COVINFORM - Analysis: Community and citizen responses and impacts

This deliverable provides an initial descriptive analysis of the findings of interviews conducted with N=38 representatives of civil society organisations and grassroots initiatives active in COVID-19 responses in nine municipalities: Vienna, Austria; Antwerp, Belgium; Mannheim, Germany; Athens, Greece; Rome, Italy; Lisbon, Portugal; Madrid, Spain; Gothenburg, Sweden; and Swansea, Wales (UK). The scope of the deliverable is municipal/sub-municipal: it explores the way local conditions and actors in cities and neighbourhoods across Europe mediated the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and helped shape responses to it. Thematically, the deliverable focuses on local baseline conditions, COVID-19 impact timelines, and multi-stakeholder responses. Key findings per thematic area follow:

▪ Local baseline conditions: most CSO representatives characterised the neighbourhoods in which they worked as 1) highly diverse; 2) socioeconomically disadvantaged (‘vulnerable’) vis- à-vis municipal and national averages. Their conceptions of ‘vulnerability’ in the research sites were shaped by the specific groups with which they worked; however, many voiced animplicitly ‘intersectional’ understanding of how specific vulnerabilities co-occur and aggravate one another, as well as of links between the structural inequalities that perpetuate them. The interviewees confirmed that CSOs play a critical role in addressing the material, health, and social needs of vulnerable groups within the research sites, often in close cooperation with each other, governmental actors, and residents themselves.

▪ COVID-19 impact timelines: interviewees indicated that the onset of the pandemic and phasing-in of restrictions quickly degraded their target groups’ quality of life. The impact was worst for those with multiple pre-existing vulnerabilities: as such ‘most vulnerable’ individuals already faced multiple barriers to accessing support, retrenchment and contact restrictions amounted to a catastrophic loss of both formal and informal safety nets. For CSO workers themselves, the result was often a grinding increase in workloads and stress. In most research sites, the introduction of vaccines has partially, but not entirely mitigated the burdens on CSOs and their clients. A positive dimension reported by many interviewees is quick (if challenging) adaptation to hybrid digital/physical work, which has enhanced efficiency. Another is a surge in volunteerism and expressions of solidarity, as well as improved recognition of the role of CSOs and care workers in general.

▪ Local multi-stakeholder responses: Interviewees confirmed the important role of CSOs in responding to the pandemic on a local level. CSOs not only filled gaps in the governmental service spectrum, but also assisted vulnerable groups in overcoming barriers to governmental services, e.g., digital, linguistic, and cultural divides. Interviewees gave a mixed assessment of local governmental responses, identifying some strengths alongside a range of weaknesses and unintended impacts; their observations could provide lessons for future planning. They also shed some light on the novel role of voluntary and resident-led initiatives, which in some sites appear to have filled gaps unaddressed by either authorities or established CSO networks.

These findings have provided valuable impetus for further research ongoing within the COVINFORM project, in particular the qualitative interviews currently underway with residents of the sub-national research sites. Findings from the resident interviews will be integrated into the second iteration of this deliverable (D6.7).