Call summary :

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) seeks individuals or organizations to con-duct research assessing examples of pandemic governance best practices with respect to civic freedoms and civil society collaboration. Studies may focus on individual countries, such as New Zealand or South Korea, or may adopt a case study approach and examine multiple countries and examples throughout Asia. The budget ceiling for the consultancy is $25,000. More than one consultancy may be awarded depending on proposed scope of work/country coverage. Priority will be given to individual or organizational consultants located in the region, and/or with significant civil society partner networks.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until available funds are depleted. For more details and application instructions, please see below.

Background
During a pandemic characterized by democratic backsliding and repressive public health approaches, few countries have stood out globally for relatively participatory, successful pandemic management. In the Asia region, examples of good governance have been seen in New Zealand and South Korea, where governments managed to both protect civic freedoms, including public participation and freedom of expression, and manage the pandemic better than many other countries.
Although there has been a fair amount of global coverage around these countries’ public health approaches to COVID-19, attention has focused less on the enabling practices employed by these countries to promote public participation, protect civil society, and ensure civic freedoms remained in place during an unprecedented global emergency. There has also been little exploration of whether government-civil society collaboration and rights-oriented approaches also contributed to better public health outcomes.

Scope of Work
In order to promote best practices around pandemic governance and further explore how governments can protect public health while safeguarding human rights and civic freedoms, ICNL aims to commission research reports examining in-depth practices adopted by best practice 2/7/2023 jurisdictions including (but not limited to) New Zealand and South Korea, that facilitated public participation and protected civic freedoms during COVID-19. Example practices would include South Korea’s facilitation of online and remote voting during its elections, and New Zealand’s creation of an oversight committee to provide independent scrutiny of government measures.
As part of this proposed research, the individual or organizational consultant may apply to complete one or more country studies (with priority given to in-country researchers) covering the following:
1. In-depth research on enabling government policies related to COVID-19 that had a positive impact on civic space, or generally complied with international standards on free association, assembly, expression, or public participation.
2. Examples of civil society – government cooperation on pandemic and humanitarian policies.
3. The use of technology and digital tools in COVID-19 management, and examination of their impact on civic space.
4. Assessment of any policies that raised human rights concerns, or failed to protect civic space.
5. Overall assessment of the country response, analysis based on international standards around human rights and emergency measures, and recommendations based on the findings of the study, including good practices that could be replicated in other countries, and strategies for promoting rights-respecting approaches to pandemic governance.

If desired, applicants may include costs for an in-person or virtual launch event or webinar around the findings of their research, or some other practical activity aimed at increasing impact of research findings.


Applications should be emailed to asia@icnl.org, with reference made to “COVID-19 Best Practices Research” in the subject line. All application materials should be submitted in English. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Questions related to this consultancy can be emailed to asia@icnl.org.

Proposal
Interested applicants should submit a proposal of four pages or less, addressing the following topics:
• The depth of your knowledge and experience around pandemic governance and civic space issues;
• Your experience undertaking research and writing policy reports;
• If more than one person will be involved in this project, a description of who will undertake different aspects of the project. ICNL reserves the right to approve or reject the use of any personnel;
• Proposed scope of work and any suggested revisions to the coverage presented above, and methodology for conducting the research.