Empowering Civil Society

The Civic Space Initiative empowers civil society organizations – particularly at the country level – to collaborate, advocate, and act. Our contributions include convening meetings, training, mentoring, facilitating dialogue with governments, assisting with research, providing financial and technical support, and much more. By working alongside local actors, we give them the tools to defend and expand civic space.

Participants discuss civil society issues at ICNL's 2015 Global Forum (photo credit: Jeff Vize)
Participants discuss civil society issues at ICNL's 2015 Global Forum (photo credit: Jeff Vize)

Recent Highlights

Engaging with the Financial Action Task Force

ICNL works at the regional level in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to help civil society networks engage more effectively in national review and evaluation processes of the Financial Action Task Force. For example, in April 2019, ICNL collaborated with the West African Civil Society Initiative to organize a regional meeting with participants from The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

Fundraising Principles

In April 2020, ECNL and ICNL launched the Principles for Statutory Regulation and Self-regulation of Fundraising (Fundraising Principles) to support a more enabling environment for fundraising around the globe. The Fundraising Principles provide a global overview of current trends in fundraising regulation and self-regulation and offer recommendations based on international standards and country practices. 

Empowering Civil Society Participation in the Open Government Partnership

On May 27-28, 2019, in Ottawa, ICNL convened twenty civil society partners from Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Malawi, Nigeria, and Senegal for training and peer learning on effectively leveraging the Open Government Partnership and its biannual National Action Plan process to promote open civic space.