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

• A billion people live in the slums of the world’s megacities—and they’re being missed by coronavirus plans (Fast Company)
  Sprawling urban areas in Brazil, Nigeria and Bangladesh are all seeing COVID-19 infections rise rapidly.
• Africa facing a quarter of a billion coronavirus cases, WHO predicts (The Guardian)
  Africa will have fewer deaths than Europe and US because of its younger population and other lifestyle factors
• Coronavirus in Africa: Contained or unrecorded? (BBC)
  Africa has had less than 100,000 cases so far, but WHO experts believe the continent will have a prolonged outbreak over a few years – and, aid workers say, the huge focus on containing the virus has led to other health issues being neglected. Here, five BBC reporters give a snapshot of what is happening in their countries.
• Coronavirus: World Bank warns 60m at risk of ‘extreme poverty’ (BBC)
  Up to 60m people will be pushed into “extreme poverty” by the coronavirus warns the president of the World Bank.
  
• COVID-19 pandemic has derailed progress on sustainable development goals, says WHO (The BMJ)
  The rate of progress towards the United Nations’ sustainable development goals is too slow and is being further “thrown off track” by the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization says.
• COVID-19 to slash global economic output by $8.5 trillion over the next two years (United Nations)
  A forecast by the UN Statistical Division estimates that the COVID-19 pandemic will likely cause 34.3 million people to fall below the extreme poverty line in 2020, with 56% of this occurring in Africa. An additional 130 million people may join the ranks of people living in extreme poverty by 2030. The pandemic is disproportionately hurting low-skilled, low-wage jobs and further widen inequality within and between countries.
  
• DRC has seen epidemics before, but COVID-19’s toll on older people leaves me sleepless (The Guardian)
  Anatole Bandu, country representative for HelpAge in DR Congo, gives a testimony on the deadly impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the elder population in Kinshasa.
  
• How data can mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls (webinar) (Devex)
  Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have been more willing to share their data. This development is timely, given that the need for data-driven approaches — allowing greater impact and agility — is more critical than ever, particularly for women and girls.
• Power in the Pandemic (Podcast) (Oxfam)
  This new podcast captures voice from across the world about their experiences of the coronavirus. This first episode considers how COVID-19 has made us rethink power structures, with David Mwambari on a Post-Corona, Pan-African vision and why now is the time to decolonise, and the effects of the virus on social movements and narratives.
• Social distancing: When extreme weather and coronavirus collide (BBC)
  People being displaced by extreme weather events around the world are being forced to break COVID-19 social distancing safety guidelines, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies.
• The problem with predicting coronavirus apocalypse in Africa (Al Jazeera)
  Claims that Africa will be hit the worst by the pandemic ignore African epidemiological know-how and action.
• The World Food Program’s Coronavirus Fight—and How You Can Help (Singularity Hub)
  To make sure WFP’s programmes are disrupted as little as possible, it is looking to implement creative, tech-driven solutions to food supply chain, production, and delivery systems—and innovative startups and individuals can help.

    2. Strategic

Biodiversity and Climate Change

• The hidden toll of lockdown on rainforests (BBC Future)
  With fewer planes in the sky and cars on the road, the lockdown has brought many benefits to the environment. So why is it harming tropical rainforests?

Civic Space and Human Rights

• How Africa can reduce COVID-19’s impact on displaced persons (Institute for Security Studies)
  Africa’s 25.2 million refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons are some of the most vulnerable groups to COVID-19. This article explores the ways in which African states can protect these vulnerable groups.
• Imagining our Post-Pandemic Futures (Open Global Rights)
  COVID-19 is challenging the human rights movement to adapt, transform, and look ahead—so as to meet urgent demands now while laying the groundwork for a better future. This Up Close series explores the glimpses this pandemic has provided of what a better future could look like and asks just what kind of human rights practice is needed now to get us there.

Data and Digital

• Coronavirus contact-tracing apps: can they slow the spread of COVID-19? (Nature)
  While the global tech companies Google and Apple are changing the operating systems of their smartphones, consortia in different countries are developing so-called COVID-19 tracing applications. The article describes the different approaches, in particular to privacy, and expresses concern that poor adoption could blunt the efficacy.
• COVID-19 has blown apart the myth of Silicon Valley innovation (MIT Technolgy Review)
  The most important failures revealed by Covid-19 is our diminished ability to innovate in areas that truly count, like health care and climate change.
• Responding to crisis with digital payments for social protection: Short-term measures with long-term benefits (The World Bank)
  In many developing countries, the scale of emergency payments to millions of people via GSM phones is unprecedented. The crisis shows the importance of what might be called universal basic infrastructure. Not just visible things, like labs, ventilators, and apps. But also inclusive digital ID and government-to-person payment systems
• Why coronavirus will accelerate the fourth Industrial Revolution (The Economist)
  The pandemic’s silver lining is the chance to experiment with technologies and co-operative approaches across borders that could lead to safer, more sustainable and more inclusive global futures.

Food security

• COVID-19 is disrupting a food industry already thrown into turmoil by climate change (UN Environment Program)
  The COVID-19 pandemic together with droughts experienced in South East Asia is disrupting the food industry and rice production in particular, placing over half of the global rice production at risk.

Futures

• Four Pathways to Better Decisions (Global Dashboard)
  How do you make good decisions when you’re playing (COVID-19) whack-a-mole? Here are four recommendations to improve decision-making: (i) form an independent red-team, (ii) empower a ‘mole-spotting’ unit, (iii) embrace foresight to manage risks and (iv) build in real feedback loops. This is how experimentation feeds learning and defers to frontline expertise.
• Why coronavirus may make the world more accessible (BBC Future)
  For many people with disabilities, options like remote working have been needed for years. Workplaces around the world have now made this shift. Are there other ways the world could become more accessible, too?

Gender Equality

• 5 actions to help bring the most marginalized girls back to school after COVID-19 (Brookings Institution)
  This article argues for radical inclusion in education systems across the world after the COVID-19 pandemic. It suggests five ways of doing this effectively.
• COVID-19 Discussion Paper #1: Gender & the COVID-19 Crisis in Conflict-Affected Contexts (Search for Common Ground)
  This discussion paper provides a snapshot of the gendered impact of the current pandemic in fragile contexts. It identifies key risks for women and girls and provides recommendations for policymakers within donor agencies formulating their response to COVID-19.
• COVID-19: Women’s Leadership Sets the Example (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom)
  This article explores how the approaches by women leaders to COVID-19 has been different than those of male leaders. It argues that women leaders show solidarity with their people, an approach that should be taken by all leaders.
• Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and COVID-19: The Complexities of Responding to “The Shadow Pandemic” (CARE)
  COVID-19 creates a perfect storm of complications, whereby cases of GBV are likely to rise significantly, while at the same time the ability of survivors to seek help, or the capacity of providers to respond effectively, is more limited than ever. This Policy Brief explores what can be done to mitigate these effects.
• How “de-biasing” humanitarian organizations could lead to more gender-equitable programming during COVID-19 and beyond (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative)
  This article argues that addressing gender biases in humanitarian organizations now could improve COVID-19 response efforts as well as other emergency response programming in the future.

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

• Conflict & Resilience Monitor (The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes)
  This weeks’ ACCORD COVID-19 Conflict Monitor identifies twelve African countries that may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19 related social unrest, and in some cases, a violent conflict.
  
• COVID-19 in South Asia: India and Pakistan’s regional responses and China’s regional ambitions (podcast) (International Institute for Strategic Studies )
  This podcast explores India’s and Pakistan’s responses to COVID-19 and how this may affect their relationship with China and the broader region of South Asia.
  
• How Covid-19 restrictions and the economic consequences are likely to impact migrant smuggling and cross-border trafficking in persons to Europe and North America (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
  COVID-19 travel and movement restrictions are not stopping the movement of people fleeing conflict, human rights abuses, violence and dangerous living conditions, while the economic consequences of the pandemic are likely to lead to an increase in smuggling of migrants and trafficking in person flows from the most affected countries to more affluent destinations.
• The Pandemic Exposes Dangers of the Informal Economy (Foreign Affairs)
  The pandemic has deepened the precariousness of informal work in the US and OECD countries, just as it has in India and other developing countries. The informal sector, incl. gig work, arose out of decisions to dismantle welfare programmes, labour protection, reject or weaken universal health care.
• With the global focus on COVID-19 pandemic, measles remains a silent killer in parts of Africa (Doctors without Borders)
  This article describes the devastating impact of measles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Chad. It argues that with international attention focused on COVID-19, the neglect of other illnesses could create another health crisis in these areas.

    3. Policy

• A Call to Action on Open Budgets during the COVID-19 Response (From Poverty to Power)
  Countries now have a choice about where their response to this crisis will lead — either to less transparency and trust or to more openness and accountability. More than 100 organisations have signed the Call to Action urging governments to choose the more open path.
• A Perfect Storm: Domestic violence, economic hardship and COVID-19 in Latin America (Care International)
  We are faced with a historic responsibility to help shape whether COVID-19 is remembered as a moment in which global solidarity is forged and political will is mobilised in support of a more equal, inclusive, sustainable and just world order where women and girls are central to the response – or whether gender equality (in Latin America) is set back by decades.
• Corruption risks in Southern Africa’s response to the coronavirus (Transparency International)
  Six Southern African chapters from Transparency International and the Botswana Center for Public Integrity are urging the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to accelerate governments’ response to the global pandemic and ensure that additional lives are not lost to corruption.
• COVID-19 and mixed population movements: emerging dynamics, risks and opportunities (UNHCR / IOM)
  In this discussion paper, the UN agencies UNHCR (refugees) and IOM (migrants) take stock of what they are already observing and anticipate developing as the COVID-19 crisis evolves in countries of origin, countries hosting large refugee and migrant populations, countries of transit as well as countries of destination.
• Rethinking anti-corruption for COVID-19 (From Poverty to Power)
  In many countries, corruption and governance constraints will limit the rapid scaling up of responses to COVID-19. This will not only undermine treatment responses but result in cycles of unsustainable lockdowns and massive economic deprivation.
• The COVID Crisis Is Reinforcing the Hunger Industrial Complex (MIT Press Reader)
  In the United States, miles-long lines of motorists waiting for a few sacks of groceries have become seared into the public imagination demonstrating that charity has become the governing metaphor of the pandemic response, replacing justice, which itself has been placed on a ventilator.
• World leaders unite in call for a people’s vaccine against COVID-19 (Oxfam)
  More than 140 world leaders and experts have signed an open letter calling on all governments to unite behind a people’s vaccine against COVID-19. The letter, which marks the most ambitious position yet set out by world leaders on a COVID-19 vaccine, demands that all vaccines, treatments and tests be patent-free, mass-produced, distributed fairly and made available to all people, in all countries, free of charge.

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.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the world has witnessed a tumultuous couple of months. This pandemic has changed in diverse ways relations and interactions among community citizens and between citizens and institutions. Most countries have been at the mercy of this rampaging pandemic, and a key sector that has been put in the spotlight is civil society. 

It is important to state that the intrinsic value of civil society is attributed to its mission and power to mobilise citizens and communities to support social causes. COVID-19 has presented an existential threat to civil society’s relevance and legitimacy. These are vital principles that enable the sector to find expression, meaning and impact. 

There have been several discussions and conversations on various virtual platforms about the response of civil society to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of adaptation of operations but also how effectively the sector is engaging with communities. The question that needs to be interrogated is, to what extent is civil society representative, responsive, collaborative, resilient and influential? And how do these elements relate to the sector’s effectiveness?

Representation

There are a serious of questions that need reflection and consideration as civil society seeks to ensure that representation brings tangible benefits to communities in these difficult times. They include, but are not limited to:

• Has civil society responded to the crisis in a way that shows that it is representing the interest of communities? 
• To what extent has civil society been able to “listen” to communities that it represents and integrate these engagements and ensure they are reflected in initiatives, programmes, and projects to respond to the needs of these communities? 
• What does representation mean in a pandemic situation? 
• Is representation only about numbers and metrics? Does it go beyond the notion that civil society gives voice? 
• And what does it mean to give voice to marginalised groups within a pandemic scenario? 
• Can we continue to do business as usual advocacy, or we need to think like “there is no box” and create new engagement tactics to navigate this uncertain future?
• What are the new forms and strategies for building solidarity that we need to employ? 

While reflecting on these questions, it will be pertinent to recognise that civil society as a sector encompasses a wide range of actors. 

Whereas, diversity should have been synonymous with strong representation power, the lack of clear and consensual standards and mechanisms by which citizens can authorise representation and ensure accountability and responsiveness constitutes a significant impediment to the sector’s representativeness.

Responsiveness

Several actors have argued that in the first two months when the pandemic garnered global attention, civil society was in a “coma” like state. The sector was clearly at a loss as to how to react, help and engage with its various partners and communities. Even though projects implemented by civil society usually have a component of risk management, the ongoing pandemic can be described as a black swan, a metaphor that often describes an event that comes as a surprise has a significant effect.

Admittedly, some projects may have included in their risk assessment the possibility of a local epidemic outbreak as a major risk that could affect project outcomes. However, it would be highly unlikely that project designs considered the possibility of a global pandemic and mitigation strategies to respond to it. 

Therefore, it has become apparent that civil society must develop a collaborative to conduct scenario analysis and emergency response planning quickly. It also appears that civil society as a sector has a lot to learn. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that there are comprehensive learnings and documentation of the current COVID-19 responses to guide more effective and responsive future interventions in crises. 

Collaboration

COVID-19 has demonstrated that pockets of excellence and passionate individual efforts are welcome but are not enough. The pandemic has shown that the greatest possibility for change will be civil society’s collective efforts. Civil society is being challenged to elevate its ways of working and operational strategies. Civil society must deepen its partnerships and work more intimately beyond thematic and cluster interests.

The challenge is for social justice, humanitarian, and environmental groups to work together in a seamless and coordinated way to leave no one behind. Indeed, this is a time for a cohesive and coordinated response to the issues that affect humanity. Civil society should not approach issues in an insular manner, but work collectively using individual strengths, with mutual respect and most importantly bringing communities along, ensuring they are at the forefront of the changes that need to happen. This is the season to develop cross-sector innovative partnerships with government and the private sector that stretch beyond civil society’s inner circles. 

Resilience

Civil society can achieve the above milestones if the sector itself is resilient. To do so, means groupings in both organic and organised forms are strong and robust. This includes having the capability to adapt quickly to emergencies, sustain their causes and more pertinently the “engine” for achieving these social outcomes. Therefore, the issue of financial and non-financial resources becomes critical. The challenge is for civil society especially in the global south to explore different avenues for mobilising funding and expertise, reducing the dependence on external aid but looking internally, building capacities to access financing from domestic communities. This would help to build sustained resilience, not resilience to implement projects but resilience to sustain social change. 

Influence

Positively, civil society continues to influence major social and policy changes in communities around the world. However, COVID-19, and the impacts arising from the virus, challenge civil society to scale up its influence and ability to make a significant dent on reducing poverty and inequality in communities. It has become crystal clear that as a sector, civil society cannot achieve major transformations working alone. 

For civil society to contribute significantly to the achievement of the sustainable development goals and to ensure that no one is left behind, the sector must engage in a robust, respectful and collaborative manner with governments, the private sector, traditional communities, religious bodies and family associations. 

Civil society’s ability to act as a catalyst and as a platform for citizens to share their views is vital. The sector must ensure that its influence shapes the culture of governance, democratisation, and the promotion of basic freedoms. Civil society’s influence must extend beyond policy prescriptions, open letters, advocacy campaigns and reports to real, relevant, and tangible progress, especially of marginalised communities. 

Opportunity in Uncertainty

History has shown us that within times of uncertainty; there is always opportunity. These are challenging times, but it also presents an opportunity for civil society to harness its years of experience of organising, enabling community engagement, holding government and stakeholders accountable to step up to the current challenges. Civil society must respond to this “new normal” to ensure that beyond rhetoric, it leverages its assets, including its representative and responsiveness nature, collaborative potential, resilience, and influence. This is the time for civil society to cement its position as an indispensable catalyst for sustained social change and community-led action. 

Charles Kojo Vandyck

Head, Capacity Development Unit

West Africa Civil Society Institute

The Author, Charles Kojo Vandyck is West Africa Civil Society Institute’s Head, Capacity Development Unit

Ahead of an upcoming update to our 2019 report on ‘Civil Society Innovation and Populism in a Digital Era’, the Centre has invited guest blogs from new contributors we have heard from about their interesting initiatives to respond to the challenges posed by populism. Since last year, The Democratic Society has been involved in the ‘Populism and Civic Engagement (PaCE)’ project running citizen ‘democracy labs’ across Europe. We asked Bernardo Jurema, Research & Project Officer, to tell us more about this experience so far.

A project to understand populist movements across Europe

The ‘Populism and Civic Engagement (PaCE)’ project, a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission, involves us at the Democratic Society and eight other partners across Europe. We are aiming to understand different aspects of populist movements, identify and build upon lessons from positive examples of connecting with citizens, and through this play a part in constructing a firmer democratic and institutional foundation for Europe.

Over the last decade in Europe, particularly after the 2008 financial crisis, there has been a rise of political forces loosely labeled as “populist,” that question the prevailing liberal order of the last 40 years. PaCE intends to respond to the illiberal and un- or anti-democratic tendencies of these populist movements.

By involving people’s voices throughout the project, especially those of minorities and under-represented groups, in a transparent, open and welcoming way, PaCE aims to strengthen our research process and legitimise our results.

Putting dialogue and ‘democracy labs’ at the centre

The polarisation of societies across Europe at the root of populism — particularly between perceived “elites” and an imagined “ordinary people” – makes the need for a structured process for dialogue between decision-makers, researchers and the public especially necessary. PaCE has therefore put dialogue at the centre of our actions, recognising the general public and civil society actors as key interlocutors with legitimate views, concerns and claims that will benefit our research.

These dialogue forums, our ‘democracy labs’, seek to overcome the distance, whether actual or imagined, between the general public and the economic, political and intellectual elites that fuel populist movements. Through them, we aim to better understand how citizens’ attitudes towards democracy are shaped, how they access and evaluate which information they can trust, and how this process influences their voting decisions.

Local civil society organisations (CSOs) are key partners for our labs because of the role they play within local communities. As multipliers, they reach specific target audiences, and can also incorporate the research findings into their own work aiming at strengthening democracy across Europe.

The labs will take place in several European countries to both complement and disseminate our research findings. We have held two so far: one with under-represented members of the public in Messina, Italy, and one in Brussels, Belgium, with stakeholders from EU institutions.

Our first democracy lab with members of the public in Messina, Sicily, Italy

The last few decades in Italy has seen a decline in party-based representation, a rise in populist protest movements, and new media dynamics leading to personalisation and anti-intellectualism. Former Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni has explained that the traditional political parties have failed to address citizens’ concerns whilst populist parties are seen as posing the “right questions”.

Since 2017, the island of Sicily has been governed by the Diventerà Bellissima party, a regional affiliate of the Brothers of Italy (FdI), the national party seen as the main heir to the Italian neo-fascist conservative movement. Messina, the third largest city on Sicily, was therefore a particularly interesting location for our first citizen democracy lab.

Our lab took place in the city’s public library, a neutral meeting space for participants of all backgrounds and affiliations, in September 2019. Our two local civil society partners – Associazione Ionio Messina and Startup Messina – brought in their language skills and local expertise to help ensure representative participation, reduce the barriers to civic engagement and take ownership of the process beyond the lab itself.

Local participants were of different age groups and social backgrounds. One woman found the  experience ‘very significant and motivating’: “ …I got the chance to talk with people I didn’t know before, of which I have absolutely no idea about their political opinions. With them, I have argued about relevant topics, such as conscious approach to voting….These meetings should be planned more often, involving more people…it would be nice to be able to discuss our ideas with many others”.

Our second lab with EU policymakers in Brussels, Belgium

In contrast to Messina, our Brussels lab was attended by professionals already working on democracy issues, and included policymakers and EU staff, as part of the 2019 European Public Communication Conference (EuroPCOM). The session was a real-time simulation of citizen participation around the question of how we can make our democracy stronger, with our specific focus on: ‘what needs to be done to ensure informed voting?’

The discussion revolved around innovative new forms of citizen engagement to address populism in the EU, the need to include emotions and values in our communication, and the responsibilities inherent to citizenship.

The main takeaways that emerged from this lab were the importance of:

• access to neutral, objective, non-partisan information,
• tackling disinformation and prioritising transparency,
• fostering better relations between citizens and politicians, and
• focusing on broader education that includes critical thinking and media literacy.

Join our upcoming labs!

With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we have moved the next upcoming democracy labs across Europe online. This gives us the opportunity to bring stakeholders from different countries together to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak based on the varied governmental response measures and strategies experienced across the continent.

With these upcoming labs, we will continue to engage with local CSOs to learn and put into practice innovative ways to engage with citizens. The report of each event will be shared publicly, and we also plan to present our broader findings at events and conferences to inform wider research efforts.

Local CSOs from across Europe interested in taking part or hosting one of our online labs can contact me at: bju10@demsoc.org.

Find out more about the project on Twitter and Facebook @popandce, or visit www.popandce.eu to sign up for our newsletter and stay updated on research developments.

Bernardo Jurema

Research & Project Officer - Populism and Civic Engagement (PaCE)

The Democratic Society

Bernardo Jurema is the Research & Project Officer (PaCE) at The Democratic Society. Previously, he worked at the International Crisis Group in Guatemala and Brussels, and with other non-governmental organisations in Brazil.