Do referendums improve democracy?
Opinions & Features
By Inés M.
Opinions & Features
CIVICUS’ AGM comes to a close with an approved Annual Report and Solidarity Fund!
Opinions & Features
Spanish | French
In December 2018, CIVICUS members from all over the world gather in Montevideo, Uruguay, to attend a multiplicity of convenings.
Going forward hopeful: Reflections and farewell from outgoing SG of CIVICUS
Opinions & Features
Spanish | French
As my time at CIVICUS draws to a close, I wanted to say a proper farewell to those who matter most at CIVICUS – the alliance of members and partners - who make this organisation unique and so special.
Harassment and persecution of the voices that denounce the repression in Nicaragua
Opinions & Features
By Natalia Gomez Peña is Advocacy & Engagement Officer at CIVICUS
On Wednesday, December 12, the National Assembly of Nicaragua voted to cancel the legal personality of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH).
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Climate change as a matter of peace
Opinions & Features
By Flávia Bellaguarda, Co-Founder and COO, Youth Climate Leaders
The Youth Climate Leaders (YCL) was honored to be selected to attend the first edition of the Paris Peace Forum, from 11th to 13th November, and to showcase our startup in the environmental village among other 119 projects from all over the world.
Civil society is blurring? Let’s remember our whys and get creative!
Opinions & Features
Reflection from “Money, Culture and Change” - a participatory action research process on the sustainability of youth-led civil society organisations (CSOs) in Medellin, Colombia.
The restriction of basic freedoms has become the global norm
Opinions & Features
By Cathal Gilbert, CIVICUS Head of Civic Space Research
Imagine inviting your ten closest friends to dinner but only four of them show up.
Disability inclusion benefits us all
Opinions & Features
by Lieke Scheewe, policy advisor & coordinator at DCDD
Today is World Disability Day – a great day to celebrate the value of human diversity! That’s why the Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD) is making a case today for the value of a disability inclusive society, by launching a ‘social business case’.
What if ‘bottom-up’ wasn’t the answer?
Opinions & Features
By Marina Cherbonnier, CIVICUS membership engagement specialist
As I was walking around the stands, agoras and meet-ups of the very interactive and lively first edition of the Paris Peace Forum, I couldn’t help but keep stumbling across the by-now well-known expression ‘bottom-up approach’, used as a way to build a fair and better world.
Renewing democracy: proposals and ideas from civil society
Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, CIVICUS Chief Programmes Officer
If we could reimagine the kind of democracy we live in and the way we experience democracy, what would it look and be like?
This was the question our global civil society alliance CIVICUS put to thought leaders and activists from nearly 80 countries across the globe, in a year-long Reimagining Democracy initiative.
Turning data-driven accountability into meaningful action for civil society
Opinions & Features
By Merle Rutz, CIVICUS Accountability and Impact Coordinator
Are we representing and amplifying the right voices? Are our programmes and campaigns geographically inclusive? How can we support our vision with actual data in order to make good strategic decisions?
These are some of the pressing questions we in civil society today are having to ask – and answer.
Climate of repression a dark cloud over upcoming elections in Fiji
Opinions & Features
By Josef Benedict, Civic Space Research Officer,CIVICUS
Powdery white beaches.
Latin America | The Escazú Agreement: a light of hope for those standing up for the environment
Opinions & Features
By Natalia Gomez Peña, Advocacy & Network Engagement Officer, CIVICUS
In Latin America, environmental activists risk their lives as a consequence of the vital work they do.
Global Citizenship Education as a Sustainable Development course: My first class
Opinions & Features
By Claudia Cassoma, writer, student in special education and teaching and CIVICUS member
Considering Sustainable Development as the program of study, the major, perhaps the end goal; let's look at Global Citizenship Education as the required course and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the elective ones.
My Participation in the Bridge 47 Event and its Impact on our Education Program in Palestine
Opinions & Features
By Jamil Derbashi, from Palestinian Centre for Communication and Development Strategies (PCCDS), Palestine, and CIVICUS member
How the Bridge 47 project relates to our work in Palestine
My participation in the Bridge 47 Event in Brussels was one of my most important international meeting involvement in 2018.
African Union Makes Moves to Neutralise Africa’s Main Human Rights Body
Opinions & Features
By David Kode, CIVICUS Advocacy and Campaigns lead
For many African activists based on the continent, getting to a major human rights summit just underway in The Gambia is likely to have been a challenging exercise.
Pakistan: “Global Citizenship”, a western perspective?
Opinions & Features
By Khurram Riaz, CIVICUS member from Pakistan With 207.
5 Ways New Movement Leaders Are Effecting Change
Opinions & Features
By Michael Silberman, Global Director of Mobilisation Lab, a network that equips social change-makers and their organisations to deliver more effective, people-powered campaigns in order to win in the digital age.
What constituents say about CIVICUS
Opinions & Features
By Marina Cherbonnier, CIVICUS Membership Engagement Specialist
Spanish | French
Early 2018, we asked CIVICUS constituents to tell us about how they perceive CIVICUS’ work - what’s successful and what can be improved.
Moving beyond resistance
Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah
Just a few years ago, it felt like the dawn of a new era of citizen participation.
Agenda 2030 marred by MDG mindsets on steroids
Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, CIVICUS' Chief Programmes Officer
Business as usual is bad news for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, arguably the greatest human endeavour ever attempted to create just, equal and sustainable societies.
What “Global Citizenship” means to you - if anything
Opinions & Features
Marina Cherbonnier, CIVICUS membership engagement specialist and Bridge 47 steering group member.
“Listen to us and let us have a direct say,” say citizens worldwide
Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS' Editor-in-Chief
A group of women fighting back against sexual harassment in Trinidad and Tobago.
Are women the last line of defence against Brazil’s authoritarian shift?
Opinions & Features
By Ana Cernov, human rights activist and Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist at CIVICUS
In a matter of days, 2.
Cameroon elections promise more trouble, not solutions for Anglophones
Opinions & Features
By Teldah Mawarire, Campaigns and Advocacy Officer and Ine van Severen, Civic Space Research Officer
For nations in crisis, free and fair elections usually can bring much-needed reprieve.
Treaty pushes for environmental justice in Latin America and the Caribbean
Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah, CIVICUS Secretary General
Despite closing space for civil society, the new Escazú Agreement—which offers protection measures for environmental groups and defenders—is a shining example of citizens organizing in creative ways to fight for social justice.
Can SA uphold its reputation for human rights on the UN Security Council?
Opinions & Features
By Masana Ndinga-Kanga, Crisis Response Fund Coordinator and Advocacy Officer for the Middle East/North Africa region and Lyndal Rowlands, CIVICUS UN Advocacy Officer.
Resilience in times of shrinking civic space: How Resilient Roots organisations are attempting to strengthen their roots through primary constituent accountability
Opinions & Features
Soulayma Mardam Bey (CIVICUS) and Isabelle Büchner (Accountable Now)
The systematic crackdown on peaceful protests and demonstrations across the world has shaped our understanding of repression against civil society organisations (CSOs).
Ganar espacio desde la raíz
Opinions & Features
Escrito por Analía Bettoni – Instituto de Comunicación y Desarrollo
En su reciente artículo The revolution will not be televised: Can NGOs learn to adapt? , Dom Perera, investigador del CIVICUS Monitor plantea que si bien en los últimos 25 años ha habido un crecimiento explosivo en el número de organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG), su papel en generar un cambio social se cuestiona.
Our heritage is a successful civil society
Opinions & Features
By William Gumede, Executive Chairperson of Democracy Works Foundation
The publication of this piece was facilitated by CIVICUS as part of our 25th anniversary celebrations
As we celebrate our diverse cultures during Heritage Month, worth celebrating too is a civil society culture that has not only promoted cultural diversity but is also itself diverse, with a hard-won heritage of tirelessly fighting for the rights of the people in this country.
Every Voice Counts: UN Puts Spotlight on Children as Human Rights Defenders
Opinions & Features
By Lena Ingelstam and Ulrika Cilliers, Save the Children, Tor Hodenfield, CIVICUS, and Beatrice Schulter, Child Rights Connect
Many children want to defend their rights and the rights of others and when children speak out things change.
Alarm bells ring as EU governments take aim at funding to ‘Political’ NGOs
Opinions & Features
By Cathal Gilbert, Civic Space Research Lead at CIVICUS and Giada Negri, Research and Advocacy Officer with the European Civic Forum
Increasingly, public figures across Europe are twisting the meaning of “political activity” by claiming that NGOs overstep the mark when they campaign publicly for social or policy change: that they somehow encroach on territory reserved exclusively for political parties.
Orinoco mining arch: the crisis that few speak of in Venezuela
Opinions & Features
By Ms.
Rural Colombia, Iván Duque and the peace agreements
Opinions & Features
By Natalia Gómez is an Official of the Vuka Coalition! for civic action, part of the Global Alliance for Civil Society-CIVICUS.
Pacific Island leaders are tightening the screws on press freedom, dissent
Opinions & Features
By Josef Benedict, CIVICUS civic space research officer.
The world has changed; why haven’t we?
Opinions & Features
French | Spanish
The world has changed dramatically since the turn of the century.
Resilient Roots: Debunking the Myths around Primary Constituent Accountability
Opinions & Features
By Isabelle Büchner (Accountable Now) and Laurence Prinz (Keystone Accountability)
When you are passionate about something and join others to work on it collectively, you quickly start to develop your own group language.
General Operating Support for Local Organizations Represented Just 1% of International Giving by U.S. Foundations Over Five-year Period
Opinions & Features
By Lauren Bradford and Inga Ingulfsen
From 2011 to 2015 U.
Photos: Lives rent asunder by climate change in Bangladesh
Opinions & Features
In 2018, two global agreements - one focused on the protection of refugees and the other on migration - are in the final stages of negotiation between governments, under the auspices of the United Nations.
Faire partie de CIVICUS nous a permis de défendre les droits des prisonniers au Burundi
Opinions & Features
English | Spanish
A l’occasion des 25 ans de CIVICUS, SABUSHIMIKE Mamert, Président de l'Association des Amis de la Nature (AAN) et chargé de la communication et du plaidoyer au sein de la Coalition du Burundi pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme, exprime comment faire partie de CIVICUS - l’Alliance Mondiale pour la participation des citoyens – a permis à son association d’avoir un impact pour l’amélioration des conditions des prisonniers au Burundi et le respect de leurs droits.
Construyendo juntos un mejor entorno habilitante para todas las organizaciones sociales en el mundo
Opinions & Features
English | French
Con motivo de los 25 años de CIVICUS, RACI: la Red Argentina de Cooperación Internacional queremos, explica de qué manera el ser parte de CIVICUS - Alianza Mundial para la participación ciudadana – permite cconstruir juntos un mejor entorno habilitante para todas las organizaciones sociales en el mundo.
SADC fiddles while the DRC burns
Opinions & Features
By Teldah Mawarire, Advocacy and Campaigns Officer and Ine van Severen, Civic Space Research Officer
When a home catches fire, neighbours dash out to fight the blaze.
Marginalised Malaysians hope promised reforms will include their rights
Opinions & Features
By Josef Benedict, Civic Space Reearch Officer
There is optimism following the 100 days of Malaysia’s new government – but the country’s marginalised groups wonder if it will go far enough to fight for equal rights.
Lack of progress on human rights commitments during gov't's first 100 days
Opinions & Features
By David Kode, CIVICUS and Matthew Bugher, Article 19
Dear Prime Minister, we congratulate you on your election victory on May 9, 2018, and your first 100 days in office.
Does greater accountability mean greater resilience? Findings from our research so far
Opinions & Features
By Kingsley Orievulu and Jack Cornforth
When ActionAid Uganda faced attacks from the government for their work, including freezing the organisation’s bank account, unrelenting support from local partners and credible local leadership ensured massive popular support during the ensuing legal battle (and eventual victory) against the government.
Featured
Asia home to largest number of indigenous peoples: Activists building a movement in face of attacks
Opinions & Features
By Josef Benedict, Civic Space Research Officer
The 9th of August, marks International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.
We need new ways to protect people in the digital era
Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah
In an age of ever-advancing, ever-encroaching technology, how do we ensure that our basic rights are protected? New technologies and the speed of progress these days may have many positive impacts on our lives but the fact that they are poorly regulated and hardly understood by the public, poses serious threats.
Partnerships for sustainability
Opinions & Features
By Siok Sian Pek-Dorji, from Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy and CIVICUS member delegate to the EC Partnership Forum 2018.
