“What is the environment in which CSOs work, and what can the EC and Governments do to improve it?” is the topic of BCSDN’s annual policy workshop for 2014, which will take place in Brussels on the 27th of May.
At the workshop, the regional findings of the monitoring of the enabling environment for civil society development in 8 WBT countries will be presented. The findings are result of extensive monitoring conducted by BCSDN’s members through the use of uniquely developed monitoring methodology – The Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development. This methodology has been recognized by the EC in development of its own Guidelines for support to civil society in Enlargement countries, 2014-2020 and our monitoring data will be used as means of verification for the EC Progress Report assessments for 2014-2015, concretely for the first two components (conductive environment & civil dialogue) of the Guidelines.
The aim of the event is to inform EU stakeholders with the strategic regional outlook on the situation putting into perspective what EC can do to push the reform agenda for improving the enabling environment for civil society development. More concretely, the workshop will concentrate in discussion how the EU and especially the EC help local civil society strengthen, be credible and hold governments accountable.
Further information about the workshop can be found in this Background Paper, and the workshop agenda can be downloaded here.