The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the failures of austerity policies and the detrimental consequences of the systemic underfunding of public services for people’s lives. It also highlighted how market-based models cannot be relied upon to deliver on human rights and the fight against inequalities. The upsurge in the cost of living in 2022 and the increasingly frequent natural disasters associated with the climate crisis further highlight the failures of the current economic model and the urgency of building a different one.

It draws from the proceedings of an event held at the 2022 IMF/WBG Spring Meetings Civil Society Policy Forum, entitled ‘The Future is Public: Prioritising public services in the light of Covid-19 and climate change', which was organised by Action Aid International, Eurodad, the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Oxfam International, Public Services International, Society for International Development, Transnational Institute and Wemos. And it builds on collective civil society work to promote the Global Manifesto for Public Services “The Future is Public”.