Repression and resilience: Diagnosing closing space mid-pandemic
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REPRESSION AND RESILIENCE: DIAGNOSING CLOSING SPACE MID-PANDEMIC<br />
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IDEAS FOR ACTION<br />
• Embed open governance principles <strong>and</strong> participatory mechanisms into sectoral cooperation agreements<br />
as well as targeted support programmes to public institutions.<br />
• Support public oversight over procurement processes <strong>and</strong> open governance, particularly by<br />
supporting anti-corruption agencies, ombudsman institutions, parliamentary committees, judicial bodies,<br />
civil society, <strong>and</strong> the investigative media.<br />
• Boost support to parliaments <strong>and</strong> judiciaries, with a focus on executive oversight <strong>and</strong> forming alliances<br />
for democratic <strong>space</strong>.<br />
• Support the development <strong>and</strong> roll-out of civic tech for participation <strong>and</strong> public scrutiny, with long-term<br />
funding that extends well beyond the development of the tool to include maintenance <strong>and</strong> outreach.<br />
• Support investigative journalism <strong>and</strong> independent media for in-depth investigations <strong>and</strong> monitoring of<br />
the use of p<strong>and</strong>emic recovery funding.<br />
6. Support targeted action on inclusiveness in post-p<strong>and</strong>emic recovery<br />
The failure of most countries’ p<strong>and</strong>emic response to meet the needs of women <strong>and</strong> the most vulnerable populations<br />
is symptomatic of the general absence of these communities at the decision-making table. Structural reform to<br />
advance inclusiveness <strong>and</strong> equality should be at the heart of the EU’s external support to COVID-19 recovery, to protect<br />
democratic <strong>space</strong> <strong>and</strong> make it representative of all voices in society.<br />
IDEAS FOR ACTION<br />
• Support inclusive policy dialogue on national recovery plans, with women <strong>and</strong> minorities at the table,<br />
as the basis for programming, so that the NextGenerationEU budget will contribute to both structural<br />
reform <strong>and</strong> meet the acute needs of women <strong>and</strong> vulnerable populations.<br />
• Contribute to political parties’ advancement of women <strong>and</strong> underrepresented groups, through<br />
internal reform, gender audits <strong>and</strong> policy-development support, as they are critical gatekeepers to<br />
inclusive participation in political decision-making processes.<br />
• Support targeted action, in addition to mainstreaming, to women’s groups <strong>and</strong> organisations that<br />
bring together vulnerable groups, through direct, long-term <strong>and</strong> context-specific support.<br />
• Country-Level Implementation Plans of the Gender Action Plan should be based on intersectional data<br />
collection <strong>and</strong> analysis that is inclusive of, <strong>and</strong> disaggregated by, gender <strong>and</strong> other intersecting identities.