Description
From December 2019, the COVID-19 Pandemic caused significant disruption across the globe, accelerating change and complexity, which affected all areas of life. A widespread perception in the past six months from CSOs indicates that Donor support has become fleeting; affecting the implementation of programs in the development sector. In Africa, there are no countries prioritising emergency packages for civil society, let alone advocacy initiatives.
Several broad-based studies have explored the impact of the Pandemic on funding with similar findings. In June 2020, evidence from a global survey conducted by CIVICUS in 50 countries revealed that 89% of respondents funding was impacted negatively by the Pandemic. Of these, 40% expected to close down or stop activities. Epic Africa's Survey to 1,015 CSO's in Africa conducted between April and May 2020 echo's these findings revealing that 55.69% had already experienced a loss of funding, while 66.46% expected to lose funding in the next 3-6 months. 49% of the respondents had introduced measures to reduce costs because of the loss of funding, or the uncertainty about future funding. Both studies also spoke to the reduction of flexible financing and the need to support grassroots organisations. These studies provide a sense check of the overall situation.
As a contribution to this critical area of study, the Advocacy Accelerator (AA) surveyed Advocates, Technical Assistance Providers and Donors (ATADs) in 29 Anglophone and Francophone African countries and inquired on the impact of COVID 19 on the practice of Advocacy. 85.6% of the respondents shared that funding had reduced significantly, and 69.5% reported a redirection of funding to support COVID-19 activities. In contrast, 4.5% experienced an increase in advocacy funding to support advocacy issues related to COVID-19.