At the heart of global policy-making, CSOs have long been seen as champions of grassroots advocacy. From helping to eradicate smallpox and polio on the ground to forging landmark agreements on sustainable development and climate change, the impact of CSOs is undeniable. The central role they played in shaping the 2030 Agenda is testament to their influence. They have championed the interconnectedness of global goals and argued for tangible indicators to monitor progress.  

In his recent remarks at the General Assembly, including the Summit on Sustainable Development Goals and the Summit on Climate Ambition, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres re-affirmed the need for an integrated effort. 

Civil society does more than represent organisational agendas; it is the amplified voice of communities; it echoes their hopes, needs and aspirations. To silence or exclude this voice is to silence the collective aspirations of millions of people around the world. Civil society organization also play a key role in strategically raising awareness about the SDGs, an they provide platforms for civic participation which enable citizens to engage in decision-making and hold governments accountable. 

Yet as we approach the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda, there is a worrying drift from collaboration to restriction in the relationship between the UN, Member States in their national and local contexts,  and civil society. For several years, civil society voices have found themselves on the periphery, with challenges ranging from limited access at key UN sessions such as the General Assembly's High Level Week to restrictive participation in other key UN forums such as the High Level Political Forum, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the Internet Governance Forum. 

At the national level, attacks on civic space and democratic freedoms have escalated. New legislation limits their ability to engage in online and offline advocacy. International collaboration between civil society networks, social movements and activists is increasingly criticized, penalized, and criminalized. 

More and more, we are seeing that CSOs around the world face challenges in participating meaningfully decision-making processes – from a lack of access to information and resources to limited opportunities to participate in decision-making processes, as well as exclusion from key meetings and events, and increasing repraisals, discrimination and harassment. 

To promote an enabling environment for civil society organizations, Forus participates in international initiatives such as Tech for Democracy, the Lisbon Forum, and the Internet Governance Forum. Forus is also an active member of the OECD DAC's Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working group, which played a key role in the work on the DAC recommendation on civil society empowerment which was adopted in July 2021. 

Over the past three years, Forus has also been active in the workshops organized by the TAP network and CIVICUS on the revision of the Rome Declaration on SDG 16 to call for the development of new indicators of civic space linked to the target 16.10 of Agenda 2030. Forus is a signatory to the Revised Declaration of 2021 and also fed into its advocacy proposal on the need to establish a global observatory of civic space in this Rome process. 

To facilitate information exchange and coordination among its members on issues related to the enabling environment, Forus has established a dedicated working group with over 50 participating members. 

Furthermore, Forus publishes valuable toolkits and reports in partnership with members and allies, emphasizing the importance of an enabling digital space and highlighting the impacts of digitalization on its members. The organization's proactive engagement with governments and international institutions has helped elevate the issue of the enabling environment for civil society to a higher priority on the global agenda.