Opinions & Features

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Under attack but fighting back

Opinions & Features
By Débora Leão, Civic Space Research Officer at CIVICUS and Marianna Belalba Barreto, Civic Space Cluster Lead at CIVICUS 2019 was a year of collective action, and although the repression of civic space activism continues to rise, human rights defenders, activists, and civil society continue to operate, adapt, and resist.
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Coronavirus: Will it change our politics?

Opinions & Features
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.

Celebrating our 10,000 strong alliance!

Opinions & Features
Secretary General’s Update: August 2020
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Journalists fight back: Media freedom is further eroded in Hungary

Opinions & Features
By Aarti Narsee, Civic Space Researcher at CIVICUS & Orsolya Reich, Advocacy Officer at Civil Liberties Union for Europe What little media independence remains in Hungary hangs by a thread.

India: Rich Land of Poor People

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly exacerbated, accelerated, and further exposed global challenges.
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COVID-19 Used as Smokescreen to Undermine Gender Rights Globally

Opinions & Features
By Aarti Narsee, Civic Space Researcher at CIVICUS Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, sexual and reproductive rights are being attacked globally: LGBTQI+ persons are facing heightened discrimination, women find themselves trapped indoors with the perpetrators of domestic violence, and access to abortion is being restricted.
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Coronavirus and European Civil Society

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
By Josef Benedict, civic space researcher at CIVICUS The right to peaceful assembly is a fundamental freedom and key pillar for civic space.

Reimagining youth power post COVID-19: Lessons from the Goalkeepers Youth Action Accelerator

Opinions & Features
CIVICUS’ recently concluded experiment with a group of young activists offers interesting insights for youth power in a post-Covid-19 world.
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COVID-19 is a reminder that civil society is vital to the defence of our collective well-being

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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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To face COVID-19, the human rights community must first protect its own workers

Opinions & Features
By Lysa John, Secretary General of CIVICUS This crisis should be a wakeup call to all of us in civil society to strengthen social protection measures in our own sector.
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Undercurrents: Protecting workers during COVID-19

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
Interview with Lysa John about why protecting workers during the COVID-19 crisis is crucial.

Here’s what we are achieving through our COVID-19 efforts

Opinions & Features
Secretary General's Update Dear CIVICUS members and allies, This has been a particularly tumultuous period for both civil society and the wider world.
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Future of Civil Society Organisations

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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?

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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.

Leading with our values: Protecting our co-workers during COVID-19 must be a priority

Opinions & Features
Secretary General’s Update  Dear CIVICUS members and allies, The past few weeks have been unlike anything we have known or could have imagined.
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7 Q&As about participatory grantmaking

Opinions & Features
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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Resources for civil society in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

Opinions & Features
Defending civil society, democratic rights, and our fundamental freedoms can be challenging, let alone having to do it while under “lockdown” practicing social distancing in the midst of a global health crisis spreading rapidly across the world.

5 amazing funds that are making a difference for women

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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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Staying true to ambition: Priorities from our mid-term strategy review

Opinions & Features
Secretary General’s Update Dear CIVICUS members and allies, January was replete with the signals that the coming months will require significantly increased levels of ambition and action if we, civil society, are to remain relevant to the issues of our times.
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Democratising information is key to democratise funding access for grassroots and activists

Opinions & Features
By Anna Kolotovkina, a civil society resourcing intern at CIVICUS, social volunteer and activist.
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The Republic at 71: faced with an unbending government, Indians continue to speak out

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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.

It's time for radical collaboration: Our experience co-designing with CIVICUS

Opinions & Features
By: Youth Co-Design Team The challenges of grassroots activism Citizens are organising and mobilising in new and creative ways.
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Here’s how civil society can push rising hate back to the fringes

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
By Josef Benedict, civic space research officer at CIVICUS The assault on fundamental freedoms and civil society is escalating across the globe.
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Defiant and undeterred: Looking back at a year of extraordinary civic activism

Opinions & Features
Dear CIVICUS members and allies, We are ending the year as we began – with awe for how civil society and citizens have been unstoppable despite widespread and often brutal backlash by governments, and with a stronger resolve to do more - much more - to reinforce struggles for human rights and social justice across countries and communities.

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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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

Opinions & Features
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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