Forus
Enabling environment
PROJECT
EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society - EU SEE
Proting an enabling environment for civil society
FORUS IS PART OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY CONSORTIUM - ALONGSIDE LOCAL NGOs - DEVELOPING THE EU SYSTEM FOR AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY
Funded by the European Union, the program brings together civil society organizations from
86 countries to monitor their civic space, give early warnings of restrictions, and identify opportunities.
PARTNERS
Lot 1: Hivos (lead), CIVICUS, Democracy Reporting International, European Partnership for Democracy, Forus, Transparency International and local civil society partners in each country.
©Forus
ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY
Why this work
Governments are increasingly imposing restrictions on citizens who want to freely express themselves, protest against systemic injustices, and organize to defend fundamental human rights. This is happening not only in countries led by authoritarian governments, but in established democracies as well.
Under these circumstances, coordinated efforts by civil society and their allies to promote an enabling environment for civic space are more important than ever. An enabling environment empowers citizens to exercise their civil and political rights by ensuring human rights are respected and upheld, including in particular, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and safe access to information.
©Forus
EU SYSTEM FOR AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
HOW THE PROGRAMME PROMOTES AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY
Through a chain of actions encompassing monitoring at the national level, leading to the issue of early warnings, which in turn aims to provide timely support to groups in need, the programme aims to support civil society’s response in preventing and proactively responding to legal and policy developments and other events that may impact their ability to operate.
As part of the consortium, Forus is involved in several aspects of the programme (Lot 1) , including:
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Early Warning Mechanism: This online platform gathers near-real-time data on events that alter the enabling environment for civil society in participating countries. The consortium and national CSO partners submit regular alerts about early signs of restrictions. After verification, selected alerts activate the early warning mechanism, which then triggers advocacy or other responses.
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Country Assessments: These detailed annual assessments will integrate the data collected by the Early Warning Mechanism with existing indicators and information gathered by our network of partners through other means. These reports identify the critical trends, challenges, and catalysts that either deteriorate or improve the enabling environment.
Another dimension of the project (Lot 2) identifies ways to support advocacy responses, triggered by the Early Warning Mechanism. Civil society actors will be supported in various ways including by different grant types. Additionally, it offers interdisciplinary learning, knowledge exchange, policy dialogue, and advocacy to amplify partner voices.
©Ioanna Gimnopolou
EU SYSTEM FOR AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
TARGET GROUPS
The program supports local, regional, and national CSOs and networks that bear the brunt of civic space restrictions. They generate and/or gain access to up-to-date information concerning the changing enabling environment in their countries. The program also includes EU actors at partner country and headquarters level, who likewise will have timely access to this information.
Join us on this journey for an enabling environment for civil society !
If you would like to support the work of Forus as part of this consortium, do not hesitate to get in touch!
Contact [email protected] for partnership opportunities.
© Midia Ninja