Frontline work in humanitarian disasters: Bridging state and non-state rationalities towards region-based, multi-layered crisis management

This research project focused on the “ad-hoc multilevel doing, deciding and cooperating” of state and non-state frontline work that emerged in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research is guided by two main sets of questions: (1) How did (non) state frontline work react to the (new) precarities that individuals faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic? What effects did the disruption in supporting people in need have on such actors? (2) Which groups were neglect-ed by state-funded support during the pandemic? How were these groups supported by alternatives? Which actors became visible in these support networks? Our data collection consists of document analysis and reconstructive interviews across Switzerland and within the cantons of our case studies, as well as focus group discussions with frontline workers. We share our metadata consisting of four excel-files (cvs) with an overview of the collected data: (1) a list of the gathered internal and public documents (without legal sources, ordinances, and regulations). (2) a list of interviews conducted. (3) a list of transcriptions of the focus groups. (4) a list of field notes resulting from participatory observations.