The Funders Initiative for Civil Society equips funders with the tools they need to understand and anticipate trends in civic space.
We analyse the drivers of closing civic space and tests new ideas to pushback against civic space restrictions.
FICS also moves resources to movements and their allies expanding civic space across the globe.
Source: Shutterstock, Jessica Girvan, Protesters at a KILL THE BILL protest, London, UK, May 1, 2021
Source: Shutterstock, SGr, Soldiers marching in parade
Civic space is the oxygen of participation. It is the physical and virtual space where people can come together, speak out, and organise. Without civic space, people cannot be free to work out the answers to the crises humanity faces and create better futures for us all.
Attacks on civic space are accelerating globally, aided by new technologies. States and non-state actors are deploying a wide range of tactics all aimed at repressing their opponents and controlling civic participation on and offline.
They achieve this by: enforcing tougher protest laws; making it hard to set up, register and fund Civil Society Organisations; limiting media and free speech; conducting online surveillance and internet shutdowns; and by harassing, arresting, and imprisoning activists – the list goes on.
This ‘closing’ of civic space is happening at a time when we need these freedoms more than ever. Our current strategies to defend civic space will only get us so far, we need new ideas and approaches that expand civic space.
This is why FICS exists. We seek to analyse civic space, shift funder strategy and practice towards expansion strategies, and resource movements to expand civic space.
FICS spoke to more than 150 civil society representatives and funders working across the globe on human rights, equalities, climate change, land rights, corporate power and technological threats, to develop a unique analysis of the systemic drivers of shrinking civic space.
Our analysis, Rethinking Civic Space, lays out how the abuse of counter-terrorism laws and policy, intertwined with increasingly concentrated economic power and threats to democracy and pluralism from regressive political forces has put the shrinking of civic space on a full force trajectory.
FICS concludes that responding only after activists are under attack is not enough. Civil society organisations urgently need resources to disrupt over-reaching security frameworks, create narratives which value pluralism and equality, and hold economic power in check.
FICS believes that the funding community has a unique role to play in expanding civic space. Built on our expertise we use analysis, convening, incubation, and experimentation to shift funder strategy and practice on the drivers of closing civic space.
FICS strives to give funders the tools they need to expand civic space for those advancing democracy, human rights, social and economic justice, and environmental protection for the future. We want to galvanise and influence a broader cross-section of funders to direct resources to disrupt, reform, and transform civic spaces around the world.
Source: Shutterstock, Julian Leshay, Protect Black Women and Girls Banner, New York, USA, July 26, 2020
- Source: Shutterstock, 100 Words, Anti government protestors push shields of riot police during rally, Bangkok, Thailand, November 24, 2021
- Source: Pexels, Yew Hui Tan, Red Balloon on Green Grass Field, July 03, 2021
We do this through:
1. Thought leadership and donor education – helping funders understand and anticipate the drivers of shrinking civic space and the enabling conditions needed for progress, so that philanthropy can be proactive, and curating convenings that enable donors across sectors to understand the big picture and find points of collaboration.
2. Mobilizing resources for innovative solutions – advising donors on key issues and the most impactful investments, alongside supporting experimentation, systems-thinking, and bringing new voices to the table.
At FICS we want funders to move resources to not only “hold the line” and protect activists and actors from downstream harassment, arrests, and abuse, but also to confront the driving forces behind these restrictions. We want to tackle the drivers behind the phenomenon of closing space and move to expansion strategies.
