CSR-Hub: A first cohort of CSOs equipped to strengthen the open civic space
WACSI and Spaces for Change (S4C), with the support of the Ford Foundation, launched the “Civic Space Resource Hub (CSR-Hub)” on 12 May 2022. This five-year programme will seek to promote an open civic space and regulatory compliance, strengthen the organisational governance and financial resilience of CSOs, and help CSOs enhance their digital security and data protection, improve their knowledge capacity and build solidarity to address the challenges facing the civic space. A first cohort (September 2022–August 2023) of CSOs also took part in capacity-building sessions on 12 and 13 October 2022 to strengthen the open civic space. Furthermore, the Sahel Activists network – which emerged from the training programmes of the Sahel Insight project led by AfricTivistes, Oxfam and Wildaf – was well represented by the Co-ordinator of Sahel Activists Senegal, Ndeye Fatou Diouf, who is also the Social Media Manager at AfricTivistes.
Following a call for applications, the West African Civil Society Institute (WACSI) has co-opted members from African civil society organisations to equip them to promote open civic space as part of its Civic Space Resource Centre (CSR-hub). A first cohort (September 2022–August 2023) of beneficiary organisations was therefore invited to a workshop on the protection of civic space. A workshop was organised to this end in Accra (Ghana) on 12 and 13 October 2022. These active members of African civil society organisations thus received capacity-building and technical support for their work in promoting an open civic space and civic freedoms in West Africa.
During the workshop, technical experts were carefully selected from very specific fields to analyse the issues relating to the shrinking of civic space. Consequently, there was a strong focus on the restrictions and threats to civil liberties within civic space in West Africa, before establishing a synergy of action with the aim of uniting the efforts of Africa’s key stakeholders.
A working group on the shrinking of civic space and the constraints on effective civil society responses in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal was set up by members of the first cohort. The aim was to reflect on the current state of civic space at national level, the responses needed to these threats, the challenges hindering the role of CSOs and organisations, and how the resource centre can assist in this regard.
This session gave participants the opportunity to collectively identify the main threats to civic space and the enabling environment in their countries. It also highlighted the role of civil society, providing specific insights into their responses to the internal and external challenges to their resilience.
A preliminary assessment of organisational needs relating to the four strategic pillars was carried out by the technical experts at the resource centre.
An update was provided on participants’ expectations, the action plan and its implementation. This included access to the full range of services offered by the Civic Space Resource Centre, technical support, coaching and mentoring, as well as the formalisation of organisations’ commitment and participation.
