The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Canadian SMO Adaptation and Resilience

(English Only)

Chair(s): Carmen Ho (Assistant Professor at the Guelph Institute for Development Studies), Andréanne Martel (Inter-Council Network For International Cooperation (ICN) and Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (ACGC), Canada)

CASID 2021 Conference: This panel aims to understand how Canadian small and medium organizations (SMOs) in particular have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to understanding the challenges SMOs face in relation to financial loss and their ability to implement their programs, we will showcase their strategies and practices in response to the pandemic. While SMOs may experience unique vulnerabilities, they also have unique adaptation strategies and forms of resilience.

The pandemic offered an opportunity to transform practices between Canadian SMOs and their partners overseas. It may have accelerated the localization process by transforming the way Canadian organizations collaborate and their relationships.

This panel brings together researchers and practitioners involved in a collaborative study undertaken during the first few months of the pandemic. Findings from this SMO study will be published in a report in March 2021, and this panel will be an opportunity to discuss the findings with those who commissioned, conducted and participated in it. A researcher who has previously studied Canadian SMOs will also be invited to comment on the findings form an external standpoint.