The novel coronavirus pandemic has transformed relations and interactions within communities and between citizens and institutions. As a result, certain aspects of civil society have been put in the spotlight, such as the degree to which it is able to adapt operational activities in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as its effectiveness in engaging at the community level. The key questions are: to what extent is civil society representative, responsive, collaborative, resilient and influential? And how do these elements relate to the sector’s effectiveness?

Charles Kojo Vandyck ponders these questions, analyzing the current situation and concluding that the challenging times also present an opportunity for civil society to harness its years of experience of organizing, enabling community engagement, and holding government and stakeholders accountable to step up to the current challenges.

See full article on Disrupt & Innovate blog series of International Civil Society Centre.

Photo by Mike Erskine on Unsplash