Skip to main content

Civic Space

EPD works to support civil society and improve its ability to detect and respond to changes in the enabling environment for civic space. We do so mainly through the EU SEE project.

The EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society (EU SEE) brings together civil society organizations from 86 countries to monitor the enabling environment and contribute to early warning and action. The program is implemented by Hivos, CIVICUS, Democracy Reporting International, European Partnership for Democracy, Forus, and  Transparency International.

Why does civil society need support?

The latest reports from civil society organisations paint a sobering picture of deteriorating operational environment and growing restrictions. Here are some examples:

  • In Sierra Leone, governmental harassment is likely to continue targeting CSO activists who are critical of their activities, particularly regarding rights and freedoms, and holding the government accountable.
  • Paraguay, new legislation imposes excessive bureaucratic hurdles on CSOs, while 78% of citizens feel unrepresented in parliament and 84% believe elections are fraudulent.

Crucially for any democracy, civil society needs space – not just to survive, but to pro-actively play its democratic role as watchdog of government action, partner in political and policy reform and provider of certain services to local populations. A vibrant civil society is also crucial for democratic innovation, something that is needed more than ever given the growing disillusionment of citizens with present forms of representative democracy, both in Europe and abroad.

The data and trends highlighted by monitoring systems like EU SEE serve as a springboard for governments to enact policies that protect and nurture civil society. This means committing to international frameworks that uphold freedom of expression, halting internet shutdowns, fight disinformation campaigns, surveillance abuses, and ultimately build accountability and support action. International institutions and donors must align their funding and diplomatic efforts with the pressing needs identified by civil society monitoring initiatives. Funders must prioritise flexible, long-term support for civil society, ensuring organisations have the resources to resist crackdowns.

How do we promote an enabling environment for civil society?

Under the EU SEE project, EPD contributes to promoting an enabling environment through:

A Digital Hub

At the heart of this initiative is the EU SEE Digital Hub, an interactive Early Warning and Monitoring Mechanism that documents real-time shifts – deteriorations or improvements – in the enabling environment for civil society across 86 countries. It provides data and analysis on key legislative changes affecting civil society, new threats, attacks, or restrictions on civic actors, trends and opportunities for civil society strengthening. The data comes in the form of:

  • Alerts: a mechanism gathering information through Network Members in the 86 countries and focusing on events that impact or could impact the enabling environment.
  • Enabling Environment Snapshots: capturing the current state of the enabling environment for civil society in each of the 86 countries in a concise snapshot.
  • Country Focus Reports: compiling and assessing data on civic space based on six dimensions.

Learn more on the methodology here.

EU SEE Flexible Support Mechanism (FSM)

The EU SEE Flexible Support Mechanism (FSM) will operate across the 86 EU SEE countries (MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, Americas and The Caribbean, Southern Neighbourhood).  This CSO led system will support civil society to adapt and react to changes in their operating environment, prevent further deterioration of, and contribute to upholding and improving an enabling environment. This will be achieved through the provision of financial support through a variety of funding modalities, closely coordinated with and triggered by the EU SEE EWM. 

The FSM aims to support a wide range of civil society actors such as CSOs and CSAs including women, youth, LGBTIQ+ people, Indigenous communities, groups protecting the environment and common goods, and particularly self-led groups or organizations. It is designed to enable funding quickly also for smaller organisations and collectives that are usually excluded from existing sources of funding. 

Funded by the European Union
Explore the project’s website

Through our approach design, we contribute to a conducive environment for civil society, supporting its participation in policy making, and building capacities of individual CSOs. To do so effectively, our SPACE approach identifies and addresses, in a single integrated framework, the incentive structures and capacity gaps of democratic institutions that prevent them from playing a more positive role with regards to civil society space.

Our main hub for research, the European Democracy Hub, monitors civic space in Europe and beyond, contributing to the public debate and feeding our advocacy and projects.

Do you want to learn more about our work on civic space? Contact our Strategic Advisor on Civic Space at [email protected]. 

Our publications on civic space

Photo by cubicroot XYZ on Unsplash