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.
Digital education tools made available for free
Countries at the forefront of digital education are sharing their tools for free in a time of the crisis.
Organising an online City Council meeting
Ghent (Belgium) councillors followed the council meeting online on their home computers. It was the largest digital council meeting ever held in Flanders.
Digitising a school during the Covid-19 pandemic
While thousands of schools in Germany struggle with teaching children through online tools, one school in Bavaria completely digitised itself.
Map of locations for free meals
The city of Philadelphia has created a map for places offering free food.
Crowdsourcing data to visualize maps to identify current and potential hotspots
To make it possible for public health officials to evaluate anonymized real-time data on the spread of Covid-19, a platform asks citizens to provide live updates on their health conditions.
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.
Using behavioral insights to enforce policy compliance
To reinforce the adherence to government policies by making them more normal and more obvious, the “Nudge theory” can be applied.
Using population maps to tackle disease outbreaks and plan public health campaigns
Artificial Intelligence can be used to create disease prevention maps. They provide information on where outbreaks may occur and the potential spread of disease.
Government offers free webinars for a “safe home office”
The government of the Austrian province Lower Austria offers free and publicly accessible webinars on the topic of “Secure Home Office”. They inform citizens on how to protect themselves and their data.
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.
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 fund to support the creation of new artistic work for the public benefit
Ireland’s Arts Council is introducing a special fund enables Irish-based artists to make the art they created during Covid-19 related lockdown accessible to the public.