Our values shape CIVICUS work to amplify civil society voices, support activists and organisations speak truth to power, stand in solidarity with civil society, and enable and resource for effective and inclusive action.
Our guiding values and principles are:
- We believe in justice and dignity for all and prioritize people who are most ignored.
- We believe that people and their organisations, working together, can change the world.
- We stand for a strong, independent and progressive civil society.
- We challenge power with principled courage.
- We champion accountability, diversity and inclusion.
- We commit to global solidarity and believe in building from below and beyond borders.
- We seek systems change to tackle the universal and inter-related nature of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Accountability
As civil society grows and becomes more visible in the public eye, it is important that we can be held accountable for our actions. Accountability has to be dynamic and evolving process, where accountability is not a report. This needs to be a constructive relationship with stakeholders improving the agency and credibility of civil society organisations.
At CIVICUS, accountability means we are transparent about who we are and what we do. It also means we answer to partners, donors, civil society and ourselves on what we have achieved and how we achieved it.
We are guided by our Accountability framework that aims to:
- Position CIVICUS as an adaptive, change-seeking alliance.
- Put people at the centre of our work, enable more iterative and participatory programming and allow faster responses when changes in direction are required.
- Work with mixed method approaches to measure our contribution to social transformation.
How We Build Accountability into Our Work
CIVICUS strategic plan focuses on an overarching goal ‘to strengthen civil society and civic action for expanded civic and democratic space.’ It reflects our emphasis on defending and improving civic and democratic freedoms through a combination of influencing, organising and solidarity interventions.
It has a clear focus on working with and for groups affected by the combined impact of civic space restrictions and structural forms of discrimination. It articulates our contribution to long-term, systemic change, which is captured in four outcome statements that connect and consolidate the impact of our work across all levels.
Strategic Plan 2022 - 2027 (civicus.org)
The Strategic Plan 2022-2027 incorporates an Integrated Results Framework (IRF) which assists us to track progress against our strategy, test our Theory of Change and better understand our contribution to systemic change.
How We Empower An Accountable, Effective and Innovative Civil Society
In addition to improving our own accountability, we work with members and partners to foster improved and dynamic accountability within the sector.
Projects include:
- AGNA working group on legitimacy, transparency, accountability (LTA) and impact assessment promotes sharing and learning between the network’s members on how to improve public trust and the credibility of their activities through enhancing their accountability systems. The LTA organises an annual Global Accountability Week and has a good practice platform.
- Resilient Roots worked to promote and enhance the constituent accountability of civil society organisations. Read the 2020 programme evaluation.
