Challenging the Closing Space for Civil society – A practical starting point for funders

The aim of this report is to give funders and members of civil society a practical starting point for thinking
about possible approaches for working together to contest the closing space for civil society. Many already have or are planning initiatives in this field. This report shares the perspectives of numerous donors, civil society representatives, and experts engaged with this issue and offers ways of aligning work moving forward. The report also offers links to resources on specific aspects of closing space. We encourage you to join the Ariadne, International Human Rights Funders Group and the European Foundation Centre online community, where
funders, NGO leaders and other actors who support an open and tolerant civil society share strategies and resources in real time. This is password-protected on the Ariadne portal: if you are a funder or a member of civil society, please e-mail info@ariadne-network.eu to join.

This resource is based on a two-day workshop on Challenging the Closing Space for Civil Society, organised by  Ariadne, IHRFG and EFC, which took place in Berlin in June 2015. The aim of the event was to get funders, civil society actors and government representatives thinking together about how to challenge the disabling environment for cross-border funding. Over 80 people participated.