News and updates from BCSDN and the region
From 4 to 8 December in Suva, Fiji, more than 700 delegates from all around the world gathered at the CIVICUS International Civil Society Week (ICSW) 2017. Under the theme “Our Planet. Our Struggles. Our Future”, ICSW 2017 united various actors from diverse backgrounds towards a common goal, to celebrate the power of citizen action
Read more →The Global Standard is a reference standard that captures a globally shared dynamic understanding of CSO Accountability. Developed by nine Accountability Initiatives including BCSDN, the Standard was officially launched at the International Civil Society Week in Suva, Fiji in front of around 50 representatives of CSOs, donors and INGOs from all over the globe. The
Read more →The 2017 Black Sea NGO Forum was organized in Chisinau, Moldova from December 4-6 by the Romanian NGDO Platform FOND. This year’s anniversary edition was aimed at reassessing the strategic positioning of the Black Sea NGO Forum in the region and how it can adapt and further develop the opportunities it provides for the CSOs
Read more →On the invitation by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), BCSDN participated to the Study Group Meeting of the Section for External relations of the on the economic and social cohesion and European integration of the Western Balkans that took place on December 11th in Brussels. The aim of the meeting was EESC to
Read more →As featured on the CIVICUS Monitor, Turkey’s unrelenting clampdown on civil society throughout 2017 has been widely condemned. In keeping with this trend of repression, on 17th October 2017 the Turkish Parliament extended emergency powers for the fifth time since July 2016. The legislation effectively enables Turkish authorities to suspend civic freedoms and permits the
Read more →The Expert Council on NGO Law published an Opinion on the Romanian draft Law 140/2017 on Associations and Foundations, which has already been adopted by the Senate of Romania and is pending for imminent debate in the Chamber of Deputies. The opinion demonstrates lucidly and irrefutably that the draft Law ignores or contradicts many existing
Read more →Civil Society Europe and CIVICUS are collaborating to map out key trends on civic space in Europe. The 2017 survey covers the European Union, the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), Switzerland, and the countries candidate to EU accession (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey). As a follow up of the
Read more →The European Union has demonstrated great leadership in making the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris climate agreement or human rights conventions. The next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) will need to reflect these existing commitments and provide the EU with the sufficient budget to positively contribute to development cooperation. CONCORD’s Position Paper on the
Read more →While not all public giving is necessarily socially progressive in its motivation or sustainable in its application, there is an important piece of the emerging discourse around participatory or community philanthropy that is being championed and innovated by civil society activists who feel that it is time for local people to have a greater say
Read more →No one needs to remind international CSOs that they face pressure from both ends. Donor countries that once spawned or nourished them are now looking for more direct connections to locally-based groups serving local needs. And aid-receiving countries are adopting highly restrictive policies they justify by questioning the legitimacy of foreign funding to civil society
Read more →Over the past year, EFC has joined forces with the new Funders Initiative to Strengthen Civil Society to jointly examine how the trend of shrinking space for civil society effects development funders and actors, and how they are responding. Questions explored in this joint paper include: how are development actors and funders experiencing the space
Read more →Online content manipulation contributed to a seventh consecutive year of overall decline in internet freedom, along with a rise in disruptions to mobile internet service and increases in physical and technical attacks on human rights defenders and independent media. Nearly half of the 65 countries assessed in Freedom on the Net 2017 experienced declines during
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