CIVICUS Research Partners Workshop: Launching the Civic Space Monitor

On 25-27th May, CIVICUS organized a Research Partners Workshop on Civic Space Monitor in Johannesburg, South Africa, gathering representatives of 21 regional civil society networks working on enabling environment for civil society development issues, including Sanja Bogatinovska, BCSDN’s Junior Policy and Advocacy Officer on Civil Society Development. The workshop aimed at opening a discussion around civic space research, while focusing the workshop on how the Civic Space Monitor (CSM) functions in practice, how the regional research partners fit into the CSM and how to further build on this research collaboration. For the CSM to work, CIVICUS has developed a globally deployed methodology that is responsive enough to capture complex social change processes, focusing on the three fundamental freedoms of civic space – freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. CSM, which is planned to be put in service during September 2016, will be used by civil society, journalists, government officials, development workers as well as the public, for international advocacy, local campaigns, monitoring governments’ commitments, academic research and other uses. More information is available here.
Source: BCSDN