Annual report 2014 / 2015 by CIVICUS

annual report

2014 / 2015

Photo: Ep Jhu

about us CIVICUS is a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world. We strive to promote marginalised voices, especially from the Global South, and have members in more than 160 countries throughout the world. Since 1993, we have been dedicated to enhancing the rights, freedoms, health and vitality of civil society as a whole. We believe that a healthy society is one where people have multiple opportunities to participate, come together, deliberate and act for the common good. We work for civil society, protecting and growing `civic spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the freedoms of expression, association and assembly - that allow citizens and organisations to speak out, organise and take action. We regularly monitor, research and analyse global events and trends that impact civil society and we aim to strengthen civil society by bringing diverse actors together, generating and sharing knowledge and improving its effectiveness. We work to ensure that civil society voices are heard and to achieve impact we communicate, campaign and advocate. Our membership spans sectoral, thematic and geographic divides and is open to both individual citizens and organisations. Our ability to amplify and strengthen the voices and fight for the freedoms of ordinary people goes hand in hand with a strong global alliance. We believe that together we are stronger.

contents 01 02 03 04 05 page 1 message from the chair page 2 Secretary-Generalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s message

page 3 year in review: highlights

page 05 strategic objectives

page 13 Empowering the

alliance and wider network

page 19 Board of directors

page 21 financial

statements

message from the chair It is with great pleasure and some sadness, I write my final message as the Chair of the CIVICUS Board of Directors. In my time serving as Board Chair, I have watched new developments at CIVICUS with joy and anticipation. It has been an honour to work with such a diverse and engaged Board of Directors. I valued the moments with member organisations in dialogue and in advocacy. Over the last year, I have particularly been impressed by CIVICUS’ rapid membership growth. As a woman born and raised in rural Zimbabwe who now leads an international NGO, it is deeply important to me that CIVICUS truly represents the Global South, and the depth and breadth of civil society. It also means a lot to me to say that I am a CIVICUS member and part of this amazing network that so fearlessly brings community and citizens voices to policy spaces. The 2014 International Civil Society Week was a highlight in my calendar last year. It was an inspiring space, to be surrounded by activists engaging on so many different issues. This Annual Report is a testament to the CIVICUS team and the hard work of our members. I am pleased that CIVICUS’ research continues to spark debate amongst civil society and also in our broader international community. The State of Civil Society Report 2015 highlighted the difficulties facing CSOs worldwide, and in particular how CIVICUS believes that the change-seeking work of CSOs faces particular, urgent resourcing challenges. I hope the broader development community can read this report as a call to action, finding new ways to support civil society operating in increasingly difficult spaces. I wish the CIVICUS family - Board members, staff, members, partners - well in their future endeavours. It has been a privilege to serve this alliance over these years and, although I will no longer be on the Board, I will continue to be a member ready to serve and contribute. Your voice and mine as citizens is the true essence of humanity.

Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda

Secretary-General’s Message “...how can we help achieve the vision of a just and sustainable world by 2030, and how do we make sure those in power are held to account for the promises they made?” Welcome to our Annual Report. Once again, we look back with mixed feelings on the year that was. On the one hand, I think our relatively small team has done a wonderful job working with members and partners to promote citizen action. We are also growing our membership base (up 95% since our new membership policy was introduced in June 2014), our programmatic work and our global footprint (around a quarter of CIVICUS staff are located outside our Johannesburg headquarters). But on the other hand, this growth is being driven in a large part by the fact that threats to civil society have become more widespread than ever and I think there is a recognition that we need to stand together, partly through alliances like ours. It is perhaps telling that two of our biggest current undertakings revolve around civic space. One, the Civic Space Initiative, is a partnership between us and the International Center for Not-for-profit Law, Article 19 and the World Movement for Democracy (WMD). This initiative aims to protect and expand civic space by fostering an enabling legal environment for civil society organisations. We have been working together as a partnership for three years now to support our colleagues in various ways. For example, just in the last year we supported 18 civil society representatives to present their story at events at the United Nations in Geneva, and staged some 115 events in 52 countries that reached 1.3 million people as part of the 2015 Global Day of Citizen Action. In the second initiative, CIVICUS is working closely with Counterpart International and a multi-donor group on the Civil Society İnnovation Initiative (CSİI). Launched in November 2014, the Initiative aims to support and connect civil society and CSOs working in open, closing and closed spaces through the establishment of 6 regional hubs that will encourage cooperation, innovation, research, learning and peer-to-peer exchanges. This is an exciting opportunity for CIVICUS to engage with donors in a co-design process, to change the paradigm of traditional CSO-donor relationships and provide new innovative tools to help civil society protect closing spaces. Of course, we continue to work towards connecting our members and amplifying their voice. One of my personal highlights of the last year was the 2014 International Civil Society Week (ICSW). Hosted for the first time in our home base of Johannesburg, nearly 700 activists came together to be part of 40 odd events. It was a magical week that showcased the diversity and dynamism of global civil society, and I am looking forward to our next International Civil Society Week to be held in April 2016, in Bogotá, Colombia (our first Latin American gathering in 20 years). When it comes to amplifying voices, a lot of our attention focused on the journey towards the new Sustainable Development Goals. Whether it was mobilising people around the world through the action/2015 campaign (which CIVICUS incubated and hosted) or trying to shape negotiations in New York through the Major Group and other Stakeholders system (in which CIVICUS is an organising partner), many of our colleagues were deep in the post-2015 process. By the time you read this Annual Report the new ‘global goals’ will have been announced but, for us and many others in civil society, the really hard work starts now: how can we help achieve the vision of a just and sustainable world by 2030, and how do we make sure those in power are held to account for the promises they made? This is where I hope our networks and initiatives like the DataShift project will come into play. Finally, as we head to Board elections in 2016, I wanted to pay testament to the current Board. I have felt lucky to have had access to the guidance, collectively and as individuals, of such a wonderful and wonderfully diverse Board. It is with honour and pride, that I submit this year’s Annual Report to our members. In solidarity, Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah

the year in review Photo: CIVICUS

highlights The CIVICUS alliance grew by over 95% since the launch of our new membership policy in June 2014, our global presence includes CIVICUS offices in New York, Geneva and London, as well as our global headquarters in Johannesburg.

CIVICUS played a key role in enhancing civil society participation in shaping the global development agenda, with such initiatives as action/2015, Sustainable Development 2015, and DataShift, working to better inform and monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and post-2015 processes.

We strengthened our work at the United Nations Human Rights Council with 15 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submissions on threats to freedom of expression, association and assembly, as well as 27 oral statements and 22 partner-led events highlighting threats to civil society, and shared what we’ve learned about engaging with the UPR in a paper distributed to our partners and networks.

With a diverse collection of partners, we celebrated the Global Day of Citizen Action with 115 events staged in 52 countries, reaching 1.3 million people through social media, raising awareness around the globe of the importance of civic space.

International Civil Society Week 2014 brought together nearly 700 civil society actors to network, share experiences, and engage through more than 40 events, including the CIVICUS World Assembly and the Nelson Mandela-Graça Machel Innovation Awards.

Our fourth annual State of Civil Society report featured contributions from 39 leading experts on the theme ‘resourcing for civil society’, as well as a ‘Year in Review’ section detailing major events and civil society trends, generating intense discussion through media coverage and social media debate.

We made 36 Crisis Response Fund interventions, an increase of more than 150% over last year, providing support to organisations across the world facing threats to their rights to exist, express and engage.

Our New Social Contract methodology engaged more than 400 people from governments, civil society, the private sector and the scientific community in multistakeholder dialogues addressing crucial community challenges.

Recognising the importance of evidence based approaches, we piloted two new tools; the Civic Space Monitor will provide accurate, verified and up-to-the-minute information on civic space, while the Civic Pulse methodology will be used to periodically take the temperature of civil society.

Photo: CIVICUS

To counter growing threats to civic space around the world, the Civil Society İnnovation Initiative (CSİI) aims to support and connect civil society and CSOs working in open, closing and closed spaces through the establishment of 6 regional hubs that encourage cooperation, innovation, research, learning and peer-to-peer exchanges. CIVICUS is a key partner in the CSİI, working closely with Counterpart International and a multi-stakeholder donor coordination group.

Photograph by: Zubair Sayed

strategic objectives

Photo: CIVICUS 5

Photo: Gustave Deghilage

Protecting fundamental civil society rights

Strengthening human rights defenders networks Continuing our commitment to strengthening solidarity and learning among human rights defenders (HRDs), CIVICUS organised opportunities around the world for HRDs to share experiences and engage with each other. In the Central African region, we organised one regional and a series of national consultations focusing on ways in which civil society can engage with governments, the security sector, the judiciary and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) to address human rights concerns, as well as increase knowledge on international human rights standards and issues. A series of consultations in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda examined ways in which civil society can collectively address human rights challenges at local and national levels. Discussions also focused on how lessons from civil society engagements with international processes can be shared, including the impact of these on human rights and civil society relations with government. A workshop, co-organised with key partners, on protecting civic space in Africa brought together 40 civil society leaders, human rights defenders, representatives of donor agencies and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association. A further workshop focused specifically on the ‘State of Human Rights in Africa: Gains Made and Challenges’.

CIVICUS also collaborated with the Kenyan National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders to organise post Universal Periodic Review (UPR) consultations in Nairobi where representatives of civil society organisations identified strategies to ensure that UPR recommendations related to Kenya are implemented. Responding to civil society under threat Through CIVICUS’ Crisis Response Fund (CRF), we provide support to organisations to counter threats to civil society’s fundamental rights. Financed by the Lifeline Embattled CSO Assistance Fund, in the last year CIVICUS supported 36 requests. For example, we supported a Vietnamese delegation to meet with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, funded an advocacy strategy meeting in Brazil to address the government’s growing intolerance of dissent, and supported training for Iraqi journalists in conflict zones. To raise awareness of civil society and human rights defenders under threat, CIVICUS regularly drafts and distributes alerts, press statements, open letters, and other communication through our networks, to shine the spotlight on civil society in crisis, to ensure that these threats are in the public eye. Targeted advocacy Highlighting both systemic and episodic threats to civil society around

the globe, our advocacy activities included an international solidarity mission to raise awareness of increasing legislative restrictions to civil society in Cambodia and a joint advocacy initiative, with Lifeline consortium members, focusing on the growing restrictions on civic space in Azerbaijan. As part of our Civil Society Behind Bars campaign, CIVICUS continued to advocate for the release of 25 civil society activists currently imprisoned because of their work. On International Nelson Mandela Day in July 2014, CIVICUS staff held a peaceful picket calling for the immediate release of 15 imprisoned human rights activists from across the globe. And in April 2015, CIVICUS joined the People’s March against Xenophobia in Johannesburg protesting against the xenophobic violence which broke out in South Africa leaving seven dead and thousands displaced. Finally, working through the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, we continued to pursue the case on the Ethiopian government’s freezing of funds to the last remaining human rights group in the country. We continue to circulate our Civil Society Watch Bulletin - a now-monthly round up of threats to civil society around the world – to key stakeholders throughout the year.

Promoting vibrant civic space The Civic Space Initiative (CSI) is entering its fourth year of protecting and expanding civic space by fostering an enabling environment for civil society organisations. The CSI focuses on civil society initiatives at the global, regional, and national levels, and comprises a diverse range of interventions and projects – our Universal Periodic Review programme, the Be the Change Campaign, and the Enabling Environment National Assessment (EENA) project, among others (see following pages for key achievements of the past year). In the past year, CIVICUS organised 14 post and pre UPR consultations in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Vietnam and Yemen. In collaboration with national partners, we made 15 UPR submissions highlighting restrictions on the freedoms of assembly, association, and expression, and persecution of human rights defenders. defenders

To ensure civil society’s perspectives To ensure civil society’s in such forums, CIVICUS perspectives supported in such forums, CIVICUS supported 18 civil society representatives to 18 civil society representatives to take part in Human Rights Council take part in Human Rights Council and UPR sessions in Geneva. We and UPR sessions in Geneva. We worked withregional regionaland andnational nationworked with al groups to organise 21 HRC side groups to organise 21 HRC side events on and events on a a range range of of thematic thematic and country specific specific situations, situations, and and made made country 7

Promoting citizen participation and a vibrant civic space 24 joint and standalone oral interventions to help shape on-going issues on the Council’s agenda. To share what we’ve learned, we released a report, “Enhancing the effectiveness of the UN UPR: A civil society perspective,” which examines challenges to engaging with the UPR and measures to ensure greater multi-stakeholder inclusivity. Citizen engagement & participation With a diverse collection of partners, we celebrated the Global Day of Citizen Action with 115 events staged in 52 countries, reaching 1.3 million people through social media, raising awareness around the globe of the importance of civic space. In late March 2015, we launched the updated Global Day of Citizen Action website that allowed users to easily learn about what the day was about, see where events were taking place and create their own event to participate. Users were able to create events from the launch of the website until the Global Day of Citizen Action on 16 May 2015. The Be the Change Campaign online platform has continued to grow and now has had over 16,000 unique users, from over a 150 countries that have accessed the web page in over 40 languages.

Connecting civil society In response to growing restrictions on freedoms of association, assembly and expression globally, in September 2013 United States President Barack Obama announced Stand with Civil Society, a global call to support civil society in an increasingly restrictive global environment. As a response, a group of 40 global co-creationists, led by USAID and Sida came together in November 2014 to launch the Civil Society İnnovation Initiative (CSİI). Implemented by Counterpart International and CIVICUS, CSİI aims to support and connect civil society and CSOs working in open, closing and closed spaces through the establishment of 6 regional hubs that will connect organisations through peer-to-peer learning and provide them with much-needed tools to support their work and amplify the voice of civil society. To launch the CSİI design process, Counterpart International and CIVICUS co-facilitated six three-day co-design workshops in Panama, Tanzania, Turkey, Senegal, Indonesia and Morocco throughout 2015. Over 30 organisations and activists in each region came together to provide concrete recommendations around how to build demand-driven and tailor-made hubs to encourage regional innovation and support civil society. The workshops utilised an inclusive, open design process that benefited from the input of a broad community of stakeholders from across each region.

Photo: CIVICUS

Engaging with intergovernmental institutions CIVICUS continually aims to strengthen the capacity of civil society, from the local to the global, to engage effectively in global governance, including global debates and decision-making processes. Post 2015 – the Sustainable Development Goals September 2015 marks the end of the Millennium Development Goals period, and the beginning of the Sustainable Development Goals, which will guide global development agendas for the next 15 years. As a key activity over the past year, CIVICUS has been actively involved in processes and dialogues to involve civil society in shaping these goals, as well as strategies around implementation and monitoring. Key to this has been playing a leadership role in the action/2015 and Sustainable Development 2015 initiatives. Over the last year, we supported 12 national actors, plus other stakeholders through numerous events at the UN in New York, to develop national advocacy plans to influence their governments’ position on the post2015 agenda. Working with the Civic

Democratising the international arena

Space Initiative consortium, we provided key inputs on civic space to the post-2015 framework and, under the umbrella of the Post 2015 Human Rights Caucus, worked with like-minded international civil society organisations to urge that the agenda be underpinned by international human rights standards, including a civil society enabling environment. We provided inputs to the discussions on indicators for the post-2015 agenda, including through an open letter to the UN Statistical Division underlining the importance of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and civic space and related legislation indicators. We also highlighted the importance of indicators to measure the enabling environment for civil society. Recognising the importance of good, accurate data to monitor the SDGs, and any other such commitments, CIVICUS is part of the “Data Revolution,” best demonstrated by the work of our DataShift project to build the capacity and confidence of civil society organisations to generate and use citizen-generated data to monitor development progress, demand accountability and campaign for transformative change. As well, CIVICUS has actively engaged

with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data as an anchor partner. Engaging with partners As part of a number of conversations with partners around the world on continued civil society engagement on sustainable development, CIVICUS co-convened a meeting during the World Social Forum to discuss joint civil society movements post September 2015. In February 2015, CIVICUS participated in an expert strategy session organised in Kenya by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Assembly and Association, as well as in a workshop in Washington, DC on the impact of multi-stakeholder initiatives on governance organised by the World Bank and the Transparency and Accountability Initiative.

Photo: Kyle Harris

Connecting National Associations

Inspiring New Social Contracts

International Civil Society Week

The CIVICUS Affinity Group of National Associations (AGNA), a network that enables representatives of national umbrella organisations to share information and best practices and engage in learning exchanges, convened a number of regional peer learning meetings in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as thematic peer learning exchanges on self-regulation initiatives and the Post-2015 agenda. The network also took part in the World Social Forum in Tunisia, organising workshops on post-2015 accountability, campaigning and civic space.

The New Social Contract, part of our Civic Space Initiative (see page 7), aims to stir conversations around understandings and systems underpinning relationships between different forces in society. In the last year, 7 partners – selected from 948 applications from 120 countries – carried out a revised New Social Contract multi-stakeholder dialogue methodology in Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Bolivia, Venezuela, Albania and Canada, engaging more than 400 actors. Themes included disaster preparedness, management of protected areas and natural resources, the inclusion of minority and indigenous groups, and gender-based violence.

Our 2014 International Civil Society Week (ICSW) engaged nearly 700 delegates, including representatives of 40-plus national and regional civil society networks, in over 40 events. Nearly 30% of participants were aged 30 or younger bringing a strong youth element to proceedings. Feedback indicates that events strengthened participants’ existing partnerships, facilitated new connections with other stakeholder groups and improved their knowledge by connecting them to key experts.

The creation of a new regular service that provides members with updates on learning and funding opportunities has reinforced the support of the Secretariat in providing opportunities for national members. The Secretariat facilitated several solidarity actions for AGNA members under threat, including those from Venezuela, Pakistan and China. At the national level, CIVICUS supported its AGNA member in Nigeria to facilitate dialogues between government and civil society representatives on a new restrictive NGO bill designed to limit international funding to civil society. More than 36 AGNA members and 8 observers participated in the AGNA annual general meeting alongside International Civil Society Week in Johannesburg.

Connecting civil society actors across the world

In November 2014, an international seminar, held in Johannesburg, to share key findings and lessons from the project gathered more than 35 participants from 24 countries. The national dialogues and global consultation culminated in a ‘toolkit’. The electronic version “Towards New Social Contracts: Using Dialogue Processes to Promote Social Change” was published in May 2015 and has already been accessed by thousands of people. The toolkit was also used during a one-day dedicated session within a peer exchange seminar in Istanbul in June 2015, for representatives of national umbrella associations from 15 countries.

ICSW 2014 also successfully realised our ambitions to convene a more sustainable event, firstly, through the implementation of a diversified funding approach, avoiding over-reliance on grant funding and, secondly, through the introduction of social and environmental sustainability measures, including going paperless and using local service providers and materials. ICSW 2016 will be hosted in Bogota, Colombia, with local partner the Confederación Colombiana de ONG (CCONG) under the banner, ‘Active Citizens, Accountable Actions’.

Generating and communicating knowledge AND analysis

State of Civil Society Report The 2015 edition of our annual State of Civil Society Report focused on the resourcing of civil society. It includes contributions from 39 leading civil society thinkers detailing trends, issues and challenges related to civil society funding. The report also features a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Year in Reviewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; section which analyses how civil society responded to key global events, protest trends, threats to civic freedoms and new civil society developments.

understanding on civic space and the enabling environment for civil society, as well as new tools for assessment.

The Civic Space Monitor (CSM), a As well as generating new information new initiative being piloted by CIVIand understanding on civil society, the CUS in 2015, aims to rate civic space in all 193 UN member states along State of Civil Society Report serves five categories: open, narrowed, obas an important advocacy tool for organisations and activists seeking to structed, repressed and closed. The CSM relies on research reports by defend and strengthen civic space. It well-respected human rights groups, has generated extensive discussion in public forums and on social media, current media reports, and, notably, as well as resulted in widespread cov- analysis of regular consultations with CIVICUS members, partners and erage in print, broadcast, and online other activists on the ground. media. Monitoring civic space In the context of a growing recognition of the role of the enabling environment in strengthening development effectiveness and democracy, CIVICUS has worked to develop new

space in Southern Africa covering 14 countries. The study demonstrates the kind of information and analysis on civic space that CIVICUS hopes to provide through a web portal for all countries in the world: a tool for enabling greater understanding of the nature of civic space in every country, for sharing best practice and for strengthening citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ability to defend civic space in their own countries.

In April 2015, CIVICUS published a consultation document on the CSM, alongside a pilot study of civic

Tools for assessment & knowledge As part of the CSI programme, the Enabling Environment National Assessment (EENA) is a participatory research initiative designed to create an evidence-base for advocating for enabling environments for civil society on a national scale. EENAs take place in countries where civil society has experienced threats or challenges in their legal, regulatory and policy environment. Another criterion for the choice of country is that there needs to be a reasonable chance of impact of an EENA on the enabling environment. CIVICUS has supported 8 EENAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s this year in Brazil, Cameroon, Jordan, Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria, Panama and Nepal. CIVICUS has also continued to engage multiple stakeholders on the inclusion of civic space in the Post-2015 agenda through targeted submissions to relevant UN bodies. In December 2014, CIVICUS com-

pleted a comparative study on the legal framework for financing civil society organisations with the aim of identifying good practices in the regulatory framework for the financial sustainability of independent civil society organisations. A new participatory research tool - Civic Pulse - is intended to develop CIVICUSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; capacity to interact with large numbers of civic leaders, providing regular, timely, customised, at-a-glance data on civic space. A regular cross-section panel survey of civil society leaders from around the world, the Civic Pulse gathers views on the conditions for civil society in their countries and gauges their confidence to create social change. Whilst this new system will produce results of interest to researchers and academics, it is designed primarily to be used as a tool for civil society

activists and organisations to make the case for improved conditions in their country and globally. In the last year, CIVICUS has added to the range of tools and resources that we create for our members and partners, producing guides on topics such as post-2015 advocacy, using dialogue processes to promote social change, and engaging with UN Special Procedures. Important knowledge pieces, including the State of Civil Society report, have served to amplify the voices of key stakeholders on issues of global governance and provide valuable analysis on civil society resourcing challenges.

Photo: Zubair Sayed Engaging with and through media Our communication team continues to play a key role in driving our advocacy, campaigns, membership and outreach. Throughout the year, we have worked to engage with our members and networks, and shared important information about civil society, through a range of communication channels, including our e-Civicus bulletins, mainstream and social media, and our website. We pro-actively produce our own media, including, in the last year, 26 video interviews, 32 media statements, 30 opinion pieces, and 4 broadcast interviews – shared through a range of national and global media outlets. The CIVICUS website and social media channels are an important source of regular news updates, as well as a

way to share our knowledge resources. In the past year, our website saw over 130,000 visitors with more than 450,000 page views. We reached more than 2.1 million people through Facebook and over 12 million through Twitter. We also increased our Twitter followers to nearly 4,500 and Facebook to over 30,000. Several times a day, we share information relevant to civil society – about upcoming events, publications, topical discussions, and profiles, both from CIVICUS and our members. We have helped to build our members’ profiles by following and sharing their content on social media on a weekly basis.

Empowering the alliance and wider network Our Members CIVICUSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; membership is at the heart of everything we do. Our new alliance strategy has seen our member numbers increase by nearly 96% over the last year. Our membership spans sectoral, thematic and geographic divides and is open to both individual citizens and organisations. Our ability to amplify and strengthen the voices and fight for the freedoms of ordinary people goes hand in hand with a strong global alliance.

CIVICUS members are located in over 160 countries around the globe.

Membership increased nearly 96% since June 2014.

Recognising the importance of tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaders, nearly 25% of our members are youth.

CIVICUS has members in 90% of lower and lowermiddle income countries, and over half of our members come from lower or lower-middle income countries.

Civic Space Initiative consortium: CIVICUS is one of four international organisations, including Article 19, the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law and World Movement for Democracy, implementing the Civic Space Initiative, supported by Sida.

Network engagement In October 2014, CIVICUS voting members participated in a virtual AGM, enabling a broader range of members to participate at their convenience across regions and time zones. During International Civil Society Week 2014, members and supporters of the alliance were able to connect, share ideas and learn about upcoming initiatives. Seeking new ways in which to serve and work with our membership, we have created the first member working group which will guide and input into the CIVICUS allianceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work on gender, involving members in cross-cutting issues, drawing on the expertise of the alliance to solve problems, set up networks and support evidence-based research and policy initiatives. The Gender Working Group will commence its work in late 2015. Increasingly, we partner with our members on joint projects, as well as seeking their input and expertise on policy issues, programme development and organisational planning. CIVICUS also provides financial and technical support to our partners own work programmes. In the past year, over $1 million dollars of our annual budget went directlyÂ to our members and partners as part of strategies to supporting and collaborating to strengthen civil society worldwide. 15

Affinity Group of National Associations: CIVICUS acts as the Secretariat of AGNA, providing dedicated staff support for the coordination of network activities and the annually elected steering committee.

SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS CIVICUS is committed to forging partnerships for change because we believe that we are stronger when we work together towards the same goal. Not everyone shares our vision and values, but as a unique global alliance and an impartial and inclusive convenor, we always aim to broker consensus and look for points of intersection. The following is just a small selection of how we are engaging through partnership.

Civil Society Platform for Development Effectiveness: CIVICUS is represented in the CPDE working groups on civil society development effectiveness, the enabling environment and post-2015.

Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation: CIVICUS is implementing one of the Global Initiatives launched at the GPEDC high-level meeting in Mexico in April 2014, the DataShift.

Community of Democracies: CIVICUS is a member of the working group on enabling and protecting civil society.

Development Awareness-Raising and Education (DARE) Forum: CIVICUS is a member of the management consortium for the fourth phase of the DARE Forumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DEEEP project.

INGO Accountability Charter: CIVICUS is a founding member and signatory of the INGO Accountability Charter, and is also currently represented on its Board of Directors.

Photo: Zubair Sayed

Lifeline Consortium: CIVICUS is one of seven international partners who administer emergency financial assistance and advocacy support to civil society organisations under threat through the Lifeline Embattled CSO Assistance Fund, which is supported by an international donor pool of 17 governments and independent foundations.

Multi-stakeholder Task Team on CSO Development Effectiveness and the Enabling Environment: CIVICUS is an independent civil society representative on the Task Team.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs: CIVICUS serves as NGO Major Group Organising Partner.

United Nations Department of Public Information: CIVICUS served as Chair of the 65th Annual UN DPI/ NGO Conference held in August 2014.

United Nations Development Cooperation Forum: CIVICUS, along with ActionAid International, serve as CSO representatives to the DCF Advisory Group.

United Nations Economic and Social Council: CIVICUS and its members enjoy general consultative status to take part in ECOSOC sessions, events and functional commissions. Youth Advisory Group: CIVICUS convenes a group of young activists and civil society leaders from around the world to champion youth participation in civil society.

Institutions that have supported CIVICUS in the last year include Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Danish International Development Agency (Danida) European Commission Ford Foundation Irish Aid Lifeline: Embattled Civil Society Organizations Assistance Fund Ministry of Foreign Affairs Finland Ministry of Foreign Affairs Switzerland Nduna Foundation Oxfam Novib Open Society Foundation Human Rights Initiative Open Society Foundation for South Africa Open Society Institute of West Africa Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) Taiwan Foundation for Democracy UK Department for International Development (DFiD) UN-Habitat Photo: David Holt

BOARD

of directors

NYARADZAYI GUMBONZVANDA - BOARD CHAIR & CHAIR OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Zimbabwe and Switzerland

FELICIANO J. REYNA - VICE CHAIR Venezuela

UYGAR ÖZESMI - TREASURER & CHAIR OF THE OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Turkey

ELISA PETER - SECRETARY France and UK

ANABEL CRUZ - Chair of the Governance and Membership Committee Uruguay and USA

ANNE FIRTH MURRAY New Zealand and USA

ANSELMO LEE South Korea

CAROLINE OROBOSA USIKPEDO-OMONIYE Nigeria

JOANNA KERR Canada

JOAO SCARPELINI Brazil

NABILA HAMZA Jordan and Tunisia

PAULINE WANJA Kenya

SAM WORTHINGTON United States of America

Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen Sweden

WAEL HMAIDAN Lebanon

Annual Aggregated

financial statements

The financial statements on the following pages have been approved and signed by the Board of Directors. CIVICUS Aggregated Statement of Financial Position as at 30 June 2015 12 months to 30/6/2015 12 months to 30/6/2014 Total $ - â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;000 RSA Golden US Total RSA Golden US Spot Spot ASSETS

547

-20

2,818

3,345

528

1,239

1,789

Non-current Assets

274

-22

255

272

293

196

224

- Loan to Property Company

226

-226

214

-214

Current Assets

274

2,815

3,090

256

1,238

1,495

- Accounts receivable

520

581

242

271

- Accrued income

716

751

610

-832

832

-129

129

1,010

748

1,758

357

257

614

Total Assets

547

-20

2,818

3,345

528

1,239

1,789

RESERVES AND LIABILITIES

547

-20

2,818

3,345

528

1,239

1,789

Reserves

337

-21

342

658

356

207

583

- Unrestricted funds

687

-192

342

837

599

-156

207

650

- Share capital

- Revaluation surplus - Foreign currency translation reserve

109

138

-350

-288

-243

-205

Current Liabilities

210

2,476

2,687

172

1,033

1,205

- Accounts payable

155

221

109

183

- Deferred income

115

2,321

2,436

771

789

190

547

-20

2,818

3,345

528

1,239

1,789

- Land and Buildings - Equipment

- Inter office loan account - Cash and cash equivalents

- Loan repayable - Provisions for leave pay - Taxation payable Total Reserves and Liabilities 21

CIVICUS Aggregated Statement of Comprehensive Income For the year ended 30 June 2015 30/06/2015 30/06/2014 US Total RSA Golden US $ - â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;000 RSA Golden Spot Spot Aggregated Income:

Total

2,295

2,611

4,944

1,902

1,653

3,593

297

4,395

4,692

349

3,137

3,485

1,809

-1,809

1,543

-1,543

Bursaries -World Assembly

Membership dues

Rent received

Other income

156

157

2,206

2,476

4,762

1,882

1,524

3,477

Communications

128

Depreciation

Grants and donations Consulting income Allocations

Interest received Aggregated Expenditure: Assets expenses directly

Financial charges

Governance/oversight

Hire, lease and maintenance of equipment

Occupancy

136

117

Office supplies and services

108

Partner Travel, conferences and meetings

134

360

495

204

265

Professional services

147

332

480

109

224

333

1,435

747

2,182

1,478

373

1,852

179

242

104

167

584

585

536

World Assembly

233

253

Surplus/(Deficit)

-42

135

182

-33

129

116

Other expenses

Recruitment costs (previously incl Staff salaries and allowances Staff travel costs Sub-grants

CIVICUS Aggregated Statement of Changes in Reserves For the period ended 30 June 2015 GOLDEN SPOT

$ - â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;000 Balance as at 30 June 2013 Net surplus (deficit) for the year

Foreign Unre- Revalua- Translastricted tion tion FUND Surplus RESERVE

Unrestricted FUND

TOTAL

578

-190

-128

154

523

-33

129

116

Revaluation of Buildings

-6

Adjustment due to Foreign Translation

-53

-10

-56

Balance as at 30 June 2014

599

-243

-156

138

207

583

-42

135

182

Revaluation of Buildings

-5

Adjustment due to Foreign Translation

-107

-24

-107

Balance as at 30 June 2015

687

-350

-192

109

342

658

Net surplus (deficit) for the period

Foreign Unre- Translastricted tion FUND RESERVE

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Aggregated Cash Flow Statement of Cash Flows For the period ended 30 June 2015 12 months to 30/06/2015 Golden $ - â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;000 RSA Spot US Total Cash flow from operating activities Cash received from funders and tenants Cash paid to programmes, suppliers and employees Cash (utilised in)/ generated by operations

12 months to 30/06/2014 Golden RSA Spot US Total

2,306

3,778

6,122

1,898

1,348

3,283

-2,349

-66

-2,392

-4,807

-1,932

-59

-1,500

-3,491

-43

-28

1,386

1,315

-34

-22

-152

-208

Interest paid

Taxation paid Net cash inflow (outflow) from operating activities

-25

-28

1,386

1,333

-28

-22

-152

-202

-12

-2

-37

-1

-21

-19

-2

-21

-37

-1

-39

-16

691

-893

-190

190

-12

-4

-190

190

703

-703

-92

653

491

1,144

-55

-33

357

257

614

1,010

748

1,758

-55

-33

Interest received

Cash flow (utilised in) investing activities Acquisition of equipment Improvements to buildings Devaluation of PPE due to forex changes Cash flow (utilised in) generated by financing activities Loan receivable Property company Loan payable Inter office loan account Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

To request full financial statements as approved and signed by the Board of Directors, please contact finance@civicus.org

Cover photograph by: Pasu Au Yeung

CIVICUS House 24 Gwigwi Mrwebi Street Newtown Johannesburg, 2001 Tel: +27 (0)11 833 5959

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