From 2003 to 2006, the Civil Society Index was implemented in Italy by CittadinanzAttiva with the support of the Active Citizenship Foundation (FONDACA) and the international coordination of CIVICUS. This implementation led to the publication of an analytical country report, presenting the results of the CSI initiative in the country.
Italian Civil Society — Facing New Challenges
Over that period, the CSI assessment in Italy found that civil society is generally well balanced, with the exception of its structure, which was weaker than the environment, values and impact dimensions. This weakness is primarily due to low levels of participation and limited inter-relations among civil society actors.
Civil society in Italy was then undergoing a process of consolidation. The results of the CSI assessment show that civil society has become mature, as seen in its ability to mobilize resources aimed at facing the most relevant problems affecting the country. This ability is of crucial importance, since social and economic inequalities, as well as environmental concerns, are rapidly growing in Italy. To face these new challenges, CSOs must improve their structure. This report provides detailed information on the current state of civil society in Italy, highlights its strengths and weaknesses and puts forth recommendations for strengthening the Italian civil society.
From 2008 to 2010, the Civil Society Index is being implemented by Cittadinanza Attiva.
Italian Civil Society: Facing new challenges
Compared to the past edition of CSI, the value of the perception of impact is lower and the value of the level of organisation dimension (which in the previous methodology was called structure) is higher. Since civil society in Italy has not changed in the last four years, we think that this difference is due to the difference in the methodology for collecting information in the two iterations: the first edition was mainly a collection of secondary data to which a group of experts gave an assessment, whilst in this edition such information mainly came from the opinions of a sample of CSOs. The results are in line with typical witnessed attitudes of Italian CSOs, which tend to over-estimate what they do internally and under- estimate the impact of their actions. This is a behaviour that also emerged during the past edition of the research.
According to the results of this second edition, civil society in Italy is confirmed to be a mature and solid phenomenon. The weakness points that require the utmost attention, as they emerged from the research, seem to be the ability to influence the attitudes and values of Italian society in general; the inclusion and management of diversity; the attention to immigrants and their need to practice citizenship into civil society organizations; the commitment to emerging problems in Italy, such as social mobility and the rule of law, the increase of international links needed to face globalization effects; and, of course, the enhancement of the political impact, which the research confirmed to be inversely proportional to the social impact.
CSI Country Reports in Italy
- Italy CSI Report 2010: Full Report
- Italy CSI Report (2003-2006): Executive Summary
- Italy CSI Report (2003-2006): Full Report
- Project Evaluation for Italy (2003-2006): Executive Summary
