Opinions & Features

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Human Rights, Participation and the 2030 Agenda

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, CIVICUS Chief Programmes Officer  This January, the UN organised a much-needed dialogue in Geneva on the link between human rights and Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
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Civil society accountability in times of declining trust: CIVICUS’s journey

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By Merle Rutz CIVICUS Impact and Accountability Coordinator & Tamryn-Lee Fourie Impact and Accountability Lead (article on page 76) Under attack about their legitimacy and accountability, CSOs defending citizens’ rights have to maintain credibility among their constituency and the wider public.
Credit: Projet Jeune Leader

Remise en question des structures verticales de prise de décisions dans le secteur des Organisations de la Société Civile (OSCs) à travers l'amélioration des pratiques de redevabilité

Opinions & Features
Par Gaetan Mertens (Accountability Lab) et Resilient Roots (CIVICUS) Resilient Roots est une initiative de CIVICUS, menée en partenariat avec Keystone Accountability et Accountable Now.

Sketching Dreams Together

Opinions & Features
Reflections From CIVICUS’ Youth Co-Design Workshop In Montevideo By Gioel Gioacchino In December, as part of my work researching the resourcing landscape for youth-led civil society, I had the chance to witness and participate in a youth co-design workshop in Montevideo.
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Right-Wing nationalism threatens democratic norms, human rights & press freedom

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By Thalif Deen, Director & Senior Editor, UN Bureau, Inter Press Service interview  with Lysa John, CIVICUS Secretary General  The steady decline in multilateralism—accompanied by a rise in unilateralism– is beginning to threaten democratic norms, including press freedom, global governance, civic participation and human rights across Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.

Inspired and Challenged: Message from Lysa John, CIVICUS SG

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French  As I write this, I am heading into my second week as Secretary-General of CIVICUS – and each day has been an opportunity to understand a new dimension of this global alliance.
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We need to reimagine democracy to create a better life for all

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By Mandeep Tiwana, CIVICUS Chief Programmes Officer As 2019 gets going, it’s a time for many of us to reflect on the year past, consider our current situation and to contemplate resolutions for change in the future.
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Do referendums improve democracy?

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By Inés M.

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.
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Harassment and persecution of the voices that denounce the repression in Nicaragua

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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).

Climate change as a matter of peace

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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!

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Reflection from “Money, Culture and Change” - a participatory action research process on the sustainability of youth-led civil society organisations (CSOs) in Medellin, Colombia.
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The restriction of basic freedoms has become the global norm

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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.
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Renewing democracy: proposals and ideas from civil society

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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.
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Turning data-driven accountability into meaningful action for civil society

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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.
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Climate of repression a dark cloud over upcoming elections in Fiji

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By Josef Benedict, Civic Space Research Officer,CIVICUS   Powdery white beaches.

Thinking about how to measure your organisation’s accountability?

Opinions & Features
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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

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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

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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.
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African Union Makes Moves to Neutralise Africa’s Main Human Rights Body

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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?

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By Khurram Riaz, CIVICUS member from Pakistan With 207.
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5 Ways New Movement Leaders Are Effecting Change

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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

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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.
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Moving beyond resistance

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By Danny Sriskandarajah  Just a few years ago, it felt like the dawn of a new era of citizen participation.
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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.
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“Listen to us and let us have a direct say,” say citizens worldwide

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By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS' Editor-in-Chief A group of women fighting back against sexual harassment in Trinidad and Tobago.
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Are women the last line of defence against Brazil’s authoritarian shift?

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By Ana Cernov, human rights activist and Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist at CIVICUS In a matter of days, 2.
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Cameroon elections promise more trouble, not solutions for Anglophones

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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.
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Treaty pushes for environmental justice in Latin America and the Caribbean

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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.
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Can SA uphold its reputation for human rights on the UN Security Council?

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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

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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.
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Our heritage is a successful civil society

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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.
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Alarm bells ring as EU governments take aim at funding to ‘Political’ NGOs

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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.
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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?

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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

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By Lauren Bradford and Inga Ingulfsen  From 2011 to 2015 U.

Photos: Lives rent asunder by climate change in Bangladesh

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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

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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.
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SADC fiddles while the DRC burns

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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.

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