During a two-day workshop at the School of Public Policy (SPP) on May 13-15, 40 participants from 14 countries identified shared challenges and possible solutions to more meaningful and sustainable civil society engagement in Europe. The workshop - “Rethinking Support for Civil Society in Europe” – attracted a diverse and dynamic group from the non-profit world, academia, government, and other sectors as well.
Civil society is struggling to respond effectively to societal challenges and to empower and engage citizens with policy-making in today’s fast and complex world. The impact of civil society is declining even as its size continues to expand. Although the number of civil society organizations is growing, in some parts of Europe, spaces for civil society are shrinking under political pressure.
Participants agreed that the lack of resources, the absence of transformative leadership, “mission drift,” a high threshold for engagement, poor links between academia and civil society, and other systemic issues and barriers pose serious challenges to the development of an effective civil society.
The workshop offered a valuable opportunity for many in-depth discussions about best practices and possible solutions to poor civic engagement. Some of the proposals included new approaches to capacity building, evidence-based learning for NGOs, new forms of activism, and evaluation and impact measurement techniques. In the final session, participants developed concrete ideas and projects, which will lay the ground for further collaboration, at SPP and elsewhere.
SPP Fellow Polina Georgescu, who organized this two-day event, commented, “This workshop was very productive. It allowed us to gather rich data from across geographies and sectors as well as generate new ideas and projects. These will lay the foundation for further work at SPP aimed at providing a learning space for civil society development.”
The event was organized with the support of the Open Society Initiative for Europe.