COVID-19 is making civil society more important than ever, but also more fragile.

Image: @katyukawa

Scott L. Greer, Sarah Rozenblum and Holly Jarman

Civil society is everywhere in health and is everywhere in COVID19 response. Defining civil society is hard, as we learned when we had to do it for this European Observatory book, but finding its crucial role is easy. In COVID19, that role stretches from direct assistance (e.g. food banks) to policy advice to adapting professional regulation. 

Our new COVID-19 Health Systems Response Monitor analysis looks at what civil society is doing, giving examples from across Europe of the different roles civil society organizations have created for themselves and the ways they are responding. We weren't surprised to find that civil society organizations are everywhere- diverse, ubiquitous, and helpful. It's pretty obvious that things would be far worse without civil society organizations' ability to represent diverse voices, deliver services quickly and adaptively, and improve governance.

What also stands out is just how fragile civil society can be. Civil society organizations often depend on volunteer labor, donations, and small public sector grants, and are being buffeted by the big forces that are affecting them. They need support. This is especially the case for their contribution to public policy debates. Big decisions are being made quickly, and policymakers need to remember to consult with civil society organizations. Policymakers also need to include support for the organizations themselves if they want them to survive and do their valuable work.