Civil Society

Fostering CSOs’ Resilience to Shrinking Spaces and Strengthening their Capacities through Individual Mentoring and Value Mainstreaming in Hungary and Slovakia

In Hungary and Slovakia, civil society organizations (CSOs) face increasing pressure in a climate where fundamental rights and EU values are being challenged. Restrictive legislation, limited funding opportunities, and public stigmatization contribute to a shrinking civic space and create a chilling effect on activism.

Protecting EU Values and Fundamental Rights through Public Participation and Civil Society Assistance in Central Europe

The growing social polarization and political illiberalism in the EU, but especially in the Central European Member States, pose great risks to civil society, which are increasingly evident through tighter controls on CSOs, cuts to their financial independence, intimidation of civic activists, and the portrayal of civil society as a public enemy. All this puts at risk a strong and dynamic civil society which is a fundamental requirement for a liberal and pluralistic democracy.

Project “Scenarios for the development of civil society in Slovakia by 2040” (2022-2023) aimed at creating scenarios for the development of civil society in Slovakia and on their basis the creation of a hybrid training programme for civil society organisations in the field of adaptation to the new normal in the post-Covid19 and post-conflict era.

Project "CSO Leaders for the Long Run" (2020 - 2022) was focused on building leadership capacities and resilience of organizations. It focused on supporting two types of leaders. The first were the incoming directors of NGOs, who have recently taken up a management position. The second group were senior leaders, who were often overworked or burned out after years in a management position. The project also aimed to strengthen organizations, specifically to build their resilience (resistance to unpredictable change).