CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed an agreement to implement the new Civil Society Index Rapid Assessment (CSI-RA) in Tunisia.
The CSI-RA is a new, entirely flexible version of CIVICUS’ Civil Society Index (CSI) which can be adapted to the specific dynamics of any context. The tool helps civil society make a self-assessment of such facets as the institutional structure and strength of civil society, its perceived impact and the enabling environment for civil society, amongst others.
The project, starting in March 2012, will contribute to larger UNDP programme to support active citizenship, with four main components: (1) a needs assessment of Tunisian civil society; (2) a proposal for a reformed regulatory framework for civil society; (3) a strengthened technical and institutional framework for civil society capacity development; and (4) stronger democracy education for young people.
Following January 2011’s Jasmine Revolution, Tunisia’s organised civil society is nascent and transitional. An estimated 2,000 CSOs have been created since the revolution, but many of them have low capacities and limited resources. Risks include those of working in isolation (with some disconnects between old and new CSOs, secular and religious actors and urban and rural communities) and a lack of consensus on the priorities and challenges that civil society is facing.
A December 2011 CIVICUS scoping mission to Tunisia made clear that there is a lack of consensus on how civil society is defined, but there was sufficient interest and willingness expressed by Tunisian CSOs to participate in the CSI-RA as a consensus-building and network development opportunity. All agreed that in a changing time with many donors now involved in Tunisia, these is a pressing and urgent need to support the generation of knowledge by Tunisian civil society itself.
The specific objectives of CSI-RA Tunisia in 2012 include:
- Convening civil society actors and strengthening civil society networks;
- Providing CSOs with an adaptable, contextual and easily implemented self-assessment tool;
- Contributing civil society generated evidence to inform civil society strengthening strategies.
The CSI-RA will generate a vast amount of action-oriented data about the state of civil society, including a country specific framework and methodology for CSI-RA, a series of questions, indicators and measurement tools to be used for trend analysis, a power analysis map of CSOs’ internal and external relationships, an in-depth country report on the state of civil society in Tunisia, and action-oriented policy briefs and analytical papers.
Tunisia is the first roll-out of the new CSI-RA in 2012. A further project launch in West Africa is expected soon.
For more information about applying the CSI-RA in your context, contact .
