Opinions & Features

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Sustainable development for all ages

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah It’s a global phenomenon, already exerting a profound social and economic impact in both rich and poor countries.

Leave no person with disabilities behind

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By Leave No One Behind Partneship and ADD International Pushpa Rani had pneumonia when she was eight years old, which left her extremely weak.

OGP must protect space for people power - before it is too late

Opinions & Features
By Cathal Gilbert  In some Open Government Partnership (OGP) member countries, the threats to peaceful dissent and activism are extremely grave.

We need a new social movement against inequality

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Oxfam’s latest estimate that just eight super-rich people – down from 62 last year and 388 just six years ago – own more wealth than the poorest half of the world population is a clarion call to change the way we think about and try to tackle inequality.
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The business case for civic space

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah The long-term health of all societies depends on the ability of individuals to come together to share new ideas, promote social cohesion and advance shared interests for mutual benefit.

Reasons to be hopeful: Five moments that inspired us in 2016

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The year 2016 was a difficult year in so many ways for those who believe in democratic values, fundamental human rights and social justice.
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Importance of protest in a Trump United States

Opinions & Features
By Elizabeth Stephens  In a speech shortly after the November election, President Barack Obama urged anti-Trump protesters not to be silent.
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Under threat: five countries in which civic space is rapidly closing

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By Danny Sriskandarajah The closing of civic space is not just about people’s right to organize or protest in individual countries.
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Why Trump, Brexit and populism could be an opportunity

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Many of the business and political leaders gathering in Davos this week will be focused on how to protect the global economic order - and their interests - after a year of major political and social upheavals.

The death of Baek Nam-gi: tragic local story connects to troubling global trend

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By Gayoon Baek On the 25th of September 2016, a 70-year old farmer died in South Korea of a brain haemorrhage after 317 days unconscious.

Monitoring, first step to halt shrinking civic space

Opinions & Features
By Bihter Moschini In 2015, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Tunisian civil society.
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Natural resource activists are paying a heavy price

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah and Elisa Peter  Today, natural resource campaigners are facing increasingly virulent push-back from political leaders and powerful corporations intent on defending vested interests.

Sioux protests and the protection of human rights in the United States

Opinions & Features
Español By Tor Hodenfield Tribal leaders’ protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota have been showing how both environmental and human rights are so difficult to defend in the US.

As much as it is a time of struggle and shrinking space, it is also a time for hope and revolution

Opinions & Features
30 members of the Affinity Group of National Associations (AGNA) gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa for a peer learning exchange.

We need to safeguard civic space

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah For those of us interested in social justice, democracy and human rights around the world, this Human Rights Day comes at the end of an annus horribilis.

Global gender goals: achieving local impact

Opinions & Features
By Davis Adieno  Demand is growing for gender data and targeted solutions for challenges unique to women, men, girls or boys.

About grantmaking and effective interventions

Opinions & Features
By Ine Van Severen Imagine the following scenario: as a donor you come across an informal community group with a great idea that would substantially benefit the community.
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Five trends in civil society

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Around the world, the freedom of citizens to protest, to mobilise and to speak out is being contested and restricted.
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Civil society resourcing: “Revolutions do not occur because of good project proposals”

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By  Ine Van Severen It’s undeniable: the space for civil society organisations (CSOs) and philanthropy is shrinking.
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Fiji’s role in leaving no-one behind in sustainable development

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah It is now confirmed that Fiji will be chairing the next United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 23) in Bonn, Germany.
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Movement builds to stop Congo’s president from postponing election

Opinions & Features
By David Kode  The Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, is grappling with a political crisis, following a move by the Constitutional Court affirming the electoral commission’s decision to postpone the date for the next presidential elections by 16 months.

Extractive Resources – An Alternative Source of Funding?

Opinions & Features
By Aimi Zhou The open session during the second day of the Global Summit on Community Philanthropy centred on a rarely discussed, but frequently controversial topic: communities receiving funding from extractive companies.
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“Dead Men Don’t Vote” in Gambia

Opinions & Features
By David Kode  “Dead men don’t vote,” said a Gambian political activist known as Mama Africa.
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Why Global Efforts To Tackle Climate Change And Sustainable Development Must ‘Leave No One Behind’

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Two weeks after the Paris Climate Change Agreement officially came into force - marking the first time that governments have agreed legally binding limits to global temperature rises - the leaders of 195 countries are meeting in Marrakech for a critical climate change conference.
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Political crisis in the DRC: the AU must be proactive and learn from the past

Opinions & Features
By David Kode  On Saturday 5th October, police in Democratic Republic of Congo reportedly used tear gas and armoured vehicles to break up a demonstration organised by members of the opposition, who were gathering in spite of an official ban on protest in place since 22 September.

The Mythology of Freedom and Democracy

Opinions & Features
Many US citizens may instinctively believe they still live in the land of the free, but a new global rights rating system shows the country is far less tolerant than they may think.

The CIVICUS monitor – Informing the fightback against closing civic space

Opinions & Features
After two years of deep thinking and hard work, the global civil society alliance CIVICUS has launched the beta version of the CIVICUS Monitor – the first ever online tool specifically designed to track and rate respect for civic space, in as close to real-time as possible.
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Stand up for the girl child! - Nyaradzo Mashayamombe (TaLi)

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World over, girls are faced with enormous challenges, and each continent has its specific issues which perpetuate these vulnerabilities.

Norway must stand firm on its commitment to sustainable development

Opinions & Features
Prime Minister Solberg is becoming an international development superstar.

Cherish Not Vilify Indian Civil Society

Opinions & Features
Civil society has been described as the oxygen of democracy by no less than UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

Australia must forge a new path through a rapidly shifting international development landscape

Opinions & Features
For the last three years, Australia’s foreign aid budget has been in free-fall.

Global migration summits are high-stakes and high-risk

Opinions & Features
Last year, it was estimated that there were 20 million refugees and 244 million migrants around the world.

Protecting and expanding civil society space nationally and internationally

Opinions & Features
In many ways 2015 marked a watershed for civil society.

The protection of refugees needs a strong civil society

Opinions & Features
In 2015, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), counted 65 million people around the world forced to leave their homes.

People should have a say in electing the new UN head

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We are about to elect a new secretary-general for the United Nations.

Humanitarian Future

Opinions & Features
The first World Humanitarian Summit has come and gone.

Southern philanthropy to the rescue?

Opinions & Features
Human rights and social justice focused organisations in the global south are facing double trouble.

Human rights activists are being portrayed as terrorists and foreign puppets

Opinions & Features
After being detained for 50 days, World Vision’s operations manager in the Gaza Strip, Mohammad Halabi, has been charged by the Israeli authorities with channelling millions of dollars of charitable funds to Hamas.

Leaving No One Behind: Land and environmental defenders at the heart of sustainable development goals

Opinions & Features
The phrase "leaving no one behind" is used no fewer than six times in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development agreed by global leaders as a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.

Why We Need To Make The Next Olympics 'The People’s Games'

Opinions & Features
As the world tunes into the Rio 2016 Olympics, I feel ambivalent: torn between hoping the Games will deliver for Rio and for Brazil and knowing that, without radical reform, the selection processes for Olympic host cities will continue to have serious negative consequences, often for the most disadvantaged in our societies.

UN Spotlight for Dark Shadow over Civil Society Rights

Opinions & Features
With more and more governments narrowing space for dissent and activism, the UN has emerged as a key platform to air concerns about acute rights violations and develop protections for civil society and other vulnerable groups.

Teachers and Students: Tip of Iceberg of Mexico’s Human Rights Crisis

Opinions & Features
Mexico is experiencing a monumental human rights crisis.

Egypt: Targeting Mozn harmful to MENA regional gender justice struggle

Opinions & Features
When the Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) Regional Coalition for Middle East and North Africa met this past week in Beirut, one seat was noticeably empty.

Re-igniting youth participation at CIVICUS

Opinions & Features
In recent years there has been an explosion of attention and focus on young people.

Youth at the forefront of sustainability

Opinions & Features
By Fideline Mboringong and Angga D.

Putting citizens at its heart: The UN needs a 21st century makeover

Opinions & Features
Most of today’s intergovernmental institutions – the UN included – were designed in the 1940s and 50s, with the pre-eminence of states in their blueprint and post-War hierarchies at their heart.

Challenging exclusion: why civil society matters

Opinions & Features
We live in an age of multiple paradoxes.

We must step up the struggle for LGBTI rights

Opinions & Features
Every generation has its iconic struggle for equality, from the civil rights movement to the push towards gender parity.

Five things international NGOs are blamed for

Opinions & Features
I hear lots of talk – sometimes in public and often in private – about the role of big NGOs in development.

An open letter to our fellow activists across the globe: Building from below and beyond borders

Opinions & Features
French | Spanish Dear friend, Six decades after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, creating a global covenant affirming the fact that ‘all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights,’ the vision lies in tatters, made worthless by the ever-increasing chasm between haves and have-nots.

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