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From elections to constitutional reforms, how the enabling environment for civil society deteriorates at critical political moments around the world What to fund and what not to fund? 📰 🌍Launching the Post-2030 Vision and Advancing Civil Society Action | Forus Newsletter New interview series: ‘Civil society unpacks burning issues on emerging technologies’ Defending digital rights and governance through collaboration: Forus at RightsCon 2026 Is there room for us all? Obesity, rights and the failure of public policy in Venezuela How Local Communities Are Transforming Marble Danda From Quarry Site to Sustainable Tourism in Nepal In Conversation with Forus new chair Justina Kaluinaite Introducing the Forus Post-2030 Vision Civil Society and International Organisations: A Lifeline for People Living with HIV in Venezuela Adapting, connecting, resisting: Civil Society Navigates a World in Flux LESOTHO HIGHLANDS WATER PROJECT: A visit that changes the narrative Women and Environmental Leadership, 3 Voices Moving Africa Women Defending Gender Rights in Deteriorating Enabling Environments Great Lakes When art transforms environmental challenges into opportunities Civil society from over 80 countries unite to shape solutions across borders The Bell and the Silence: Inside Nepal’s 2026 Political Reordering Leading Change: How Women, Youth and Civil Society Are Accelerating the SDGs from the Ground Up From menstrual dignity to digital safety: How grassroots feminists are redefining gender justice Democracy needs women: Feminist leadership in times of shrinking enabling environments for civil society In this article, we explore the data presented to EU SEE by our network across 86 countries to make these emerging trends salient. These restrictions take three broad forms: direct harassment, surveillance and violence against civil society actors; digital interference including internet and social media shutdowns; and administrative and bureaucratic interventions that exclude civic voices from institutional processes. Together, they reveal a pattern in which political transitions — far from opening space for participation — are increasingly used as opportunities to consolidate control. For the second year in a row, aid and development financial support levels have fallen, with 2025 marking the biggest drop. Governments across Europe and beyond are tightening their budgets, often citing inflation, debt pressures, and shifting political priorities. Yet for NGOs and community partners, the consequences are immediate, structural, and in many cases, irreversible. Explore civil society voices, Forus strategic priorities, and collective action From artificial intelligence to digital infrastructure, digital developments raise critical questions about human rights, environmental sustainability, democratic governance, and digital inclusion. To contribute to these conversations, Forus is launching a new interview series under the Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment (CADE) project co-funded by the European Union, highlighting diverse perspectives on some of the burning topics in digital governance and rights. At RightsCon 2026, Forus as part of the Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment (CADE) and EU SEE, will host two sessions exploring how civil society can strengthen its role in digital governance and respond to the growing challenges of digital authoritarianism and rights. In Venezuela, health and dignity seem to have a weight limit. Currently, 54% of adults in the country have a high body mass index (BMI), a reality that points to an unprecedented health emergency: by 2030, this condition will affect 10.52 million people, according to the World Obesity Atlas 2025 report. How Marble Danda became a local tourism engine: A former quarry tests whether community-led tourism can grow without repeating the environmental damage that once defined it. At the Forus General Assembly which just concluded in Cambodia, members of the global network elected Justina Kaluinaite as new Chair. Kaluinaite brings experience focusing on socio-education community development in post-conflict phrases, trauma-aware development processes, effective development cooperation and humanitarian action management. She has over a decade of experience in various CSOs and community development entities, academic placements in Lithuania and globally. Bringing perspectives from her work in Rwanda, Cambodia and Colombia (among others) and working for a decade with the Lithuanian Development Cooperation Platform (Lithuanian NGDO Platform), she brings a global, empathic and strategic perspective to her new role. We sat down with her for a conversation about what her new role means, the challenges facing civil society today, and her vision for Forus. The future after 2030 is being shaped now. Forus is launching a collective civil society vision for what must be defended, demanded and declined. The response to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Venezuela has undergone a structural transformation over the last two decades, shifting from a state-led model to one that relies almost exclusively on international cooperation and civil society activism. Organisations such as the Venezuelan Network of Positive People (RVG+), the Manos Amigas por la Vida Foundation (Mavid) and Acción Solidaria, amongst others, currently stand out as the main coordinators ensuring that treatment reaches vulnerable populations. A recap of the 2026 Forus Generally Assembly – Siem Reap, Cambodia – March 2026 Earlier this year, Forus supported a field visit which brought together civil society partners of its network — Ameerah from African Monitor, Riska from Afrodad, and Mapule from the Economic Justice Network — alongside local journalists, to communities affected by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) — a bi-national scheme between Lesotho and South Africa. In the face of environmental challenges in Africa, women are emerging as agents of change. They are redefining ecological leadership through innovative initiatives. As gender rights come under increasing pressure worldwide, women’s rights defenders and feminist activists are adapting, resisting and building new forms of collective power. At the side event “Women Defending Gender Rights in Deteriorating Enabling Environments,” organized by the European Union System for an Enabling Environment for civil society (EU SEE) Consortium and Forus as part of the March With Us campaign for gender justice, speakers from across regions shared a clear message: the space for gender justice is shrinking—but it is far from silent. In the African Great Lakes region, initiatives combining craftsmanship, art, and citizen mobilization are transforming major ecological challenges into economic and social opportunities. Faced with environmental urgency, these initiatives demonstrate a strong commitment to taking concrete action. Civil society leaders from over 80 countries are gathering in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for the 2026 Forus General Assembly, a unique platform where global civil society comes together to share knowledge, collaborate, and design actionable solutions for today’s most urgent social, environmental, and governance challenges. On the morning of March 5, 2026, the queues outside polling stations across Nepal were longer, and noticeably younger, than they had been in decades. By the time the Nepal Election Commission called a 60 percent turnout among the 19 million registered voters, it was clear that the "Gen-Z Revolution"—the months of street protests and digital organizing that had paralyzed the capital over the previous autumn—had finally moved to the ballot box. With less than five years left to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, civil society leaders from across regions gathered on 11 March 2026 for the CSW70 side event “Leading Change: Women, Youth, and Civic Action for SDG Acceleration.” Girls without access to sanitary products during their periods often resort to using tissue paper, rags, leaves, or simply staying home. Teachers would sometimes send students away if they stained their uniforms. The breakthrough came with the creation of pad banks: permanent, school-based emergency supply boxes stocked with menstrual products each term. Girls who begin menstruating during school hours can discreetly access supplies from the counselor’s office and remain in class. The erosion of women’s rights to organize, speak, and lead is not collateral damage. It is an early warning sign of democratic decline. When women are pushed out of public life, – whether through legal restrictions, economic exclusion, media stereotypes or online harassment, – democratic institutions lose legitimacy and resilience.