Many African civil society organisations (CSOs) are still struggling to meet the needs of their communities in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, EPIC-Africa and @AfricanNGOs said in a new report.
The report, The Impact of Covid-19 on African Civil Society Organisations: Ongoing Uncertainty and a Glimmer of Optimism, is based on a survey of 1,039 CSOs in 46 African countries conducted in June and July of 2021.
The report is a sequel to the organisation’s 2020 study, which surveyed African CSOs in the early days of the pandemic.
According to the report, 68.1 percent of CSOs reported loss of funding, with 5.1 fearing they could cease to exist over the next 12 months.
The study also noted that 73.1 percent of African CSOs and 57 percent of donor organisations felt that Covid-19 would have a devastating effect on the long-term sustainability of CSOs.
The report also showed a marked increase in demand for the services that African CSOs provide: from 31.5 percent in 2020 to 40.7 percent in 2021.
In response to the pandemic, the report said 83.4 percent of CSCs introduced new programme activities, with 27.6 percent increasing their programming to deal with the impact of Covid-19 and 34.3 percent changing the focus of their programmes to Covid-19 from other areas.
African CSOs, according to the report, are providing services under difficult conditions, with 87.1 percent reporting increased anxiety and stress levels among staff. The situation is made worse by long-term under-resourcing and restricted civic space in many countries.
‘The survey findings once again highlighted the significant and ongoing impact of the Covid-19 on African CSOs and dual challenges confronting many, namely, on the side trying to keep the organisation afloat while at the same time responding to the growing needs of the community in which they operate in and in many cases communities that are very dependent on the work of CSOs in the absence of government support and other support mechanism’, @AfricanNGOs’ David Barnard said while presenting the report.
‘The overall impact of Covid-19 continues to be overwhelmingly negative and widespread…this year we basically received the similar response in terms of 97.8 percent of CSOs providing us with that feedback and indicated that the pandemic impacted their work in more than one way.
‘One of the key issues from a civil society point of view that continues to be raised is the issue of the closing of civic space and although this was not a survey about civic space in Africa, 47.2 percent of CSOs indicated that government measures in response to the pandemic resulted in the further closing of space in their specific countries’.
What does this report mean for the future of African CSOs?
Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of EPIC-Africa, Rose Maruru, told Development Diaries that the findings of the report will strengthen advocacy for the sector.
‘What a report like this and others are starting to do or hoping to do is to really build more knowledge and data and visibility so that the stakeholders, be they government or private sector funders, can really begin to understand you know this sector and the important role it plays’, Maruru said.
The report called on funders to fund African CSOs directly and give long-term institutional grants.
It also advised CSOs to diversify funding and explore new organisational and funding models in order to deal with disruptions caused by the pandemic.
With regard to the coverage of the continent, 26.3 percent of CSOs surveyed were from West Africa, 31.1 percent from East Africa, 6.4 from Central Africa, 2.3 percent from North Africa and 33.9 percent from Southern Africa.
Source: EPIC Africa
Photo source: World Bank
