Civil society groups and organisations are facing an unprecedented crackdown in a number of authoritarian and democratic countries. From Myanmar to Mexico, a viral wave of repressive policies and administrative controls is making it harder for civil society to work on today’s most pressing social, economic and environmental problems. In the State of Civil Society 2015 Report, CIVICUS identifies a number of disturbing trends. Of primary concern is the growing rate of government harassment of civil society and a funding environment that is limiting the ability of civil society organisations (CSOs) to deliver. More information is available here. [CIVICUS]
Author: anja
Between 27th and 29th October, around 2000 representatives of governments, civil society, business and academia gathered in Mexico City to mark 4 years since the launch of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative and reflected on the successes and remaining challenges in pushing forward open governments for citizens. Discussions focused on exchanging best practices on using open data and IT technology for improved life of citizens, while some also offered critical reflections on the release and use of open data, esp. concerning advancement of democratic governance practices and rule of law. One of the key challenges identified was the gap…
The Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies and the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan partnered together to sponsor a bootcamp in Bratislava, Slovakia, on leadership for civil society organizations. From 20th October to 23rd October, the program welcomed participants from 20 CSOs from transitional countries. Both of these centers missions have strengthening democracy and civil society at their core and partnered with Pontis Foundation from Slovakia, they provided instructors to train participants with the goal of improving the managerial capacity of the organizations. Activities and workshops targeted five different areas: advocacy and public policy building, management, marketing strategies,…
TUSEV has started a social media campaign under the brand name of “TUSEV Atolye (workshop)” with the aim of sharing data and information regarding CS enabling environment. The campaign has been outreaching to various stakeholders including CSO representatives, citizens, public officials, international donors, and international organizations, universities, and media. Under the hashtag #TUSEVATOLYE, a set of data on civil society enabling environment including statistics, freedom of association, freedoms of assembly and expression, tax regulations, human resources of CSOs and CSO- Public sector relations are being shared. Information produced and shared under TUSEV Atolye can be found, in Turkish language, at…
The Serbian Government Office for Cooperation with Civil Society has announced the launch of an online platform aimed at sharing and exchanging information relevant for the enabling environment for civil society in Enlargement countries between Government mechanisms as well as with civil society. While the platform development is currently in its final stage, it is expected to be promoted and available by end of November in Belgrade. [Office for Cooperation with Civil Society, Government of Serbia]
This publication aims to provide the reader with a comparative overview of the diverse legal and fiscal environments of foundations in 40 countries across wider Europe: the 28 EU Member States, plus Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine. It includes charts, draw on the basis of the updated online EFC (European Foundation Centre) Legal and Fiscal Country Profiles, which are available to download at www.efc.be. The EFC online profiles include more detailed country information and further explanation of the information presented in those charts. To download the full publication, click here.…
On 13 October, Tanja Hafner Ademi, Executive Director of BCSDN participated to the mid-term seminar of the FP7 project Third Sector Impact dealing with the conceptualization, measurement and impact of the civil society in Europe. The seminar included presentation of so far work, including the working definition of the third sector, on which discussion is currently evolved around on how to capture the forms such as social enterprises and ventures. Discussions on the measuring the sector evolved around work with relevant public institutions and data in EU Member States. The project is currently engaged with EUROSTAT to see how further…
Private development assistance is finance from private sources given voluntarily through formal channels, including CSOs, and transferred across borders to promote international development and reduce poverty. If the international community is to meet the goal of ending absolute poverty by 2030, all available resources for development – not just official development assistance (ODA) – need to be targeted to where they are needed most. More information is here. [CIVICUS]
A report titled “Civil society in the design and implementation of public policies” contains results of the five-month research conducted by CRNVO in order to monitor the implementation of the Regulation on the procedures for cooperation between the government and civil society and the Regulation on the procedure and manner of conducting public consultations for preparation of laws. The research shows that there is insufficient and inconsistent application of the regulations, i.e. lack of transparency in public administration bodies, partial but not satisfactory cooperation of the state administration with CSOs, and insufficient participation of civil society in the creation and…
On 22nd and 23rd September, 2015, BCSDN organized a training for 15 representatives of its member organization and Executive Office staff on international and European non-profit law and regulatory best practices to deepen the knowledge of its members’ staff working on monitoring the enabling environment for civil society in their countries. Strengthening the knowledge and hands-on experience on these subjects is crucial to develop the in-country staff capacity to be able to promote, raise-awareness and train relevant stakeholders (representatives of Government, CSO, media, business etc.) in their country. Led by Tina Divjak from CNVOS, Slovenia who is a prominent and…