Civil society organisations are increasingly targeted by official narratives which undermine their work. Those at the frontline of seeking social change are often depicted as “corrupt”, “money-oriented” or “enemies of the State”, especially in populist rhetoric. This has very real and negative repercusions on the work of civil society, ranging from public distrust and hostility, to cuts in public funding, violent attacks and criminalisation.

Civil society organisations have become increasingly proactive in Identifying and documenting these attacks, and in countering negative narratives targeting civil society organisations by formulating alternative positive narratives. This has become increasingly necessary to promote and protect a healthy civic space; which is the foundation of our democratic processes. At the same time, civil society organisations around the globe are focusing on simplyfyng and decolonising the language they use, as part of building horizontal partnerships and so that they can better be understood by local communities.

Against this background, the Forus network is organising a participatory event featuring two panel discussions on civic space and narrative-building. The first panel discussion, involving a presentation from the Brazilian platform ABONG, will present the findings of their new report on the criminalisation of civil society in Brazil under the Bolsanaro presidency. With civic space as its central focus, the panel will discuss current challenges facing civil society both offline and online.

The second panel discussion will focus on transformative narratives. The Forus network will present its new report “Enabling Stories: How civil society can build new narratives in a world transformed by Digitalization and the Covid19 Pandemic”. This panel will feature Forus members from different national contexts who have contributed the development of the report, as well as activists and journalists. Panellists will togethr identify the narratives that civil society should be promoting. Speakers will address questions such as: "What narratives are transformative? How can we fight “fake news” and fill the information gap about the work of civil society? Can digitalisation help in this process?".

• Simultaneous interpretation in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese will be available.