Paper details

Paper authors	nils carstensen
In panel on	After the 'revolution' - where next for participation and accountability in humanitarian action?
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

The paper focus on the importance and creativity observed in spontaneous citizen and community led responses during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper draws on collaborative action research with activists and groups in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Palestine (oPt), The Philippines and Sudan, supplemented by local and international reporting/litterature and L2GP’s work with survivor and community-led responses. The paper argues that spontaneous mutual aid, self-help and other community responses were crucial elements of the early response to the COVID-19 pandemic globally. Such responses however inevitably have limitations and can in many cases benefit from support by established aid actors - particularly as local resources are exhausted. The paper calls on authorities and aid actors to widen their understanding of ‘first response’ and demonstrate how they can provide meaningful support to mutual aid and local self-help initiatives both in this and future crises through transferring significantly more direct control over resources and decision-making to activists and community groups - i.e. real participation.

The paper will be presented by a lead authors and a collaborator from either Palestine, Philippines or Kenya. The paper is being finalised for publicatioin by Disaster Magazine (late 2021). Authors: Nils Carstensen, Mandeep Mudhar and Freja Munksgaard with Local2Global Protection

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