Integrated Response to COVID-19: A Case of Good Governance in Pakistan

Abstract

COVID-19 has shaken the whole world economically, politically, socially and administratively. It has forced the governments globally to reimagine the governance innovatively to deal with the new types of challenges posed by this pandemic. Pakistan was also in crisis initially due to weak governance framework, low cooperation and coordination between different actors and puny institutional capacity. These factors aggravated the situation in terms of disease outbreak and its adverse effects on the livelihood of the people of the country. Far along, Pakistan dealt this pandemic creatively through newly established body in the form of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). NCOC has designed national integrated response for fighting this menace of COVID-19 effectively. It has proved itself a success story over the period of time and a case of effective governance in Pakistan. The effective national integrated response of NCOC towards pandemic has been acknowledged internationally as well. Therefore, it has been studied in this research as a case study through qualitative methodology for exploring its effectiveness and contributions towards overall governance framework and policy arena of Pakistan. The findings of this research show that pragmatic and creative initiatives of NCOC through whole-of-thegovernment approach at different fronts have made it a successful model in Pakistan and its experiences and lessons can contribute positively in the governance framework and national resilience of the country in the post pandemic world.