As many of you know, over the past few months CIVICUS has been working on the production of the first edition of the Global Report on the State of Civil Society, which is based on the CSI studies in 44 countries.  Preceded by an introduction and a chapter describing the CSI approach and methodology, 44 country chapters form the core of the publication. Each chapter, which benefited from input by the respective CSI partner organisations as well as external reviewers, summarises the key results and recommendations emerging from the CSI study. Together, these chapters offer a useful overview of the state of civil society in these countries and attest to the diversity of civil society around the world.

We are happy to announce that the final manuscript has recently been submitted to Kumarian Press (www.kpbooks.com), which is CIVICUS’ partner in preparing this publication. CIVICUS will launch the publication at the CIVICUS World Assembly in May 2007 (taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, from 23 to 27 May 2007).

CSI Global Report Volume 2 “Investigating civil society across the globe”
By Lorenzo Fioramonti, CIVICUS CSI team

After the completion of the first volume of the CSI global report, the CSI team at CIVICUS is now working on a second volume that aims to analyse the findings of the Civil Society Index in a comparative fashion. The analysis of the second volume will focus on the similarities and differences across the 53 countries that have implemented the project and will highlight some crucial themes, which include: the relationship between citizen participation and organised civil society; state-civil society relations; and business, corporate philanthropy and social responsibility. The volume (which features contributions by about 20 renowned academics, practitioners, consultants and activists) will also analyse critical issues such as civil society’s infrastructure and policy influence, the accountability and transparency of civil society organisations and the description/s of civil society in the mass media.

The initial part of the volume will be entirely dedicated to the CSI methodology and will present the lessons learnt and the challenges encountered during the implementation, as well as the relevant impact generated by the project. Moreover, six chapters will analyse in detail the regional findings in Western Europe and the Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia.

Some authors will also use the CSI data to raise questions around a globally valid definition of civil society and the challenges of conducting comparative analysis on a topic such as civil society, which is inevitably shaped and characterised by local cultures, contexts and particularities.

The manuscript will be completed in May 2007 and the publication of the volume by Kumarian Press is expected towards the end of 2007. 

CSI Participatory NCO Evaluations – A Period for Self-Reflection
By Janine Schall-Emden, CIVICUS CSI team

Starting with the early ‘batch’ of CSI project implementations, such as the Czech Republic, the Monitoring and Evaluation team in CIVICUS has been facilitating the last yet crucial step of the project implementation in our respective partner countries during the past few months: the participatory NCO evaluation. This evaluation is, above all, a vehicle for self-reflection and evaluation, engaging the National Index Team and National Advisory Groups, as well as the CSI project team in CIVICUS. In addition to reflecting on the extent and priority of the outputs and outcomes, as well as criteria such as relevance and sustainability, the evaluation seeks to identify crucial gaps in the process and methodology of the project in the country context. It is also the venue for identifying what we have coined the ‘early signs of impact’ that are indicative of processes the discussion forums identify and knowledge that the project implementation and findings generate.

At this stage questionnaires have been received by 37 countries and the entire process was finalised in 25 of them; the remaining evaluations are expected to be concluded by the first quarter of 2007. A preliminary analysis of the 37 available cases provides a birds-eye view of the implementation of the CSI in these countries, some highlights of which are described as follows: It was shown that for our partners the creation of a ‘body of knowledge on the state of civil society’ was considered as the most significant output and was either mostly or completely achieved by 87%, while ‘forums for sharing knowledge on the state of civil society’ was seen as the least significant, achieved (completely/mostly) by 47%. This comes as a surprise, considering that many of the signs of impact stem out of these forums, yet it is less surprising when bearing in mind that many countries previously did not have a consolidated and in-depth body of knowledge assessing civil society.  Another interesting finding is the fact that 82% of our partners (on average) indicated that a given skill or capacity had been built during the implementation of the project, with the most mentioned being skills in 'participatory research methods’ with 90% of those respondents mentioning this.

Questions on the project validity and methodology also yielded a great deal of useful and important information, such as the challenges of making the most of the Regional Stakeholder Consultations, using the Social Forces Analysis as a tool for discussion as well as conducting successful Media Review research with limited resources and staff. The detailed information has been recorded and discussed and will provide the basis upon which the CIVICUS CSI team can develop options for the re-design of the methodology itself.  With respect to the signs of impact, most prominently recorded at this stage are changes on the respective organisational level, as many NCOs, their partners and funders now use the CSI as a diagnostic tool for the development of projects and strategic plans. Cross-sectoral impact on the academic, media and government levels was also registered, especially in those cases where the project has already been finalised and the findings disseminated.

In brief, the evaluation process has proven to be a very helpful tool for reflection and also gathering the rich knowledge of the project that our partners offer after the experience with all its highlights and challenges. The CSI’s M&E team will continue to record these experiences and share the findings of all completed projects at a later stage.

CSI featured at this year’s ARNOVA conference
By Finn Heinrich, CIVICUS

The annual conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organization and Voluntary Action took place in mid-November in Chicago, USA. CIVICUS’ Assistant Secretary General for Programmes, Volkhart Finn Heinrich, participated in the conference and presented results emerging from the Civil Society Index (CSI) in two sessions. Co-sponsored by the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) and chaired by ISTR Executive Director, Margery Daniels, Finn gave a presentation on the CSI approach and methodology, which led to an extensive and engaged discussion on the viability and pitfalls of comparative and participatory research on civil society. He was joined by Teresa Petrangolini, Secretary General of Cittadinanzitiva, the CSI partner in Italy, who provided insights on the merits and challenges of implementing the CSI.

The other session which featured the CSI focused on issues of CSO accountability. Here, the CSI’s findings on the extent of self-regulatory efforts, financial transparency, organisational democracy and corrupt practices, which will be published in Volume 2 of the Global Report on the State of Civil Society, were presented. The session also featured Dave Brown from the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University, who talked about the recently launched IANGO Accountability Charter, which is hosted by CIVICUS.

Civil society strengthening efforts in gear in Nairobi: Workshop on leading edge NGOs in the next decade
By Jacob Mati, CIVICUS CSI team

It was Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) who held that while he himself was not a partisan, he undertook to see things not differently, but further than the 'parties'. This statement in so many words was the clarion call for CSOs in ‘The Leading edge NGOs in the next decade’  workshop held in Nairobi between 26 and 28 October 2006. This workshop, part of ongoing debates and activities aimed at strengthening civil society organisations, was convened by TROCAIRE and Abantu for Development.

The workshop sought to discuss and come up with actionable recommendations on the key issues that leading edge CSOs need to consider as they move into the next decade; the overall environmental challenges/barriers that they will have to contend with and strategies that they will need to develop, apply and promote in order to remain leading edge organisations. Six discussion papers were presented that attempted to address these issues.

Participants were drawn mainly from CSOs based in Eastern and Southern African countries as well as TROCAIRE’s Ireland office.  CIVICUS was represented by Jacob Mati who presented a paper on building networks and alliances.

A major outcome of these discussions was a general agreement on the need for CSOs to network and build alliances as a strategy for their own strength in order to remain effective and relevant in the next decade. Arguably, the other major outcome was the recognition of the need to 'politicise' development. The idea that CSOs should be non-political and apolitical while development work has fundamental political implications was underscored as a contradiction. Current development practices demand that CSOs look and operate beyond the pigeonholes of the current development paradigms. In their quest for justice for all, and in seeking to make possible what seems impossible, CSOs need to take a stand and therefore be partisan against that which they propose to change. To refuse to do so is in essence an endorsement of the status quo.

For more information please contact: Elizabeth Kamau, liz@abantu.org

Dissemination of the Civil Society Index Report in Argentina
By Élida Cecconi, GADIS- Grupo de Análisis y Desarrollo Institucional y Social

The general objective of the dissemination strategy for the CSI findings in Argentina has two strategic aspects: 1) providing up to date and accurate information on the state of civil society in Argentina and 2) profiling the CSI partner organisation GADIS (Grupo de Análisis y Desarrollo Institucional y Social) as the main reference point with respect to information and knowledge generation on civil society in the country.

The dissemination strategy focuses on specific aspects, namely communicating the main aspects of the CSI and the main findings of the CSI in Argentina, conveying the highlights and findings of each dimension and, finally, sensitising and mobilising civil society around the strengths and weaknesses identified.   Different tools and materials are used for this purpose and include an electronic newsletter, a gazette for print media, summarised reports for other newsletters and the production of a CD-Rom with the PDF version of the complete CSI Country Report for Argentina. The hard copy of the report itself is also being published at present and several promotional events and discussion forums are planned.

The electronic information (newsletter and announcement) is received by over 6000 recipients of different sectors and continues to be expanded. It covers national civil society organisations, local governments and associations, specialised media, supplementary information on civil society in mass media (print), academia and research think tanks and, lastly, both private and public foundations.

Some preliminary results of this dissemination strategy include a visible increase in queries directed to GADIS by journalists and specialised media on the state of civil society in Argentina, while the information on the CSI has been quoted in several articles and studies on civil society in the country. This is an encouraging trend, considering that the report is not yet available in its print version. Furthermore, GADIS is planning to expand its dissemination strategy covering other audiences in order to achieve a more broad-based and wide-scale impact and increase the awareness of the important contributions that the Civil Society Index study has provided to the field in Argentina

CIVIL SOCIETY: A Sort of Growth in China
By Sanjay Suri, IPS published 5 October 2006

The Civil Society Index (CSI) project in China was implemented by the non-governmental organisation, the Research Centre of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The number and variety of civil society organisations has "significantly increased" since the 1990s, the CSI report on China says. The report states that Chinese civil society groups are "particularly well represented in the fields of environmental protection, poverty alleviation, trade promotion and community development.”

But the project also identified weaknesses in Chinese civil society, "such as limited citizen participation in civil society activities, a number of legal constraints in the establishment of grassroots NGOs and umbrella bodies, and the limited prominence CSOs (civil society organisations) give to sensitive issues such as democracy and government transparency."

The last of these may not be the least of the problems with Chinese civil society.

"You can't really find 'human rights groups' in China," coordinator of the CSI in China Jia Xijin told IPS in an email interview. Jia works in Tsinghua University  in Beijing.

"There are CSOs that work on rights protection for the floating population, women, and other disadvantaged people. They don't work directly on 'human rights'. There is a human rights group established by the government that mainly works on the white paper on human rights or other general issues."

”Much of civil society in China still has close links with the Chinese Communist Party”, said Jia. "Most of the large civil organisations have a close relationship with the CCP, for instance, the Women's Federation and the Federation of Disabilities."

”Many in China are still unfamiliar with the concept of civil society”, said Jia. "The meaning of the concept of civil society varies from one person to another. The common people don't know the word well, or use it in unclear ways."

Authorisation for civil organisations launched by the Party are easier, Jia said.

"The most broad concept of civil society in China includes civil organisations which are registered at the Bureau of Civil Affairs as a social group or civilian non-enterprise units or foundations," said Jia 

"Sometimes it also includes the village commission in a rural area and the residential commission in an urban area, and some institutions in transition," said Jia. "Democratic parties and religious groups are not considered as part of civil society in general."

Officially there are three types of CSOs in China, the report says: social organisations that are membership-based, foundations which are fund-based, and civilian non-enterprise units which have a public interest objective, such as private schools, non-profit hospitals and social service agencies.

At the end of 2005 there were 168,000 social organisations, 146,000 civilian non-enterprise units and 999 foundations in China, the CSI report states. The report points out that Chinese civil society has achieved a medium or slightly above medium level in the areas of impact and values, but that its structure and environment remain weak. The CSI report recommends improvement in structure and the over-regulated environment within which Chinese CSOs work. It also calls for an extension of civil society’s role beyond well-educated urban residents.

Transparency and Accountability: Among the Main Challenges for Latin American Civil Society
By Janine Schall-Emden, CIVICUS CSI team

On 6 October a discussion forum on the CSI as well as the transparency and accountability of civil society organisations was held in Santiago de Chile, engaging around 40 participants from different sectors and from diverse parts of the country. Our CSI partner organisation in this country, Fundación Soles, hosted our counterpart from Uruguay (Institute for Communication and Development) and myself to present the CSI methodology, main findings of the CSI internationally and for Latin America. Specific findings from the CSI implementation in Chile and Uruguay were featured by the civil society experts of the respective countries, while a member of Chile’s Stakeholder Advisory Group also presented her experience and involvement in the project’s implementation. During the Q&A session many participants revealed an interest in the delicate balance between the project’s international comparability and context specificity, with one participant expressing the need for conducting this type of project on the regional or district level, focusing on one region in Chile that is very different from the rest of the country.

Given that a main challenge highlighted by the implementation of the CSI in Latin America and internationally was the transparency and accountability of CSOs, this topic was subject to extensive discussion during the second half of the forum. During a round table discussion different positions were discussed on what it means to be transparent and accountable as a CSO and to whom. Questions such as standards of transparency for different types of organisations, how these concepts can be universal while still context specific – among many others – were discussed by grassroots organisation leaders, practitioners, academics, government and local media representatives. Considering the diversity of the participants, it is hardly surprising that heated debates ensued, yet consensus was reached on the specific need not only for setting in place norms, but particularly for monitoring their practice regularly within similar forums encouraging debate and reflection.

Civil Society’s Role in Promoting the Right to Information in Orissa
By Manas Ranjan Kar, Center for Youth and Social Development

Thomas Jefferson, former US President, once said, “Information is the currency of democracy”. This encapsulates the importance of information for a thriving democracy. In India, following sustained effort by civil society, the Right to Information (RTI) Act was finally enacted in 2005. This Act emanates from the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution. It is believed that this Act will help bring transparency and accountability to the governance system.

Although a year has passed since enactment, lack of public awareness about the Act remains a major concern. This is where civil society can play a key role, by making people aware of how to use RTI effectively.

Civil society in Orissa rose to the challenge of spreading awareness on RTI through a campaign, called Drive Against Bribe. A 15-day awareness-cum-assistance camp was organised by CYSD from 1 to 15 July 2006 in Bhubaneswar. 22 CSOs came together under the banner of Orissa Soochana Adhikar Mancha (Orissa Right to Information Forum) and many volunteers offered their services. The camp, besides creating awareness and helping people fill up RTI application forms, also set up assistance booths in front of many government offices. A national level CSO, Parivartan, and a leading TV channel, NDTV, also played a major role in the campaign.

CYSD, along with nearly 300 district level CSOs, then took a further initiative to spread awareness on RTI across Orissa. All 30 district headquarters and six other cities were covered under this programme from 10-19 November 2006. The 10-day long programme is a major achievement for CSOs in Orissa. More than 900 volunteers participated and nearly 38,000 applications were submitted at various government offices. Information was sought primarily on issues relating to delivery of government welfare schemes, land disputes, police and judicial cases. In many cases this has yielded immediate results and government officials have become more responsive.

Though there is still a long way to go, it has been realised that civil society can help create awareness on RTI and thus bring transparency and accountability to the governance system.