Civil society power
What’s the issue?
Civil society is a key agent of change. Civil society organisations amplify the voices of people, defending their human rights and demanding that people’s concerns be addressed. It holds governments, public institutions and the private sector to account for their commitments.
However, civil society space is shrinking around the world, and Europe is no exception. In a context of political shifts and attacks against civil society globally, this project aims to hold the EU and Member States to their commitments to defend and promote civic space and enable civil society action around the world.
CONCORD aims to forge alliances, provide space for collective action, and continue to explore how to share power with civil society in other parts of the world.
Sub-projects
Meaningful Engagement
For many years CONCORD has been working to improve dialogue between civil society and the EU. However, we have been noticing a degradation in the quality of engagement at headquarters, delegation and regional level.
As part of the EU Presidency Project (EUPP) grant, this sub-project gathers evidence on how the EU engages with Civil Society Organisations at HQ and Delegation level, advocating for more meaningful and inclusive participation in various processes. It also works to contribute to the creation of regional civil society engagement mechanisms around the EU-AU and EU-CELAC partnerships.
Enabling Environment
As the EU faces a time of social and political instability, its support for civil society and the ability to provide an enabling environment are increasingly being questioned.
This sub-project focuses on advocating with partners and allies for a comprehensive and coherent EU approach to promote and defend civic space and an enabling environment for civil society around the world. It advocates for the EU to fulfill its commitments towards civil society and civic space in EU external action, focusing on the implementation of the OECD DAC recommendation on an enabling environment for civil society.
Shift the Power
In 2025, this sub-project will explore how to support the rest of the confederation to take forward the priorities identified at the Learning and Exchange Forum 2024, namely: engagement with partners, principles for shifting power, and narratives.
7 practices for civil society participation in EU decision-making
Over the years, CONCORD together with its civil society partners around the world has produced a number of concrete inputs on civil society participation in EU international partnerships and external action decision-making.
On several occasions, we have assessed what works and what does not in existing dialogue mechanisms and we have shared good practices and recommendations to improve participation opportunities.
This document gathers the key messages of these previous efforts into 7 best practices, in order to define what meaningfulness entails in action and to continue our dialogue with the EU.
It seeks to encourage not only a shift to action towards meaningful, inclusive and safe civil society engagement, but a shift of approach towards cooperation and co-creation with civil society in all its diversity, recognising the value of partnering and engaging with civil society at all levels and across all institutions.
Latest resources
AidWatch 2024 explores whose interests EU ODA truly serves: CONCORD Newsletter October 2024
Africa, Civil society, EU budget / MFF, Financing for development
Civil society power, Financing / funding for sustainable development, Regional alliances
A gateway to equality? CONCORD launches research on Global Gateway and inequalities: CONCORD Newsletter June 2024
Civil society power, Digitalisation, Financing / funding for sustainable development, Gender equality, Global citizenship education, Inequalities & sustainable economy, Policy coherence for sustainable development, Private sector, Regional alliances
Who holds the lion’s share? Pushing for transparency and diversity in the allocation of NDICI-GE funding for CSOs: CONCORD Newsletter February 2024
Civil society power, Digitalisation, Financing / funding for sustainable development, Gender equality, Global citizenship education, Inequalities & sustainable economy, Policy coherence for sustainable development
Standing strong in the face of shrinking civic space: CONCORD Newsletter December 2023
Civic engagement, Civil society
Civil society power, Digitalisation, Financing / funding for sustainable development, Gender equality, Global citizenship education, Inequalities & sustainable economy, Policy coherence for sustainable development, Regional alliances
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Latest news
Nele Meyer: EU decision-making processes are being challenged and the rules of the game are changing. What does this mean for civil society?
The established decision-making processes in the EU are being challenged and the rules of the game seem to be changing before our very eyes. As civil society, we will need to learn from this experience. If indeed the democratic decision-making process is being put into question, we must play to our strength and join forces to counter the political power play.
EU Delegations unwrapped: A practical guide for Civil Society Organisations
Engaging with EU Delegations is crucial for Civil Society Organisations. CONCORD’s handbook helps CSOs foster effective cooperation with EU Delegations!
Talking Development Ep.1 (with Tanya Cox) – Beyond growth: an economic system that works for everyone
What is at stake during May’s European Parliament Elections? In this first episode of Talking Development, CONCORD’s Director Tanya Cox urges us to vote for politicians who will rethink our economic system to serve all people and the planet.
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