Civil Society and Covid-19

The Civil Society Engagement (CSE) team engages with civil society representatives in the EBRD countries of operation to:

• gather information on how Covid‐19 is affecting vulnerable parts of the population
• gain insights into how policies adopted at the national or local level are working to prevent the spread of the virus 
• share with them the intention behind the EBRD Solidarity Package and test reactions to it on the ground
• maintain important aspects of our stakeholder engagement (on country and strategy consultations and project‐related communication) in turbulent times
• identify specific areas where the EBRD can support the resilience of CSOs through capacity building.

As in past crises, the solidarity packages are being built from the bottom up, from the Bank’s partnerships on the ground with governments, business, international partners and other stakeholders.

Up to now we have had more than 20 country-specific consultations with civil society stakeholders.

The consultations have been the collective effort of CSE, the heads and teams of the EBRD's Resident Offices, the Environment and Sustainability Department, the Gender and Economic Inclusion team, and the SME Finance and Development teams.

The key takeaways from our consultations to date are that:

• the transformation of civil society is expected in three stages: survival, adaptation, and the institutionalisation of adaptation
• CSOs’ institutional sustainability is at risk due to financial hardship
• digitalisation is on civil society's agenda 
• new ways of conducting fieldwork and monitoring activities, as well as novel fundraising strategies and organisational structures, are being explored
• the suffering of disadvantaged groups increases when the activities of civil society are interrupted.

The Covid-19 pandemic taught us that it is important in times of crisis to rethink business as usual, to create new partnerships and collaborations to increase impact on the ground and to emphasise ongoing dialogue in our countries of operation.

We want to reassure our CSO community that we are still here, we are still engaged, we are still active and we are working harder than ever to collaborate with you and understand your needs. As always, please feel free to get in touch via CSO@ebrd.com or via the Access to Information enquiry form.