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WYDE Freedoms

The WYDE Civic Engagement project is a component of the Women and Youth in Democratic Engagement (WYDE) by the European Commission. 

New forms of civil society organisations, usually youth-led, have emerged in the past decade, facing a consistent decline in levels of freedom of assembly. Young people both belong to a group most likely to experience attacks on fundamental freedoms in civic space and – particularly in Latin America’s countries – and tend to have a lack of trust in democratic institutions.

WYDE Freedoms aims at preparing and protecting young CSAs – formal civil society organisations, informal movements, individual activists, and social movements – to empower them to promote the fundamental freedoms of association and assembly across the globe, through:

  • organisational and technical capacity development
  • funding
  • advocacy
  • networking opportunities

The Action further delivers research into methods of observing peaceful protests and monitoring violations of rights of association and assembly that will be used by CSAs and the international policymaking community for evidence-based advocacy.

The European Commission signed a Framework Partnership agreement with six organisations or consortia, totalling 20 NGOs, led respectively by: Building our Movements, EuroMed Rights, Forum-Asia, ForumCiv, People in Need, and Save the Children-Sweden.

WYDE Freedoms is part of a wider programme (*WYDE) powered by the European Union that seeks to empower and strengthen the rights, and participation in public and political life of youth and women as key actors of development and change. The initiative promotes political pluralism and the inclusiveness of democratic processes. *WYDE : Women and Youth in Democratic Engagement.