Speaking at the opening of the CIVICUS World Assembly in Montreal, Canada, a three-day global civil society event that discusses the future of the civil society sector, Ms Srinath joined Institut du Nouveau Monde (INM) General Director Michel Venne and other civil society leaders in highlighting the need for a vibrant civil society sector to tackle global challenges. “Worldwide outrage at economic injustice combined with loss of faith in institutions, government, business and media, is fuelling mass uprisings from Chile to China,” she said. “Together with new ways of communicating, connecting and mobilising, these present an unprecedented opportunity for civil society, as the most trusted sector, to build critical mass and proffer alternative models.”
The CIVICUS World Assembly is organised in partnership with INM, and is bringing together close to 800 representatives from civil society, donors, governments and business from all corners of the globe.
“To change the world, we need scientific knowledge, we need heart, ideas and a soul,” said Michel Venne, General Director at INM during the opening. “This is exactly what civil society offers through expressing the people’s aspirations.”
However, Srinath said civil society also faced “grave internal and external threats”, identified in CIVICUS’ recent global state of civil society report, Bridging the gaps: Citizens, orgnisations and dissociation.
“There is disconnect between organised and informal civil society, and between espoused and practiced values,” she said, then added, that the report “also validated the efficacy of networks and coalitions and the threats to both space and resources.”
Earlier this month Srinath told delegates at a state of civil society event in Johannesburg that "we need to recognise that there are multiple platforms for participation and multiple routes into activism. CSOs need to be both challenged and supported to improve their outreach, refresh their participation bases and help join together a disconnected civil society. If these disconnects are not addressed traditional CSOs risk sliding into irrelevance and possible extinction."
The CIVICUS World Assembly can be watched live at http://civicusassembly.org/CIVICUSlive.php. It continues until Monday 12 September.
Website: www.civicusassembly.org
Blog: http://citizenshift.org/blogs/civicus/
Live stream: http://civicusassembly.org/CivicusLive.php
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Blog: http://citizenshift.org/blogs/civicus/
Live stream: http://civicusassembly.org/CivicusLive.php
Twitter: @CIVICUSalliance #civWA
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CIVICUS