Abstract
How did Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) globally address the needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic? In this study, we examine the roles CSOs played during the first 18 months of the pandemic, their main challenges, and how the pandemic changed CSOs’ roles in society across 39 countries and economies. Using inductive thematic analysis analyzing responses from global philanthropy experts in two consecutive studies (2020 and 2021), we find that CSOs played fourteen roles, of which we discuss the six most mentioned: providing social assistance; responding to health care needs; coordinating and collaborating with government and business; mobilizing funds to address societal needs; raising awareness and combating misinformation; and advocating. Challenges for CSOs included reduced revenue and difficulty reaching beneficiaries. We found these challenges led to innovative ways of operating and new arrangements between civil societies and governments, which may have opened opportunities for a more active role of CSOs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
See online Appendix A for the questions.
In the questionnaire we used the terms “nonprofit sector and philanthropy.” In their responses, many experts used the terms philanthropic organizations, civil society organizations, and nonprofit organizations interchangeably. In reporting of the results, we use Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as an umbrella term inclusive of CSOs (including nonprofits and philanthropic organizations when used interchangeably by the expert), grassroots movements, volunteer groups, and collective initiatives.
Online Appendix B shows the changes noted by experts in their countries and economies of expertise that could be considered long-lasting and maybe even permanent.
References
Adhikari, A., Carrines, M., Benjamin Bradlow, A., Patrick Heller, A., Levine, A., Lopez-Portillo, M., Mutwafy, S., Stulen, S., & Zumbyte, I. (2022). Public action and the pandemic. The role of civil society in shaping state responses. Watson Institute International Public & Public Affairs, Brown University Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies.
Alalouf-Hall, D., & Grant-Poitras, D. (2021). COVID-19 and the restructuring collective solidarity: The case of volunteer activity in Québec. Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research, 12(S1), 15.
Andion, C. (2020). Civil society mobilization in coping with the effects of COVID-19 in Brazil. Revista De Administração Pública, 54, 936–951.
Anheier, H. K., & Toepler, S. (2019). Policy neglect: The true challenge to the nonprofit sector. Nonprofit Policy Forum. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2019-0041
Azevedo, L., Bell, A., & Medina, P. (2022). Community foundations provide collaborative responses and local leadership in midst of COVID-19. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 32(3), 475–485. https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21490
Bandyopadhyay, K., Chawla, M., Aravind, S. R., & Sharma, Y. (2021). In Civil society support to COVID-19 affected families: Outreach and resourcing in the second wave. https://socialprotection.org/discover/publications/civil-society-support-covid-19-affected-families-outreach-and-resourcing
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589–597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2019.1628806
Brinkerhoff, J. M. (2002). Government-nonprofit partnership: A defining framework. Public Administration and Development, 22(1), 19–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.203
Buzaşu, C., & Marczewski, P. (2020). Confrontation versus cooperation in polish and romanian civil society. In R. Youngs (Ed.), Global civil society in the shadow of Coronavirus (pp. 41–46). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Cai, Q., Okada, A., Jeong, B. G., & Kim, S. J. (2021). Civil society responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. China Review, 21(1), 107–138.
Cela, A., & Nechev, Z. (2021). Regional Report on the impact of Covid-19 on the sustainability of CSOs in the Western Balkans. Western Balkan Fund.
Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting [CABAR.Asia]. (2021). In State and civil society during the COVID-19 pandemic in Central Asia. https://cabar.asia/en/state-and-civil-society-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-central-asia
Cheng, Y., Yu, J., Shen, Y., & Huang, B. (2020). Coproducing responses to COVID-19 with community-based organizations: Lessons from Zhejiang province China. Public Administration Review, 80(5), 866–873. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13244
Cherif, Y., Halawa, H., & Zihnioğlu, Ö. (2020). The coronavirus and civic activism in the Middle East and North Africa. In R. Youngs (Ed.), Global civil society in the shadow of Coronavirus (pp. 21–26). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
CIVICUS, (2020). In Solidarity in the time of COVID-19: Civil society responses to the pandemic. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/solidarity-time-covid-19-civil-society-responses-pandemic
Civil Society Platform for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding [CSPPS]. (2021).In Fighting COVID-19, Building Peace – a civil society perspective. https://www.cspps.org/Fighting-COVID19-Building-Peace
Curty Pereira, R., Elliott, S. J., & Llaguno Cárdenas, P. (2023). Stepping into the Void: Lessons Learned from Civil Society Organizations during COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(8), 5507. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085507
Duliba, Y., Ovcharuk, S., Doichyk, M., Hoian, I., Vergolyas, M., & Sarancha, I. (2022). The transformation of the global civil society during the Covid-19 pandemic. Postmodern Openings, 13(1), 436–449.
DuránMogollón, L., Eisele, O., & Paschou, M. (2020). Applied solidarity in times of crisis: Exploring the contexts of civil society activities in Greece and Germany. Acta Politica, 56(2), 308–329. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-020-00154-8
ErhanDoğan, H., & Genç, D. (2021). Early-responding civil society and a late coming state: Findings from Turkey during the pandemic. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 12(1), 127–146. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2020-0049
Freedom House. (2020). In Democracy under Lockdown. https://freedomhouse.org/report/special-report/2020/democracy-under-lockdown
Haavisto, C. (2020). “Impossible” activism and the right to be understood: The emergent refugee rights movement in Finland. In O. C. Norocel, A. Hellström, & M. B. Jørgensen (Eds.), Nostalgia and hope: Intersections between politics of culture, welfare, and migration in Europe (pp. 169–184). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41694-2_11
Harrison, E., & Kristensen, K. (2021). Secondary impacts of COVID-19: Closing civic space in fragile contexts. UNDP Global Policy Network Brief. United Nations Development Programme.
Hopstein, G., & Peres, M., (2021). The role and protagonism of civil society in the facing of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil. https://globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/resources/the-role-and-protagonism-of-civil-society-in-the-facing-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-brazil/
Kövér, Á. (2021). The relationship between government and civil society in the era of COVID-19. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 12(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0007
Kövér, Á., Antal, A., & Deák, I. (2021). Civil Society and COVID-19 in Hungary: The complete annexation of civil space. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 12(1), 93–126. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2020-0060
Kuhnt, J. (2021). The network function of civil society organizations in times of the COVID-19 pandemic–or how engagement as a practice of solidarity becomes market-relevant. Culture, 6(1), 70–88. https://doi.org/10.5771/2566-7742-2021-1-70
Lai, T., & Wang, W. (2022). Attribution of community emergency volunteer behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of community residents in Shanghai, China. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 34(2), 239–251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-021-00448-1
Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. (2022). Global philanthropy environment index. IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Lorch, J., & Sombatpoonsiri, J. (2022). COVID-19 and civil society in Southeast Asia: Beyond shrinking civic space. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 34(3), 613–625. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-022-00496-1
Mattingly, D. (2021). Covid-19 has changed philanthropy forever. In Alliance Blog. https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/covid-19-has-changed-philanthropy-forever/
Meiji, N. H. P., Kodir, A., Sumarmi, A. T., Dianah, A. F., & Kindy, M. A. A. (2021). Philanthropy movement’s response to government policy in negotiating COVID-19 in Indonesia. In N. H. Sumarmi, P. Meiji, J. H. G. Purwasih, A. Kodir, E. H. S. Andriesse, D. C. Ilies, & K. Miichi (Eds.), Development, social change and environmental sustainability: Proceedings of the international conference on contemporary sociology and educational transformation (ICCSET 2020), Malang, Indonesia, 23 September 2020 (pp. 141–144). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003178163-31
Meyer, M., Millner, R., Pennerstorfer, A., & Vandor, P. (2021). Partnership in times of COVID-19: Government and civil society in Austria. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 12(1), 65–92. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2020-0052
Nampoothiri, N. J., & Artuso, F. (2021). Civil society’s response to coronavirus disease 2019: Patterns from two hundred case studies of emergent agency. Journal of Creative Communications, 16(2), 203–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/09732586211015057
National Democratic Institute [NDI]. (2021). Pathways to recovery from the pandemic in the Pacific Islands: Assessment of civil society inclusion in the governments' response to COVID-19. https://www.ndi.org/publications/pathways-recovery-pandemic-pacific-islands-assessment-civil-society-inclusion
Neshikj, & Spasovska. (2021). Filling democracy’s gaps in the Western Balkans. In R. Youngs (Ed.) Civil society support to COVID-19 affected families: Outreach and resourcing in the second wave. https://pria.org/knowledge_resource/1625214248_Civil_Society_Support_to_C19_Affected_Families_During_2nd_wave.pdf
Newby, K., & Branyon, B. (2021). Pivoting services: Resilience in the face of disruptions in nonprofit organizations caused by COVID-19. Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs, 7(3), 443–460. https://doi.org/10.20899/jpna.7.3.443-460
Plaisance, G. (2021). French nonprofit organizations facing COVID-19 and lockdown: Maintaining a Sociopolitical role in spite of the crisis of resource dependency. Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research, 12(S1), 65–81.
Pongutta, S., Kantamaturapoj, K., Phakdeesettakun, K., & Phonsuk, P. (2021). The social impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on urban slums and the response of civil society organisations: A case study in Bangkok Thailand. Heliyon, 7(5), e07161.
Raeymaeckers, P., & Van Puyvelde, S. (2021). Nonprofit advocacy coalitions in times of COVID-19: Brokerage, crowdfunding, and advocacy roles. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 50(6), 1304–1317. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764021991675
Saghin, D., Lupchian, M. M., & Lucheş, D. (2022). Social cohesion and community resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic in northern Romania. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4587. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084587
Santos, M. R. C., & Laureano, R. M. S. (2021). COVID-19-related studies of nonprofit management: A critical review and research agenda. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 33(5), 936–951. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-021-00432-9
Schächtele, K., Meissler, C., & Hahn, M. (2021). Civic space and the Covid-19 pandemic. How civil society actors and organisations are affected and react. Bread for the World.
Schmid, H. (2021). Reflections on the relationship between the government and civil society organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic: The Israeli case. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 12(1), 189–197. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0003
Seibert, K., Williamson, A., & Moran, M. (2021). Voluntary sector peak bodies during the COVID-19 crisis: A case study of Philanthropy Australia. Voluntary Sector Review, 12(1), 143–154. https://doi.org/10.1332/204080520X16081188403865
Sidel, M., & Ming, H. (2021). Party, state, civil society and Covid-19 in China. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 12(1), 199–211. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2020-0047
Simsa, R. (2022). Changing civic spaces in the light of authoritarian elements of politics and the covid crisis – The case of Austria. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 13(3), 211–228. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0053
Soeung, B., & Sunyong, L. (2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on the Civil Society Sector in Cambodia: A Year on. New Mandala.
Tageo, V., Dantas, C., Corsello, A., & Dias, L. (2021). In The response of civil society organisations to face the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent restrictive measures adopted in Europe. https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/our-work/publications-other-work/publications/response-civil-society-organisations-face-covid-19-pandemic-and-consequent-restrictive-measures-adopted-europe-study
Tandon, R., & Aravind, R. (2021). Source of life or kiss of death: Revisiting state-civil society dynamics in India during COVID-19 pandemic. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 12(1), 147–163. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2020-0045
Thiery, H., Cook, J., Burchell, J., Ballantyne, E., Walkley, F., & McNeill, J. (2021). ‘Never more needed’ yet never more stretched: Reflections on the role of the voluntary sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Voluntary Sector Review, 12(3), 459–465. https://doi.org/10.1332/204080521X16131303365691
Valvoda, R. (2020). Civil society versus authoritarians in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In R. Youngs (Ed.), Global civil society in the shadow of coronavirus (pp. 27–30). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
von Bulow, M., & Rossi, F. (2020). The coronavirus and civil society. Realities in Latin America. In R. Youngs (Ed.), Global civil society in the shadow of Coronavirus (pp. 65–70). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Wolfe, J. (2022). China’s Covid revolt. In The New York times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/briefing/chinas-covid-revolt.html?searchResultPosition=1
Wong, W., & Wu, A. M. (2022). State or civil society–what matters in fighting COVID-19? A comparative analysis of Hong Kong and Singapore. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 24(6), 609–626. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2021.1978819
Woo, E. (2020). COVID-19 and Chinese Civil Society’s Response. In Stanford social innovation review. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/covid_19_and_chinese_civil_societys_response#
Young, D., & Cassey, J. (2017). Supplementary, complementary or adversarial? Non-profit government relations. In E. Boris & E. Steuerle (Eds.), Nonprofits and government collaboration and conflict. The Urban Institute.
Yuen, S., Cheng, E. W., Or, N. H., Grépin, K. A., Fu, K. W., Yung, K. C., & Yue, R. P. (2021). A tale of two city-states: A comparison of the state-led versus civil society-led responses to COVID-19 in Singapore and Hong Kong. Global Public Health, 16(8–9), 1283–1303. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2021.1877769
Acknowledgements
Dr. Una Osili, Associate Dean for Research and International Programs at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, is the Principal Investigator of the Global Philanthropy Indices and had the initial vision to conduct these studies. Several colleagues in the school’s research department contributed valuable insights in the design of the questionnaires. Most of all, we wish to acknowledge the contributing experts who took the time to respond—during a period of great uncertainty—to the questionnaires. The research team would like to thank members of the Global Advisory Council, regional reviewers, country experts, and others for their valuable contributions to the Global Philanthropy Environment Index. There are many individuals not named here who donated their time and expertise without which this project would not have been completed. The authors also thank the funders of their work.
Funding
This project is part of the Global Philanthropy Environment Index Project conducted at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The Global Philanthropy Environment Index Project is funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, the Indiana University Office of the Vice President for Research, Jerre L. Stead and Mary Joy Stead, WINGS, and the IUPUI Office of International Affairs Sustainable Development Goals Grant. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect official positions or policies of any of these funders. The work by Pamala Wiepking at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy is funded through a donation by the Stead Family; her work at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is funded by the Dutch Charitable Lotteries. The authors are grateful to each of them for their distinct contributions and generous support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Manuscript prepared for submission to the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP) special issue of Voluntas: The Role of Philanthropy in Building Bridges in Times of Polarization and Inequality.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Garcia, S., Carrigan, C. & Wiepking, P. Global Civil Society Response to the COVID-19 Crisis. Voluntas 34, 1310–1321 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-023-00589-5
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-023-00589-5