EU support for an Enabling Environment
The EU has consistently supported civil society, recognising its essential role in fostering good governance, democracy, and sustainable development. The EU is committed to enhancing civil society's contribution to the development of more effective policies and promoting fair and inclusive growth.
However, civil society organisations (CSOs) around the world are encountering significant challenges, notably the alarming reduction in their freedom to operate and the deteriorating conditions in which they conduct their activities. These challenges have been exacerbated by authoritarian tendencies pushing back against democratic values.
In response to these pressing issues, the EU has been proactive in promoting initiatives at various levels to prevent further deterioration in and create a supportive environment for civil society. At the country level, the EU and its Member States use “Roadmaps for Engagement with Civil Society”, which are strategic plans that help guide the EU Delegations' efforts to support and improve the conditions under which civil societies operate.
At global level, the EU has launched a new global initiative - the “EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society” (EU SEE). This ambitious 6-year civil society-led programme, operating in over 80 countries, aims at supporting civil society, with a strong focus on local civil society, to monitor civic space and take early steps to support an enabling environment for civil society. Through a chain of actions encompassing monitoring, early warning and flexible support it aims to bolster civil society’s response in preventing (rather than reacting) and proactively responding to legal and policy developments and other events that may impact the ability of CSOs to operate.
The CSO Roadmaps and the EU SEE initiative are funded by the specific actor-led instrument, the Thematic Programme for CSOs, which aims at boosting the capabilities of CSOs as governance actors to participate in and contribute to policy development at global and country levels. In addition, the EU deploys targeted funding instruments such as the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and its successor the Thematic Programme for Human Rights and Democracy, to protect civil society actors and human rights defenders in their work.
These concerted efforts underscore the EU's commitment to ensuring that CSOs across the globe can continue to play their essential roles in governance and development, even in the face of growing challenges and shrinking civic space.