Across the world, the effectiveness of state responses to the pandemic has varied significantly. In terms of both addressing the pandemic itself and managing its welfare consequences, state responses have ranged from being highly proactive and effective, to proactive and less effective, to largely reactive and much less effective. Much of the academic literature on responses to COVID has focused on key determinants of state action. But what is missing in this frame of analysis is any understanding of the role of civil society, a role that in the pandemic has largely been organized around questions of human and social rights. This timely research symposium will present the results from a multi-country qualitative study (Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Kenya, India, Philippines) which aims to evaluate and explain the role that civil society has played in the response to the pandemic. Join Patrick Heller, Adam Levine, Anindita Adhikari and Ieva Zumbyte as they discuss the findings from this research study.
Sponsored by the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies