Report: Rethinking Civic Space

[This report is also published on the Funders Initiative for Civil Society website alongside other futures-thinking materials.]

In 2019-2020, the Funders Initiative for Civil Society undertook a major investigation to understand the drivers of shrinking civic space. Authors Ben Hayes and Poonam Joshi published, ‘Rethinking Civic Space in an Age of Intersectional Crises: A Briefing for Funders‘.

Produced with independent funders in mind, Rethinking Civic Space is based on interviews with more than 150 civil society organisations and activists all over the world, and looks at counter-terrorism overreach, populist anti-rights movements, and the concentration of economic power in the hands of a few. It aims to enable funders to develop much more strategic and collaborative interventions to push back the attack on civic space.

The report is available in English and Spanish here.