Politicians, policy makers and public servants have never faced a situation like this. They immediately need policies that really work. Best practices can serve as an inspiration, a starting point and a proof of concept.

Participatory document for re-opening strategy
The city of Milan invites its citizens to contribute their ideas to the re-opening strategy for the city.
A regional supply movement started by a provincial government
A culinary initiative in Lower Austria informs about regional food suppliers to support local businesses.

A handbook to make governments more resilient for future crises
Code For Germany, a network of groups of volunteers (Labs), published a handbook for governments about challenges and possible solutions for crisis management.

A city’s job platform to create a pool of municipal workers
To be prepared for a shortage of employees in its services due to Covid-19 related sick leave, the City of Uppsala set up its own job platform.

A platform that tells citizens how they can support their government
The government of Ontario started an initiative to empower citizens to help fight coronavirus. Citizens can offer emergency products and innovative solutions or volunteer to support the government’s response to Covid-19.

A government’s hackathon to tackle challenges in developing countries
With the #SmartDevelopmentHack, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development aims to support the development of digital solutions to overcome Covid-19-related challenges in developing countries. The best solutions receive funding to increase their impact in the long term.

Government loans for small businesses
To support businesses with fewer than 500 employees, the city of New York offers a loan-based Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Making international best practices in policy available to politicians
For both, policy makers as well as politicians, in times of crises it is imperative to have a comprehensive database of policy options at hand.
Helping governments to understand and compare policy responses
The government response tracker is designed to help researchers, policymakers and citizens understand whether increasingly strict measures affect the rate of infection, and identify what causes governments to implement stricter or less strict measures.

Expanding bike lanes to prevent coronavirus spread
In the Colombian capital of Bogotá, bike lanes were temporarily opened to avoid crowds in times of social distancing.

Virtual assistant providing reliable information
In Latvia, an easily integrable chatbot offers reliable information on Covid-19.

Government platform to recruit retired or unemployed health professionals
The French Ministry of Solidarity and Health launched a platform to recruit volunteers and health professionals who are unemployed or retired.