital health to explain what is meant in practical terms by people-centred digitalization. Well before the Covid-19 crisis, the promotion started of a “Consumer-centric Health Care System”: Rather than the inpatient, the outpatient setting will become the optimal medium of care. One’s home will become an important new location of care, and virtual care will broaden access to healthcare in rural areas, especially in emerging economies[8]. When the Covid-19 crisis hit the Italian town of Bergamo earlier this year, local doctors published an open letter stating:

“The example shows that leveraging innovation in digital health may lead to different outcomes:  The term consumer hints towards a concept that regards health care as a commodity, part of a value chain that delivers revenue while the open letter talks about patients and health workers. In the end terminology means little as long as it is understood that only digital health delivered in the framework of universal health care is empowering.« This disaster could be averted only by massive deployment of outreach services. Pandemic solutions are required for the entire population, not only for hospitals. Home care and mobile clinics avoid unnecessary movements and release pressure from hospitals … This approach would limit hospitalization to a focused target of disease severity, thereby decreasing contagion, protecting patients and health care workers, and minimizing consumption of protective equipment … This outbreak is more than an intensive care phenomenon, rather it is a public health and humanitarian crisis. It requires social scientists, epidemiologists, experts in logistics, psychologists, and social workers. We urgently need humanitarian agencies who recognize the importance of local engagement.[9]”

The example shows that leveraging innovation in digital health may lead to different outcomes:  The term consumer hints towards a concept that regards health care as a commodity, part of a value chain that delivers revenue while the open letter talks about patients and health workers. In the end terminology means little as long as it is understood that only digital health delivered in the framework of universal health care is empowering.

And what applies to digital health is equally valid for other sectors, such as eLearning, digital identity, the digital labour market, etc., where people-centred approaches aim to empower many rather than generating revenues for few.

[1] www.binghamsplace.com/uploads/4/8/0/5/4805013/globals_locals_mobals.pdf

[2] Mayer, Nonna, Allison Rovny, Jan Rovny and Nicolas Sauger. 2015. “Outsiderness, Social Class, and Votes in the 2014 European Elections.” Revue européenne des sciences sociales 1(53)

[3] www.ft.com/content/ba7b6762-1b9c-11e7-a266-12672483791a and www.mitbestimmung.de/html/a-blow-against-bogus-self-employment-12816.html

[4] Check for global principles for fair work in the platform economy  https://fair.work/?lang=en

[5] www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/25/covid-19-pandemic-shines-a-light-on-a-new-kind-of-class-divide-and-its-inequalities

[6] www.latribune.fr/economie/france/covid-19-le-confinement-met-en-lumiere-un-fosse-entre-cols-blancs-et-cols-bleus-843187.html

[7] www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/240420/johann-chapoutot-merkel-parle-des-adultes-macron-des-enfants

[8] http://reports.weforum.org/digital-transformation/building-the-healthcare-system-of-the-future/

[9] https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/CAT.20.0080

Karl Steinacker

Digital Advisor

International Civil Society Centre

Karl joined the Centre in June 2019 after a professional career in institutions of German technical co-operation and as humanitarian manager in the United Nations. He spent years in conflict zones, such as the Gaza Strip, the Great Lakes region in Central Africa, and in the Sahel. He led multi-sectoral teams on data management, refugee registration and biometrics. At the ICS Centre he will work pro bono on issues relating to artificial intelligence, digital transformation, identity and trust as well as their impact on civil society in general and ICSOs in particular. Karl, born in 1960 in Germany, is a graduate of the Political Science faculty of the Free University of Berlin and studied Public International Law at Cambridge University.

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. If you have a recommendation or a suggestion, let us know. Many thanks to our volunteer researcher Ineke Stemmet.

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: 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).

Policy: Civil society’s policies that respond to challenges posed by COVID-19.

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

    1. Staying up-to-Date

• 4 Non-Obvious Trends That Matter During This Pandemic (Singularity Hub)
  A non-obvious trend is a “unique curated observation of the accelerating present.” Four trends being amplified by the current situation are: (i) revivalism, (ii) human mode, (iii) instant knowledge and (iv) flux commerce.
• Civic Freedoms and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Snapshot of Restrictions and Attacks (CIVICUS)
  CIVICUS has documented several alarming civic space trends since the pandemic: (i) unjustified restrictions on access to information and censorship; (ii) detentions of activists for disseminating critical information; (iii) crackdowns on human rights defenders and media outlets, and (iv) violations of the right to privacy and overly broad emergency powers.
• COVID-19 has blown away the myth about ‘First’ and ‘Third’ world competence (The Conversation)
  One of the planet’s – and Africa’s – deepest prejudices is being demolished by the way countries handle COVID-19.
• COVID-19 strategies Africa can learn from (Institute of Security Studies)
  The United States’ failing coronavirus response experiment holds some important lessons for Africa.
• COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 26 May (World Economic Forum)
  This daily round-up brings you a selection of the latest news updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, as well as tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected. Today’s top stories: WHO warns of second COVID-19 peak; trial of hydroxychloroquine suspended; rights group warns of impact on children; and how to stay safe while flying.
• Gender Data Series: Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls (Devex/Facebook)
  Devex and Facebook have launched this series of 10 practical virtual events to create a better understanding of the gender-related issues highlighted by the current pandemic and to share important lessons learned about how data can help inform better responses to the current crisis.
• Grassroots innovation and the COVID crisis (Podcast) (Nesta)
  In this fortnightly podcast series, Nesta will explore how organisations it supports are working tirelessly to shape their communities for the better in response to the pandemic and what it might mean for their cause in a post-COVID world.
• In Senegal, a new COVID-19 test will cost just $1 and take 10 minutes for results (Fast Company)
  A coronavirus test in the U.S. can cost hundreds of dollars and take hours, or even days, to process in a lab. But a new test that will be produced in Senegal will cost around $1—and one version of the test gives results in only 10 minutes.
• New media voices are telling Kenya’s COVID-19 stories – from the ground up (The Conversation)
  In Kenya, the entry of journalistic “strangers” is increasing the possibility of hearing a greater range of candid, critical, citizen-centric stories. These can either be provocative or unsettling in their violation of standard journalistic ethics and norms. But they speak to the disruptions in journalism thriving in the digital space and are likely to last well beyond COVID-19.
• The Economic Impact of COVID-19 around the World: Remittances, Updated Growth and Poverty Projections, and the Reintroduction of Barter in Fiji (Center for Global Development)
  Here is a roundup of the most recent analysis from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, divided into sections: growth and income analysis, sector and sub-population analysis, economic policy responses, and commentary.
• Three ways human rights groups can create hope during COVID-19: An OGR Guide on Hope-Based Communications (Open Global Rights)
  Here are three simple steps human rights groups can use to tell their own story in their response to the pandemic, and to any populist attempts to take advantage of it: (i) talk about community, not crisis, (ii) focus on collective action and (iii) start telling a confident story of tomorrow, today.
• What African Nations Are Teaching the West About Fighting the Coronavirus (Tne New Yorker)
  African governments, unlike their Western counterparts, aren’t relying on common sense. Judging from the numbers, and interpreting them with the scientific information that’s understood so far, Africa has made the better bet.

    2. Strategic

Biodiversity and Climate Change

• Coronavirus Crisis: Exploring the Human Impact on Nature (Chatham House)
  This interview explores the ways in which human activity has changed nature, which increases the risk for a global pandemic as it increases the likelihood of pathogens transmitting from humans to animals and ways in which economies can become more sustainable after the crisis.
• Migration is a safety net during climate change disasters (Institute for Security Studies)
  With climate threats high across Africa, COVID-19 restrictions may prevent people from moving as a survival strategy.
• Migration is a safety net during climate change disasters (Institute for Security Studies)
  Movement is a critical resilience strategy for communities affected by climate change. Climate threats are currently high across much of Africa, with floods, droughts and the biggest locust outbreak in generations. Increased restrictions on movement due to COVID-19 may intensify the effects and put people at even more risk.
• The COVID-19 pandemic is not a break for nature – let’s make sure there is one after the crisis (World Economic Forum)
  This article argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has negative environmental consequences, especially in rural areas, and suggests ways in which these could be mitigated during and after the crisis.

Cities and Urbanisation

• Building Better Cities After COVID-19 (Podcast) (Exponential View)
  How do we build better cities after the coronavirus crisis? The World Bank’s Sameh Wahba joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how the World Bank partners with technologists to help cities on the frontline of the pandemic, and how the dynamism of urban density can be harnessed to build the livable and inclusive cities of the future.
• Coronavirus will reshape our cities – we just don’t know how yet (The Guardian)
  The development of cities has been by affected by the disease for centuries, so what legacy will COVID-19 leave on urban life?

Civic Space and Human Rights

• Coronavirus response in West Africa and the Sahel: Human rights must not be forgotten (The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes)
  This article analyses the positive response of West African countries, countries in the Sahel, and the global community to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes responsible multilateralism and prioritising inclusion and equality.
• Fit for the future: Can we emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis? (Alliance Magazine)
  Civil society was not ready for COVID-19. Benjamin Bellegy (WINGS), Chris Worman (TechSoup) and Lysa John (CIVICUS) discuss the investments needed in civil society and its philanthropic and technical infrastructure, and the actions we must take to emerge wiser and stronger from the current crisis and to be prepared for crises to come.

Conflict and Humanitarian

• How the coronavirus increases terrorism threats in the developing world (The Conversation)
  As the disease wreaks its havoc in areas poorly equipped to handle its spread, terrorism likely will increase there as well. Recent research identifies a potential link between the pandemic and an uptick in violence, as food insecurity makes citizens angry at their governments.

Data and Digital

• Call by global leaders: work together now to stop cyberattacks on the healthcare sector (Humanitarian Law & Policy)
  This article calls on governments to take a stand against cyber attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities during the pandemic, as this has become an increasing risk to the safety of healthcare staff and patients.
• Cybercrime and COVID-19: A concern for financial stability during the pandemic (The South African Institute of International Affairs)
  Cybercrime has long posed a significant risk for financial stability in African countries given limited capacity and attention to managing cyber risk. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic exacerbates existing challenges.
• The great unwinding: Charting post-COVID futures for the internet (Nesta)
  This piece explores competing forces and the different futures for the Internet they might lead us to: will we see the incumbent tech giants use COVID-19 to further solidify their power or are we entering a period of more government control? Could the push for further centralisation be counterbalanced by an emergence of more bottom-up, grassroots redistribution efforts?

Futures

• Healthcare will never be the same: 8 experts on the future of medicine around the globe (Fast Company)
  The leaders of the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Doctors Without Borders, and more tell us how healthcare is being transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Out of the Belly of Hell: COVID-19 and the humanisation of globalisation (openDemocracy)
  Anthony Barnett’s lengthy essay argues that the pandemic has swallowed neoliberal globalisation. The long-term effect of the 1968 uprising has created “humanisation” which creates the opportunity to become globalisation’s defining influence.
  
• The case for degrowth in a time of pandemic (The Ecologist)
  We need to build systems capable of scaling back production in ways that do not cause loss of livelihood or life to be more resilient to crises.
• The Pandemic’s Geopolitical Aftershocks Are Coming (The Atlantic)
  Western capitals aren’t just worried about the risk of a resurgence in coronavirus cases. Beyond the epidemiological challenges lies a slowly amassing threat that is not pathological in nature, but economic, political, and military. This is the geopolitical second wave, and its power is already starting to concern Western leaders.
• What are the weak signals of Covid-driven transformation, and will we hear them? (From Poverty to Power)
  The Covid pandemic is bound to be a game-changing critical juncture for some issues in some places – maybe in all places, who knows. But what kind of transformations and how soon will we know?

Gender Equality

• Global Health Security and Pandemics: COVID-19 and Gender Inequality (video) (Mile End Institute)
  In this video, Professor Sophie Harman explores the gendered nature of pandemics and the extent to which the coronavirus crisis impacts on women in terms of health, but also in terms of personal and economic security.

Governance

• Governing Africa during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic (Webinar) (Institute for Security Studies)
  How will COVID-19 compound Africa’s governance challenges, and is the continent prepared? This seminar discusses current governance realities on the continent, lessons for African governments and what to expect post-COVID-19.

Multilateralism and international cooperation

• African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) Report comment: towards a new post-COVID-19 world order? (Institute for Security Studies)
  International relations experts agree the pandemic will be a major catalyst for new dynamics in the international system. The resulting shifts have the potential to redefine inter-state relations and global governance in ways that require Africa and the global South, in general, to reposition themselves. We are likely to see increased competition between the US and China, rising nationalism and weak global leadership.

Narratives

• Where is the power in the pandemic? (podcast)  (Oxfam)
  This introductory episode of the Power in the Pandemic podcast explores power structures, decolonisation, social movements and narratives.
  

Pandemic Specific Consequences and Responses (economic, health & social impacts)

• A novel idea: integrating urban and rural safety nets in Africa during the pandemic (The Conversation)
  Many African governments lack the financial and administrative capacity to launch new large-scale formal safety net programs. But they may still be able to run smaller programs which help people safely migrate back to more food-secure rural areas, simultaneously reducing the risk of transmission.
• Coronavirus weekly: where next for globalisation after the crisis? (The Conversation)
  COVID-19 is the starting point for a reconfiguration of the global system. Academics in The Conversation’s network analyse the impact of the pandemic on globalisation.
• Migrant Remittances Will Plummet. Here Is What That Means for Global Development (Center for Global Development)
  A new wave of this global crisis will hit developing countries later this year. Not through the virus itself, not through economic shutdowns inside those countries, but through slashing the money that international migrants send home: workers’ remittances.
• The African Continental Free Trade Area and measures to facilitate trade could significantly mitigate COVID-19’s economic impact in Africa (Brookings Institution)
  This article explores the effects that COVID-19 will have on African economies and how these can be mitigated by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement if it is implemented as soon as possible.
• Time for a rights-based global economic stimulus to tackle COVID-19 (Open Global Rights)
  During this pandemic, economic rescue packages—nationally and globally—must protect the socio-economic rights of those most at risk.

Populism and Authoritarianism

• Culling the Herd: A Modest Proposal (London Review of Books)
  A provocative commentary by Eli Zaretsky stating that the poor masses were wilfully deprived of health care in the same way it was made to believe that it had no right entitled to jobs, housing and good schools.
  

    3. Policy

• In a pandemic, be a positive disruptor and not an ambulance chaser (Open Global Rights)
  In moments of crisis, it is critical that social justice advocates remain focused on ethical and transformative advocacy, not reactive short-term change.

   4. Operational

• Can we understand COVID-19 fast enough – and well enough – to make a difference? (From Poverty to Power)
  For a relatively short period, with COVID-19, there is scope for aid actors to work collectively to embed more locally-led, politically-informed and adaptive types of monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) in aid and development practice.
• COVID-19 Rapid Gender Analysis (Multiple countries) (CARE)
  Rapid gender analyses (RGA) seeking to explore the implications of COVID-19 in Uganda, Malawi, West Africa and Asia-Pacific to inform current CARE programming in these regions, and serve as reference to any other stakeholders working in these areas with similar target groups.
• COVID-19: How leaders can create a new and better normal (World Economic Forum)
  The ability to embed rapid and nimble decision-making into company cultures will be equally important through crisis recovery and into the next normal. But managing in this new and unfamiliar environment demands more from leaders.
• Leading a Global Team Through Crisis Means Focusing on Local Details (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
  Three steps every global organization should take to care for staff, and build resilience during COVID-19 and beyond: Step 1: Gather Accurate Local Pictures of the Crisis, Step 2: Focus on Team Members’ Mental Health and Well-Being, Step 3: Heed Local Constraints and Priorities.
• To face COVID-19, the human rights community must first protect its own workers (Open Global Rights/CIVICUS)
  The COVID-19 crisis should be a wake-up call to civil society to strengthen the social protection measures in our own industry.
• Why Informal Social Protection could be the missing piece in the COVID Response (From Poverty to Power)
  Informal social protection practices are deeply embedded within communities and humanitarian actors should consider how these existing support mechanisms that are based on social connectedness and trust could be harnessed in humanitarian aid.

Thomas Howie

Communications Coordinator

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.