The role of the commons during epidemic outbreaks in unstable places: civil society organizations and their desire to be seen by the state

Purpose: In this paper we examine what roles civil society organizations (CSOs) played – and wanted to play – during the COVID-19 pandemic in Burkina Faso and discuss the potential role of ‘commons’, here understood as public interest goods and services (de Sardan & Leyronas, 2022) and those who engage with the commons, such as CSOs, in prevention and management of future epidemic outbreaks in unstable places like Burkina Faso.Materials and methods: Based on a qualitative approach, we have conducted a total of twenty (20) individual semi-structured interviews with CSO representatives from May, 2020 to December 2021. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and manually analyzed using a content analysis approach. In addition, we studied various types of documents (press, websites, etc.) and followed newsfeeds on social media platforms.Results: The CSOs leaders emphasized the embeddedness of the CSOs within the local communities, their expertise acquired from the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and their emphasis on preventive work as relevant and important capacities for epidemic preparedness and control. However, they also struggled to be seen and recognized by the state.Conclusions: This article argues that the CSOs through their engaged collective actions, themselves, could be seen as commons in future epidemic control.