Paper short abstract:

Drawing on an in-depth participatory case study of a civil society-based accountability activism in Nepal, the paper will explore the potential and limitations of civil society-led activism in constructing and promoting alternative narratives of care and justice in the context of Covid-19 pandemic.

Paper long abstract:

What are the opportunities and challenges for civil society-driven accountability activism to assert the political potentials for a 'just recovery' from the Covid-19 pandemic in Nepal? The proposed paper draws on an ongoing participatory research project involving researchers, civil society activists and practitioners based in Nepal and UK to examine this overarching question. Using the Covid-19 disaster as a site of political possibility, the paper draws on the perspectives and experiences of civil society activists and youth volunteers in Nepal to understand the potential of grassroots activism in challenging intersecting inequalities facing labour migrants in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis in Nepal. The paper will share some emerging evidence from an in-depth, participatory case study of a civil society-driven campaign in Nepal called 'Coronavirus Civic Acts Campaign (CCC)', with a professed goal to alleviate various forms of disadvantages facing returnee migrants and other marginalised communities. The paper shows the political possibilities and challenges of youth-led, bottom-up activism in terms of its ability to construct alternative narratives of care and justice and forge newer alliances to hold the State accountable to the voices of the returnee Nepali migrants. Through co-produced knowledge, we aim to contribute to the ongoing scholarly and practical debates surrounding civil society-led activism under difficult circumstances as a constant process of renewal, contestation, and improvisation in deepening the prospect of a just and democratic recovery from the pandemic.