Partnership in Times of COVID-19: Government and Civil Society in Austria

Abstract

How did the relation between Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and government develop during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, once governments had taken restrictive measures to lock down economic and public life? Austria is used as an example of a corporatist welfare state whereby collaboration between government and CSOs occurs particularly in the fields of social services, health-care, and youth. Our analysis focuses on the social service sector and differentiates between several social policy fields. We hereby analyze data from qualitative interviews with CEOs from 30 CSOs, four group discussions with another 30 representatives of CSOs, public agencies and authorities, and from a standardized questionnaire (n = 99 CSOs). We also utilize our own experiences as participant observers in meetings between CSOs and government. Results indicate that CSOs suffered financially partly due to a decrease in income, though mostly due to an increase in cost. In social services in particular, they also faced hardships caused by the need to reorganize operations and human resources, and by the increased demands of customers. Federal government took responsibility for supporting CSOs financially, though such support was hampered by unclear competencies in Austria’s multilayered federal system.

Coping with COVID-19 – Which Resilience Mechanisms Enabled Austrian Nonprofit Organizations to Weather the Pandemic Storm?

“…For the Austrian context, the mixed-methods study by Meyer et al. ( 2021 ) explored how social and health care CSOs and their relations with government were affected during the first months of the pandemic. They identified various challenges due to the first lockdown (enacted in March 2020) and the measures for containing the spread of the virus.…”

“…Particularly in this field, a continuous or sometimes an extended service supply was necessary and partly vital for beneficiaries (Meyer et al. 2021 ; Millner et al. 2021 ).…”

“… 2021 ; Kim and Mason 2020 ; Kober and Thambar 2021 ; Meyer et al. 2021 ; Plaisance 2022 ). Given their often-crucial role in dealing with the pandemic’s effects (and those of other crises, too), it is a relevant endeavor to explore the mechanisms that enable NPOs to weather such hard times.…”

“…For the Austrian context, Meyer et al. ( 2021 ) examined challenges for social and health care NPOs during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on their relations with government. However, their study only relates to the early phase of the pandemic and does not deal with resilience mechanisms.…”

Individual-based and interactional resilience mechanisms in social and healthcare service NPOs during the COVID-19 pandemic: Handling a disruptive extreme context in Austria

“…This is notably the case for social and healthcare service NPOs that offer multiple care and counseling services. A continuous service supply or (sometimes) even an extension of services was necessary (Meyer et al, 2021 ; Millner et al, 2021 ).…”