Civil Society @ Crossroads?
Presentation and reflection exercise on the future of civil society
International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague
Thursday 22 November, 2pm-6pm
“We are not requesting a few more bucks […] but a much deeper and more systemic reform.
[We seek] a change of paradigm, […] a change regarding the meaning of education.” “We
are not throwing a tantrum; we want to be part of the solutions.” - Student leaders, Chile
Background
Stories of citizens’ actions can be heard, seen and noted in all societies, barrios, towns and villages.
The contemporary era belongs to the citizens, their efforts, engagements and organisations. Today,
there are numerous stories of civil society organising and mobilising to work towards a better life in
all societies. How has this come about? Why has this change happened? Why is it happening around
the world? Is this the ‘new’ wave of civil society? (How) have contemporary trajectories in civil
society emerged from their earlier manifestations and how are they interconnected?
Since June 2011, the ‘Civil Society @ Crossroads?’ initiative instigated a collective exploration,
reflection and systematisation process of civil societies at crossroads to provide narratives underlying
these questions and their explanations. It is an attempt to enable a fresh understanding of civil
society trajectories from local contexts, as well as trans-nationally, thereby providing more insights
into how civil society contributions in different regions of the world can be understood, supported
and enhanced. This understanding will allow all interested in strengthening civil societies, to advance
their ‘theories and believes of change’ and ’re-tool' themselves in order to support civil society in
regaining its (political) space in the coming decades.
Apart from the formal civil society organisations (more popularly known as NGOs), this particular
initiative has tried to focus on various other forms of associations (for example, local associations,
indigenous groups, and citizens’ movements occurring throughout the globe) and has attempted to
highlight the role that they play in bringing about social changes. This has been done by:
-
-
Collecting and sharing local stories and experiences of civil society from the ground up, which
are documented (in oral histories, written pieces, audio-visuals, videos, cartoons, media
reports etc.) from the perspectives of practitioners, change-makers, actors and participants
in these stories.
Facilitating critical reflections in an inclusive and bottoms-up manner with a view to
developing a fresh systematization of civil society, its roles, space, challenges, opportunities,
capacities, resources, etc.
Hence, in the process, stories and experiences of various forms of civil society have been collected
and documented; along with the facilitated collective reflection processes at local, national, regional
and global events and conferences, the voices of the ordinary people that make a difference in their
stories by addressing common public issues have also been captured.
1
Questions
The central question addressed under the ‘Civil Society@ Crossroads?’ Initiative is ‘What are the
roles, capacities, contributions and limitations of civil society in the changing local and global
contexts?’
Guiding questions:
1. What are the local, community-level, endogenous nature of civil society formations in different
societies? How do such informal, spontaneous, sporadic and emerging forms of citizen movement
operate locally?
2.
What types of interactions do traditional civil society formations (like indigenous associations) have
with modern, project-driven or statutory local organizations (like health committees, forest protection
societies, self-help groups, etc.)? What conflicts and/or synergies emerge?
3.
Which types of citizenship identities are tied to and nurtured by these various formations of civil
society (ethnic, parochial identities, and modern, secular ones)? Do the claims for rights by collectives
of the poor and the excluded build on different citizenship identities?
4.
What are the dynamics of interactions between civil society and political society at sub-national
levels? How do civil society associations interact with political parties, elected legislatures and political
leaders? What are the processes of collaboration and contestations?
5.
How does the resurgent private business interact with and influence local civil society? What forms
does this interaction take? Where are the points of convergence, divergence and contestation
between civil society and private business, their industry associations, Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) initiatives and corporate foundations?
6.
What kinds of democratic spaces are inhabited by civil society? Which spaces are contracting, and how
and why? What is the impact of securitization of development? How does ‘privatization and
liberalization’ of development impact on such democratic spaces? What differences and similarities
exist between authoritarian and democratic regimes?
7.
What is happening to indigenous, local and sub-national civil society in OECD countries? Where is the
new energy in sub-national civil society in Europe, North America, and Australia? What resource and
capacity challenges do they face today?
8.
What are the roles of civil society in emerging, middle-income societies? How are these roles being
played out? What types of roles are not being encouraged, resourced or played adequately? What
types of financing arrangements from local/national public and private sources are available, for which
types of roles? What is the impact of declining international assistance in these contexts?
9.
What new forms of ‘hybrid’ formations are emerging in civil society nationally and globally? What
considerations drive the emergence of such ‘hybrids’? What are the value-additions, if any, of such
‘hybrids’?
10. Finally, how do such sub-national trends and formations in civil society coalesce, synergize, gather
momentum or contest at transnational, regional and global levels? What are the dynamics of the
interactions of bottom-up coalition-building with existing global formations, networks and coalitions?
In what ways do such different actors engage constructively with emerging transnational and global
challenges?
Major themes
The Crossroads initiative has uncovered a wide range of stories, issues and themes. Some of the
dominant themes emerging from this project include:
• Civil society crossroads in shifting scenarios where societies as a whole find themselves at
crossroads
• Multiple disconnections (citizens’ needs and expectations versus public authorities’ performance,
‘new’ ways of organising versus ‘old’ civil society organisations
• Reshaping roles, relationships and spaces
2
• Opportunities, partnerships and ways of communication
Convening partners
PRIA - Participatory Research in Asia, India (www.pria.org)
Being an international centre for learning and promotion of participation and democratic
governance, PRIA has worked since 1982 on capacity and knowledge building, participatory research,
citizen-centric development and policy advocacy. PRIA works with several national and international
partners and its professional expertise and practical insights are utilised by other civil society groups,
NGOs, governments, donors, trade unions, private business and academic institutions around the
world
CDRA -Community Development Resource Association, South-Africa (www.cdra.org.za)
Since 1987 the CDRA’s purpose is to contribute to building a society that is sustainable and civil. It
does so by assisting civil society organisations to strengthen their effectiveness and long term
efficiency and supporting organising principles, processes and practices that promote inclusion,
dignity and development. Learning is at the centre of the CDRA approach.
EASUN - Centre for Organisational Learning, Tanzania (www.easun-tz.org)
EASUN facilitates organisation development (OD) for civil society organisations in East Africa that
mediate and advocate for social and economic development. To this end, EASUN offers leadership
training, change management support and organises learning opportunities for development
workers.
ICD - Institute for Communication and development, Uruguay (http://lasociedadcivil.org)
The purpose of ICD is to produce knowledge and generate actions that contribute to increased
citizens’ participation in democratic processes, in development and in regional integration. It final
aim is to support processes of democratic development through strengthening civil society and
promote active participation of all societal sectors in Latin America.
International NGO Training and Research Centre (www.intrac.org)
INTRAC supports and strengthens civil society and civil society organisations (CSOs) through training,
research, programmes and consultancy work. They seek to increase the effectiveness of CSOs
worldwide because they believe that they play a key role in promoting sustainable development in a
just society, and that a strong and vibrant civil society is key to establishing a fully democratic
society.
PSO - Capacity Building in Developing Countries, Netherlands (www.pso.en)
PSO is an association of Dutch NGOs, which focuses on expertise building in the field of capacity
development of civil society in developing countries. PSO developed into a learning and training
center for Dutch organisations and increasingly also for Southern development organisations. PSO
will cease to function as per end of 2012.
3