DWF COVID-19 RESPONSE

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic Democracy Works Foundation is working remotely and with renewed focus given our mission – enhancing the capacity for resilient democracy to deliver – is even more important in times of crisis. Recent analysis argues strongly that good governance and democracy are important to ensure the best possible outcomes in dealing with the pandemic and to allow for respect of rights and freedoms.

Our focus at this time furthers our mandate to contribute to advancing resilient democracies while adhering to our strategic programmatic framework. It includes:

• Monitoring Democracy: Assessing and understanding the challenges to governance and democracy that the coronavirus poses to the region, as well as monitoring potential abuses of power in tackling the pandemic. We are already disseminating this work through a range of platforms;

• Citizens and Leaders: strengthening citizen leadership and capacity to hold governments accountable while strengthening the capacity of democratic leadership in tackling the pandemic;

• Democratic Culture: fostering collaboration and cooperation through constructive and inclusive Public-Private Partnerships and dialogues in tackling the pandemic which should inform projects to build local capacity to deliver assistance to communities in need;

• Strengthening institutions: Strengthening the capacity of institutions of democracy to face the scourge of the coronavirus and provide mitigation and adaptation to society, while also functioning as checks and balances on executive power; and

• Services: Providing services to development partners to assist relief efforts and development interventions in the face of Corona, for example, our current participation in a national food distribution initiative to complement government work to provide food to the poor.  

Concrete interventions and new initiatives aimed at addressing the pandemic and its consequences are presented in the below.