Citizen Cooperation facing COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced physical distancing. While necessary to protect lives and public health, this has led to a huge disruption of community life. However, many towns and cities have seen a surge of new forms of citizen collaboration, essential to overcome the consequences of distancing: loneliness, a halt in cultural, educational, sports and social activities, protection of the most vulnerable people... These grassroots initiatives of solidarity are fundamental to overcome this crisis while the exceptional measures continue.  

Many local and regional governments have begun to coordinate and boost these efforts to ensure that community action continues in times of isolation. Coordination between local governments and public administrations is fundamental, hence our the relevance of the Cities for Global Health initiative, co-led by Metropolis and the Euro-Latin American Alliance for Cooperation between Cities (AL-LAs), which is part of the Live Learning Experience: beyond the immediate response to the outbreak, developed by UCLG with the support of UN-Habitat and Metropolis.

In this participatory space we encourage you to share examples and practices of citizen solidarity in cooperation with local and regional authorities. Here, you can also comment on others’ initiatives and start a discussion.