Opinions & Features

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CIVICUS report documents how states need civil society as second wave of COVID-19 hits worldwide

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By Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist and Andrew Firmin Editor-in-Chief at CIVICUS Covid-19 has unleashed a multi-dimensional, once-in-a-generation crisis.
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Amid COVID-19, what is the health of civic freedoms?

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By Marianna Belalba Barreto, Civic Space Research Lead at CIVICUS and Aarti Narsee, Civic Space Research Officer More than half a year after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, governments are continuing to waste precious time and energy restricting human rights rather than focusing on fighting the virus.
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Violence against transgender people in Pakistan

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TW/CW: transphobia, physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual violence, rape, torture, murder, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse I am Saro Imran, a transgender activist running a community-based organisation in Pakistan.
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Access to information during a pandemic: a matter of life or death

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By Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist No year could be more appropriate than 2020 for the world to celebrate its first International Day for Universal Access to Information (September 28).
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High stakes and pent up tensions in Côte d’Ivoire’s presidential election

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By David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead As Côte d’Ivoire’s much-anticipated 31 October elections approach, voters are facing a familiar sequence of events.

Case Study on the Power of Radical Collaboration: People Before Projects

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Conversation between Enhle Khumalo, CIVICUS Youth and Abigail Freeman, Alliance for Gender Justice Liberia in August 2020.
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At 75, is the UN still fit for purpose?

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By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS This 75th anniversary offers a unique opportunity to examine the UN’s failings and reflect on ideas to improve its functioning.
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Côte d’Ivoire’s democracy in the balance as hotly contested elections loom

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By David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns lead at CIVICUS With two months to go before elections in Côte d’Ivoire, the priority is to ensure that there is an enabling environment for campaigns and rallies to be held without violence.
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From local to global: How can social-activism volunteering unite communities?

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Lysa John, Secretary-General of CIVICUS Participation is a human right, deeply rooted in our need to form and voice opinions and influence the structures shaping our lives.
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Coronavirus: Will it change our politics?

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Has the Coronavirus crisis changed our view of politicians and what citizens now expect from them? Leaders around the world have dealt with the pandemic very differently, with some being praised for their handling of the outbreak, and some criticised.
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Saluons le 10000ème membre de notre solide alliance!

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Mise à jour de la Secrétaire Générale : Août 2020

India: Rich Land of Poor People

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On International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August), we commend the work of imprisoned lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, defender of Indigenous communities in India.
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Stories from the youth climate movement in the Global South

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By Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist at CIVICUS In early 2020, as millions went into lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the environment experienced temporary relief from the impacts of human activity.
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Civil society in the post-pandemic world

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By Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist at CIVICUS In many circles, ‘civil society participation’ has become a fashion accessory that everyone wants to flaunt.
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Ending Systemic Racism

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Around the world, protesters have gathered in solidarity with the US Black Lives Matter movement as they demand an end to systemic racism.
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3 funding concerns for civil society during this pandemic

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The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly exacerbated, accelerated, and further exposed global challenges.
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Coronavirus and European Civil Society

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By Aarti Narsee, Civic Space Researcher at CIVICUS European civil society is in a tug-of-war between restrictions, which may lead to the rise of a more fragile, authoritarian Europe, and resilience, which may suggest a more optimistic future in which civil society emerges stronger than before.
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Observations on the quest to build back better

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SDG Knowledge Hub’s interview with Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer Five years since the passage of the SDGs, the impulse in many quarters is still to scale up existing approaches, rather than to push for fundamental changes in how our societies and economies function to better realize rights.
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Right to protest and civic freedoms

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By Josef Benedict, civic space researcher at CIVICUS The right to peaceful assembly is a fundamental freedom and key pillar for civic space.
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COVID-19 is a reminder that civil society is vital to the defence of our collective well-being

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This article was originally published on Revista da Plataforma Portuguesa das ONGD By Lysa JohnSecretary-General, CIVICUS@LysaJohn Covid-19 victims dying in hospital corridors and on the streets of Guayaquil, Ecuador.
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OPINION: Want a better post-pandemic world? Civil society has the answers

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By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief  Many of us continue to live in states of lockdown, but even as we do so the debate about what kind of world we want to re-emerge to should be an urgent one.
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Undercurrents: Protecting workers during COVID-19

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Discussion between Lysa John and Agnes Frimston for Chatham House Undercurrent podcast  In this week's episode of Chatham House's podcast Undercurrents, Lysa John, Secretary General of CIVICUS joins Agnes in discussing the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on worker's rights across the world.
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'Can job security be guaranteed?' Interview with Lysa John

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Interview with Lysa John about why protecting workers during the COVID-19 crisis is crucial.
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Future of Civil Society Organisations

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The COVID-19 pandemic can re-energise the demands of civil society organisations to put people at the heart of the changes we need: to protect the planet from degradation, to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives, that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature and fosters peaceful, just and inclusive societies.
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World Press Freedom Day: The assault on media freedom in Asia worsens during COVID-19 pandemic

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By Josef Benedict, civic space researcher at CIVICUS May 3rd marks World Press Freedom Day around the world.
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Fit for the future: Can we emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis?

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By Lysa John (CIVICUS), Chris Worman (TechSoup) and Benjamin Bellegy (WINGS) It seems ironic that only a few months ago, we were celebrating 2019 as the ‘Year of People Power’ and a mass global uprising against autocratic regimes across the world seemed achievable.
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On World Press Freedom Day, the EU must rescue media independence in Hungary before it’s too late

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By Aarti Narsee, civic space research officer at CIVICUS Censorship, smear campaigns and harassment.
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Reimagining a post-COVID world: Key principles for the future

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By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS Today, the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting our lives and livelihoods in wholly unanticipated ways, testing the resilience of our social, economic and political structures.
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7 Q&As about participatory grantmaking

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In February, CIVICUS hosted an animated webinar called ‘Participatory grantmaking in action’ in partnership with UHAI EASHRI, Africa’s first indigenous activist fund supporting sexual and gender minorities and sex worker human rights, and Candid, an organisation that has extensively researched and promoted participatory grantmaking.
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Ressources pour la société civile en période de pandémie COVID-19

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Défendre la société civile, les droits démocratiques et nos libertés fondamentales peut être un défi, sans parler du fait de devoir le faire pendant le "confinement", en pratiquant la distanciation sociale au milieu d'une crise sanitaire mondiale qui s'étend rapidement dans le monde entier.

5 amazing funds that are making a difference for women

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Did you know that only 4% of the total Official Development Assistance (ODA) supports programmes that integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment as the main objective? And only 3% of that fraction goes to women’s rights organisations.
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Elections test Africa’s democracy

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By David Kode,  advocacy and campaigns lead for CIVICUS Once again, the state of democracy on the continent will be tested as millions of Africans go to the polls this year to decide who will lead them for the next few years.
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Smeared and vilified by Duterte, activists in the Philippines are fighting back

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By Josef Benedict, civic space researcher at CIVICUS One tactic that CIVICUS has seen increasingly being used by the government to target activists and NGOs is to label them as “terrorists” or “communist fronts”, particularly those who have been critical of Duterte’s deadly “war on drugs” that has killed thousands.
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Alpha Condé wants a third term in Guinea. The AU must stop him

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By David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead  President Ramaphosa and the AU have a crucial role in aiding the continuation of Guinea's democracy.
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The Republic at 71: faced with an unbending government, Indians continue to speak out

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By Lysa John Berna, Secretary-General of CIVICUS and Mandeep Singh Tiwana Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS A respected woman social activist and political leader beaten and kicked in the stomach at a police station for recording a public protest.

The CIVICUS Diversity and Inclusion journey continued

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Diversity and Inclusion has become a hot topic within civil society in recent years.
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Counter-terrorism laws provide a smokescreen for civil society restrictions

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By Susan Wilding, Head of Geneva Office at CIVICUS In all regions of the world, spontaneous people’s movements are demanding better governance, rule of law and justice.
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Here’s how civil society can push rising hate back to the fringes

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By Andrew Firmin, editor-in-chief of CIVICUS Our efforts as civil society will work best when paired with mass mobilisations that demonstrate popular support for rights and defiance in the face of those who seek to deny rights, including by counter-protesting when anti-rights forces seek to claim public space and dominate public discourse.
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Handy tips and techniques to help you with your next proposal

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CIVICUS invited its member, the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) to facilitate a proposal writing and resource mobilisation workshop for staff in 2019.
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2019 Was a Dark Year for Civic Freedoms in Asia

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By Josef Benedict, civic space research officer at CIVICUS The assault on fundamental freedoms and civil society is escalating across the globe.

3 lessons learned about resourcing civil society in the 21st century

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By Yessenia Soto, Community Engagement Officer on Civil Society Resourcing at CIVICUS In 2019, CIVICUS set out to find ways to better support and resource citizen action in the 21st century.
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CIVICUS Annual General Meeting

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From the 30th October to the 8th November 2019 members gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa from all over the world for the CIVICUS Annual General meeting.
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COP25, UN Climate Change Conference, 2-15 December, Madrid, Spain

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From 2 to 15 December, more than 20,000 people from almost 200 countries attended COP25, the UN climate change conference.

CIVICUS strategy review workshop: a step into social cohesion and sustainable development

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By Mohammad Hasan, Yes Theatre Palestine CIVICUS’ process to mid-term review its strategic plan (2017-2022) is almost finished.
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Innovative 15-year old activist driving social inclusion movement in India

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This article is part of the #StoriesOfResilience series, coordinated by CIVICUS to feature groups and activists on their journey to promote better resourcing practices for civil society and to mobilise meaningful resources to sustain their work.
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Burundi: A president “chosen by God” and those who disagree

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By Paul Mulindwa, advocacy and campaigns officer at CIVICUS Four years after Burundi’s crisis began, 300,000 people have fled the country for safety.
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Fiji’s review at the Human Rights Council highlights lack of progress on civic freedoms

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By Josef Benedict, civic space research officer at CIVICUS This November in Geneva, the United Nations examined Fiji’s human rights record for the third time.
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Out in the cold: The plight of the UWC 143

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By Masana Ndinga-Kanga, Crisis Response Fund lead at CIVICUS and Lundi Mazizi, co-ordinator of the UWC Ex-Workers Movement So much can happen in 900 days.
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The UN at 75: Time to Give Citizens a Voice

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By Andreas Bummel the Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders, Lysa John Secretary-General of CIVICUS and Bruno Kaufmann is co-president of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy and board member of Democracy International Next year the United Nations will commemorate its 75th anniversary.
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The Rapid Decline in Civic Freedoms: 5 Countries to Keep an Eye on

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By Ine Van Severen, Civic Space Researcher at CIVICUS 2019 has been a year of protest.

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