CSOSI: Increased Participation in CSOs Leads to Greater Government Interest

USAID Releases the 17th Edition of the CSO Sustainability Index (CSOSI) for Europe and Eurasia.

Washington, D.C. – Civil society organizations in Europe and Eurasia are generally benefitting from increased levels of citizen participation, and their prominence is increasingly prompting governments to look at them more closely, according to the latest version of USAID’s Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI). This year’s CSO Sustainability Index also shows that the countries in Europe and Eurasia continued to move on different trajectories in 2013. While some countries increasingly involved citizens in policy making, others sought to close space for civic activity. The year 2013 was marked by new or strengthened trends, ranging from a new surge of civil society demanding their voices be heard, to adoption of new legislation that more closely regulates or enables civil society, and to introduction of new mechanisms to institutionalize citizen participation in policy development.  Although the civil society sector in the region has far to go until it is sustainable everywhere, citizens continued to organize themselves to demand more accountable, transparent, and effective government. The civil society sector also shows growing strength and maturity in many countries of the region.

The CSOSI for Europe and Eurasia, produced by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), assesses progress in the development of a broad range of nonprofit, civil society organizations (CSO) active in the Europe and Eurasia region.  This year’s edition covers developments in civil society during calendar year 2013.  The Index tracks the progress of the CSO sector across seven dimensions of sustainability in twenty-nine countries over the past seventeen years.  It examines the overall enabling environment for civil society, focusing on the legal environment, organizational capacity, financial viability, advocacy, service provision, infrastructure, and public image. The report describes and rates civil society development in each country and across the region as a whole.

The CSOSI has been transformed dramatically since its inception – it has expanded from covering 21 countries in the Europe and Eurasia Region, to covering over 60 countries in different regions around the world. Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations is pleased to partner with USAID to produce the CSOSI for Estonia.

The full report can be found at:http://www.usaid.gov/europe-eurasia-civil-society , Estonian report at www.ngo.ee/indeks. 

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