Opinions & Features

Featured

Russia: Moments of Dissent after Two Years of War

By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine marked its second anniversary on 24 February.
Featured

Pakistan’s Election Outcomes Leave Many Unhappy

By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report Pakistan’s 8 February election has resulted in an uneasy compromise that few wanted or expected.
Featured

Myanmar’s Military Catastrophe: Three Years and Counting

The military must have expected an easier ride.
Featured

Serbia’s Suspicious Election

By Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

“Imagine if the Haitian revolutionaries had to write a proposal?”: Reflections from the Shift the Power Summit

By Taís Siqueira, Local Leadership lab Coordinator This quote represents what Shift the Power Summit was to me, a space to hear uncomfortable truths and to collectively reimagine solutions.
Featured

Civil Society Trends for 2025: Nine Global Challenges, One Reason for Hope

By Andrew Firmin and Inés Pousadela It’s been a tumultuous year, and a tough one for struggles for human rights.
Featured

Guatemala’s Chance for a New Beginning

By Inés Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Iran, Back to the Grim Normal

By Ines Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

CIVICUS at Festival de Datos: Advancing action on inclusive, timely, and accountable data processes

Julieta Zurbrigg, Civic Space Research Advisor Faith Pienaar, Impact and Accountability Officer In the dynamic realm of data innovation, global challenges call for timely and impactful solutions.
Featured

Bangladesh: Election with a Foregone Conclusion

By Andrew Firmin,  CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Locally-led Development: Beyond Promises to Action

By Clara Bosco (CIVICUS), Anita Kattakuzhy (Movement for Community-Led Development (MCLD)) and Gunjan Veda (NEAR) Over the last couple of years, we have seen an unprecedented number of commitments by funders and philanthropists to support locally-led development, increase direct funding to local actors and promote a more enabling environment for civil society.
Featured

Sudan’s Conflict Needs Civil Society Solutions

By Andrew Firmin,  CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Latvia: A Vital First Step Towards Marriage Equality

 By Inés M.
Featured

Reflecting on a Transformative Year and Priorities for the Future

A message from Lysa John, Secretary-General of CIVICUS Dear CIVICUS members and allies, As we bid farewell to a remarkable year, I am inspired as we reflect on the growth of the CIVICUS Alliance.
Featured

Netherlands Latest Country to Tilt to the Right

By Andew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Argentina Plunges into the Unknown

By Inés M.
Featured

Mauritius' court ruling shows southern Africa leads the way in LGBTQIA+ rights in Africa

By Sylvia Mbataru and Mawethu Nkosana The Mauritius decision is part of a wider trend of Southern African courts protecting LGBTQIA+ rights following sustained strategic litigation and advocacy by activists and civil society organisations.

Advocacy at African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha, Tanzania

On the margins of the 77th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) held in Arusha, Tanzania, CIVICUS, through the Consortium for Human Rights and Media in Sub-Saharan Africa (CHARM) project hosted a side event on Environmental Rights and Human Rights Defenders in Africa on 21 October 2023.
Featured

Gaza: Immediate ceasefire needed

Long-term solutions must also be advanced to respect human rights By CIVICUS Staff An immediate ceasefire is needed to stop the slaughter of civilians in Gaza and enable full humanitarian access to supply the essentials a besieged population needs and is currently being denied.
Featured

UN's impact is hamstrung by scant civil society participation

Mandeep Tiwana, chief officer for evidence and engagement at CIVICUS and Lysa John, Secretary General of CIVICUS Let’s not beat around the bush: this year’s United Nations General Assembly was a letdown.
Featured

Intergenerational Movement For Change: CIVICUS Uniting For A Just And Sustainable Future

By Secretary General, Lysa John and Chief Officer of Evidence and Engagement Mandeep Tiwana Defending people power and striving to promote excluded voices — this is the mission of CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world.
Featured

The UN’s Own Relevance Is at Stake at This Year’s General Assembly

By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Officer for evidence and engagement + representative to the UN headquarters at CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance This September, world leaders and public policy advocates from around the world will descend on New York for the UN General Assembly.
Featured

Niger coup – military intervention by Ecowas could prove costly for human rights

By David Kode, CIVICUS' Advocacy and Campaigns Lead  Mohamed Bazoum’s ascension to the presidency in 2021 in a rare political transition was a major boost for Niger’s democracy.
Featured

Lessons from our work across 2017 to 2022 and implications for our current strategic action

  A message from Lysa John, Secretary-General of CIVICUS    Dear CIVICUS members and allies At the close of our 2017-2022 Strategic Plan period, we committed to review the most significant outcomes achieved and lessons learnt from its implementation.
Featured

The Civic Space Crisis in Africa and How Civil Society Responds

Introduction The state of civic space globally and the environment for civil society continues to deteriorate.
Featured

Cloud Lingers over Sierra Leone’s Election

By Andrew Firmin CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Guatemala Clings to Democratic Promise

by Inés M.
Featured

MYANMAR: MILITARY JUNTA GETS A FREE PASS

By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Climate Change Gets Its Day in Court

By Inés M.
Featured

Thailand: Time for Democracy

By Andrew Firmin CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Chile: New Constitution in the Hands of the Far Right

By Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Celebrating our #1 position on the FAIR SHARE of Women Leaders Monitor

Dear members and allies,  CIVICUS has just been recognised as the top-ranking organisation in the annual FAIR SHARE for Women Leaders Monitor.
Featured

Civil society in a world of crisis: An overview of the 2023 State of Civil Society Report

Mandeep S.
Featured

Agenda 2030: Why civic participation is key to meeting UN sustainability targets

Mandeep S.
Featured

Uzbekistan: A President for Life?

By Andrew Firmin Where will you be in 2040? For Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the answer is: in the Kuksaroy Presidential Palace.

Localisation: A Paradigm Shift Towards Local Leadership in the Global South

By Deborah Mowesley, Innovation For Change InternIn recent years, words like “localisation” and “locally-led” have garnered significant attention.
Featured

Fiji: Deeper Democracy or Continuing Danger?

 It’s been a time of significant change in Fiji following the country’s December 2022 election.
Featured

Sudan conflict marks failure of transition plan

By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report On one side is the army, headed by Sudan’s current leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Featured

Global solidarity needed to address Taliban’s attacks on women’s rights

By David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead at CIVICUS  Matiullah Wesa’s crime was to try to ensure young people got an education in Afghanistan.
Featured

Cuba: elections without choices

By Ines Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist The uncertainty that’s the hallmark of a democratic election was absent on 26 March, the day Cubans were summoned to appoint members of the National Assembly of People’s Power, the country’s legislative body.

Strengthening Citizen Engagement and Participation in the Civic Space: Challenges and Recommendations

By Deborah Mowesley, Innovation For Change InternAs an intern at CIVICUS for the past two months, I have had the opportunity to gain valuable insight into the workings of civic engagement and participation.
Featured

Bahrain’s botched whitewashing attempt

By Inés M.
Featured

Civil Society a Vital Force for Change Against the Odds

By Andrew Firmin and Inés M.
Featured

Georgia: danger averted, for now

By Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Civic space – the bedrock of democracy – is scarce and contested

By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief of Programmes, CIVICUS On 29 and 30 March, the US government, in partnership with Costa Rica, Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia, will co-host the second virtual Summit for Democracy.
Featured

Belarus: A Prison State in Europe

By Andrew Firmin, Editor-in-Chief, CIVICUS Last October, Ales Bialiatski was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Featured

Tunisia’s nascent democracy is fast eroding

By David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead at CIVICUS In the space of less than three weeks, Tunisian President Kais Saied has rounded up and arrested at least thirteen people from different walks of life who share one thing in common: they have all publicly criticized the consolidation of power by the president.
Featured

Building Collective Action: Lessons from our Membership Engagement Month

A message from Lysa John, Secretary-General of CIVICUS    Dear CIVICUS members and allies,    Across 10 November to 10 December last year, we coordinated a series of events to mark our very first ‘Membership Engagement Month’.
Featured

Russia and Ukraine: Civil Society Repression and Response

By Andrew Firmin, Editor-in-Chief at CIVICUS Over the year since the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine, on one side of the border civil society has shown itself to be a vital part of the effort to save lives and protect rights – but on the other, it’s been repressed more ruthlessly than ever.
Featured

Nicaragua: An Opportunity for Democratic Solidarity

By Inés M.

Sign up for our newsletters

Our Newsletters

civicus logo white

CIVICUS is a global alliance that champions the power of civil society to create positive change.

brand x FacebookLogo YoutubeLogo InstagramLogo LinkedinLogo

 

Headquarters

25  Owl Street, 6th Floor

Johannesburg
South Africa
2092

Tel: +27 (0)11 833 5959


Fax: +27 (0)11 833 7997

UN Hub: New York

CIVICUS, c/o We Work

450 Lexington Ave

New York
NY
10017

United States

UN Hub: Geneva

11 Avenue de la Paix

Geneva

Switzerland
CH-1202

Tel: +41 (0)79 910 3428