The novel coronavirus pandemic has caused unprecedented uncertainties around the world. To arrest the spread of the virus many national governments have imposed lockdown with various degrees of restrictions. In some countries like in India lockdown was enforced for a prolonged period. The governments in certain countries like in South Korea, have been proactive almost immediately after the Wuhan outbreak, other countries chose to wait and see while still others opt to ignore the gravity. As the spread of infections became inevitable, these governments realised that a total lockdown is the only way to avoid community transmission. The unplanned and abrupt imposition of lockdown caused havoc to the economy, particularly in societies with large informal economies. As all the economic activities came to standstill, the informal migrant workers found themselves without any support. In India, millions of migrant workers left the cities to go back to their native villages. In the absence of any public transport system, many walked hundreds of miles often without food, water and adequate health and hygiene protection. In other countries even if the situation of informal migrant workers was not as grave, but their vulnerabilities and uncertainties around employment and access to health care cannot be overstated.
The pandemic has exposed systemic flaws and drastic inequality in all our societies. The civil society, while responding to the immediate humanitarian crises has provided valuable relief support, it has a critical role in building community resilience and economic recovery. As the relief and recovery support from the governments proved to be grossly inadequate to the magnitude of crises, civil society can serve as an advocate, a watchdog and a trusted agency particularly for the vulnerable population including women, children, elderly, and persons with disability.
The pandemic occurred at a time when many societies around the world have been experiencing the rise of authoritarian tendencies among governments. The increasing polarisation of societies along the lines of religion and ethnicity, rising majoritarian populism, spread of hatred, systematic disinformation and fake news and widespread disrespect for human rights are exacerbating the life and dignity of a large minority citizens. In recent years, many governments have taken drastic measures to control and suppress civil society voices causing severe shrinking of civic spaces. The freedoms of association, expression, and assembly have been severely restricted by introducing new laws. It is heart-breaking that when the poorer societies need civil society’s expertise and role to facilitate access to rights and entitlements, promote transparency to check corruptions, hold government institutions accountable, and share crucial knowledge and information from the ground to governance institutions for better policy making, civil society’s autonomy and space have been systematically curtailed by the state authorities.
In this background the Nonprofit Policy Forum has undertaken a global research to explore the emerging relations between civil society and state during Covid 19 pandemic. The study has been undertaken in a number of countries. These country studies will be published in a special issue of Nonprofit Policy Forum Journal.
Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) in association with the Nonprofit Policy Forum is organising a webinar on “Dynamics of State-Civil Society Relations During Covid-19: Lessons from India, Israel, Hungary and South Korea” on 28 October 2020, from 6.30 pm to 8.15 pm Indian Time/ 9.00 am to 10.45 am Eastern Standard Time, USA.
The webinar will explore the following questions:
- What role civil society has been playing during the Covid 19 pandemic?
- What opportunities and challenges civil society experienced to play these roles?
- How has the state enabled civil society to effectively respond to pandemic challenges?
- What should be done to strengthen relations between state and civil society for increasing community resilience, reducing inequalities, and accelerating economic recovery?
Moderator
- Dr. Kaustuv Kanti Bandyopadhyay, Director, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India
Introduction and Welcome
- Prof. Jon Van Til, Professor Emeritus, Urban Studies and Community Development, Rutgers University, USA and Executive Secretary, Civil Society Design Network
Speakers:
- Hungary Country Study - Prof. Ágnes Kövér-Van Til, Associate Professor of Social Sciences, and Director, Institute of Social Studies, ELTE University, Hungary
- India Country Study - Dr. Rajesh Tandon, Founder President, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India and UNESCO Co-Chair on Community Based Research and Social Responsibilities in Higher Education
- Israel Country Study - Prof. Hillel Schmid, The Centre for the Study of Civil Society and Philanthropy in Israel, The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
- South Korea Country Study - Prof. Bok Gyo Jeong, Assistant Professor, Non-profit Concentration Coordinator, Department of Public Administration, Kean University, USA and Prof. Sung-ju Kim, Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University, School of Social Work, USA
For registration CLICK HERE |
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