In an unprecedented initiative to render the global first line of defense against health emergencies more robust, the World Health Organization (WHO) published new guidance to utilize systematically the potential of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), transforming them from supplementary supporters into critical partners. The virtual webinar roll-out presented the "Framework for Civil Society Engagement in Health Emergencies," a handy guide grounded in lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and other outbreaks in which CSOs were integral to reaching the most at-risk populations.

During the launch webinar on 22 October 2025, Supriya Bezbaruah from WHO's Community Protection and Resilience Unit, recounted the document's origins in the desperate early days of the pandemic. "The story began in COVID-19," Bezbaruah said. "My colleague, Nellie Kartoglu, directly engaged 54 grassroots civil society organizations, reaching 80 million people across 40 countries." While these groups proved to be lifelines, delivering everything from primary care to food security, their inclusion was often reactive. "Where there was a gap was in the systematic inclusion of CSOs," Bezbaruah explained. "There seemed to be a mechanism lacking... for systematically mapping CSOs and including them not just as participants, but as equal partners in decision-making, planning, implementation and accountability."

A 10-step plan for action

The secret of the new paradigm lies in an overarching 10-step plan that provides governments, WHO country offices, and partners with a roadmap for successful partnership. The steps are designed to be dynamic and interconnected, not a checklist:

• Mapping CSOs: Mapping and categorizing CSOs at the local and national level, getting to know their capacity, and building a living database in an attempt to coordinate and exchange resources better.
• Role definition: Clearly define who does what so as to avoid overlap and optimize each individual's abilities.
• Setting up communication channels: Creating two-way feedback avenues so CSOs can communicate people's concerns to governments and feedback official information to people.
• Organizing joint needs assessments: Systematically involving CSOs in coordinated needs assessments to build consensus on field operations, prevent duplication, and have a single "one-health-one-plan" approach.
• Planning with national strategies: Harmonizing CSO emergency plans with national and local plans, with participatory planning processes that create spaces for social inclusion and shared responsibility.
• Joining coordination & reporting: Bringing CSOs into formal emergency coordination frameworks.
• Use community data: Help CSOs to collect and analyze local data. This information provides valuable, ground-level insight into the crisis.
• Build knowledge together: Jointly create training and simulation exercises. This prepares all of them for a real emergency.
• Support advocacy and funding: Help CSOs to explain their people's needs and acquire the resources with which to deal with them.
• Pilot and share: Pilot the new solutions and share what works. CSOs are often the best problem solvers.

Bezbaruah emphasized the all-important first step of mapping, involving due diligence to guarantee public health values and ethics alignment with organizational goals. "For WHO, this translates into a framework of agreement with non-state actors," she explained.

From passive recipients to engaged participants

Kai Von Harbou, from WHO's Community Protection and Resilience Unit, highlighted the transformative change in the perception of communities. "Community protection is based on the recognition and the lesson learned from many health emergencies that communities are not passive recipients. They are active agents for protecting themselves and their communities," he stated.

He highlighted the irreplaceable role of CSOs as trusted, sustainable partners with "strong connections between the health system and the communities." From mobilizing community health workers and combatting disinformation to delivering lifesaving services to the most vulnerable, CSOs are what hold things together to make international advice turn into "real operational action on the ground."

Voices from the front lines: Evidence from the ground

The webinar was made real by strong testaments of individuals working with this collaborative model on the ground.

• Guatemala: Institutionalizing inclusion. From the Ministry of Health, Virginia Herzig shared Guatemala's experience in building a program for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in health risk management. Through a government-mandated board, they have brought together the health sector, civil protection, and disability CSOs. "We set it up around five axes for work, which aim to find mechanisms and spaces for participation by civil society," she explained. A key outcome has been the application of the WHO's "Ingrid H" tool in hospitals to assess and improve accessibility, ensuring that the needs of persons with disabilities are factored into emergency planning.
• Cameroon: Storytelling and co-creation. Patrick Okwen of eBASE illustrated how CSOs act as the "muscle memory of community resilience." During COVID-19, they translated complex WHO guidance into simple community stories and radio dramas in local languages. By using a "transfer model," they adapted evidence from other contexts and co-created communication materials with communities, sometimes even incorporating artificial intelligence. "This creates more trust... and we are able to use these channels to deliver life-saving information where formal systems could not reach," Okwen stated.
• Yemen: Reaching the most vulnerable in conflict. Wafa A. Al-Madhagi, representing the organization ADO in Yemen, painted a stark picture of operating in a conflict zone where women and children are disproportionately affected. Her CSO, a women-led organization, serves as a "vital bridging group" between affected communities and formal aid structures. They work through female-led committees, mother-to-mother groups, and local health volunteers to screen and refer the most vulnerable to services. She identified two huge challenges: "access and operational constraints" and a desperate "resource and capacity gap." Her solution? "Localization, trust, sustainable partnership... ensuring that no one is left behind, even in the most challenging situations."

The WHO perspective: Relevance and challenges

Reuben Samuel, a Programme Area Manager at WHO SEA Regional Office, highlighted the essential roles that CSOs perform. He called them social trust builders, risk-takers and innovators, and passionate advocates who possess the ability to bridge individuals in hard-to-reach or oftentimes marginalized places by traditional systems.

But he did talk about the obstacles candidly. Direct interaction between WHO and CSOs is perhaps not straightforward since WHO primarily operates through governments. Further, the agency's long and complicated contracting procedures delay action during emergencies when speed counts. His prescription? "Contracting CSOs in peacetime... will actually much better work for us when it comes to emergencies."

A seat at the table: The WHO civil society commission

Michele Thulkanam, representing the newly established WHO Civil Society Commission, restated the organization's institutional commitment to this new type of activity. Established in 2023, the Commission is a global network of over 540 CSOs. The aim is to enhance coordination with civil society and make their perspectives contribute to the formulation of global health policy, decisions, and actions.

"The goal is to ensure that WHO's work is reflective of people's needs on the ground," Thulkanam said, adding that the Commission has been instrumental in integrating civil society voices into the very framework being presented.

A living document for a changing world

The webinar highlighted that this framework is not a final decision, but a "living document" to be revised. It is a starting point for an across-the-board rethink of the architecture of global health emergency.

As Okwen from Cameroon concluded, moving forward requires answering critical questions: "How can we map beyond formal civil society organizations? How can we co-develop capacity? How can we institutionalize this participation? How can we invest in local data ecosystems? How can we sustain engagement beyond crisis?"

Answers to these questions will determine if hard-won lessons of the past from emergencies will be translated into making crises in the future a more resilient, fair, and effective response. The new WHO framework, and the crucial coalition of voices that speaks for it, suggests the end of the days of the community as passive recipient. The days of the community as active agent are here.