CIVICUS Board Elections 2022

Abigail Freeman

Saskia Brechenmacher

My name is Saskia Brechenmacher, and I am a researcher and advocate focused on democratic governance, gender equality, and civic space. I am currently a Fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as well as a Gates Cambridge Scholar at the University of Cambridge. I am originally from a small town in southern Germany, but my studies have taken me to France, Bosnia-and Herzegovina, and then the United States, where I obtained a BA at Brown University and an MA at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. ​​

As a researcher at Carnegie, my work over the past ten years has focused on analyzing the strategies that governments use to restrict civil society, as well as the responses by civic movements, organizations, and activists. I have studied the challenges civic organizations face in building local legitimacy, international responses to closing civic space, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on civic activism. My current research focuses on feminist mobilization in the face of backlash: as part of my doctoral research, I am investigating the gendered threats facing women rights defenders and political leaders in Kenya. 

  My goal is to help advocates and policymakers understand emerging political trends and formulate more effective strategies for democratic change, centering the experiences of activists and organizations working with grassroots communities. To this end, I have advised various bilateral and private funders on strategies to support civil society and women's political inclusion, including SIDA, the Fund for Global Human Rights, and the Ford Foundation. I also serve as a member of the OECD’s Civic Space Observatory Advisory Board and help convene an informal group of experts and organizations focused on defending civic space at the multilateral level. I have long admired CIVICUS’ work and relied on it in my own research and advocacy. In a context of rising autocratization, building broad-based coalitions for civic freedom, equality, and social justice strikes me as more important than ever. It would be an honor to be able to bring my research and policy experience at the global level to an organization that advances this crucial mission.

  1. Favourite quote by someone who inspires me

“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.” Robin Wall Kimmerer, writer, ecologist, writer, professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation 

  1. What skill are you most proud of or want to learn

The skill I am most proud of is understanding and speaking multiple languages - German, English, and French, and a bit of Russian and Swahili. Languages open up and enrich our world. But there are countless other skills I still want to learn - for example, I would love to become more skilled at identifying the trees and plants that grow around me and understand the ecosystem that I live in. I am also trying to become a better rock climber.

  1. What is your vision for civil society 

My vision for civil society is one of complexity, diversity, and reciprocity. I imagine civil society as a space where people can come together to find meaning and community, interact with and learn from people who are different from themselves, and bring about social change through nonviolent collective action - without fear of repression, stigmatization, and violence. It should be a space where those excluded or marginalized from other power structures in society can mobilize to make their voices and interests heard, and push for accountability for abuses and failures of representation and governance.

  1. What lessons have you learnt from failure 

There are many different types of failure we all go through in life, and they harbor different kinds of lessons. For me, one of them has been the value of persistence: sometimes, achieving a meaningful goal requires sustained effort over time, and experiences of failure do not mean that the goal is not achievable or worthwhile (even if the pathway there may look different than expected). Another important lesson may be to not fixate on failure, but foreground instead what you did achieve or learn in the process. ​​

Best wishes, and thank you for your support,  

Saskia 

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