Resilience+: resilient organisations in a shrinking civil society space

Every day, we face new challenges and increasingly uncertain circumstances. This is why, alongside the issue of sustainability, the issue of resilience - the "mental resilience" of an organisation - is becoming increasingly important.

The Partners Hungary Foundation is now undertaking a special programme to support 3 NGOs with resilience-based organisational development.

 

Why is it not enough to talk about sustainability in a shrinking civil society space?

The 2017 CIVICUS civil society report 2017  has identified a number of pressing trends that continue to emerge and threaten the space for civic participation. Perhaps most critically, only three percent of the world's population live in countries where civic space is fully open. This sad reality has spurred PartnersGlobal to action and, through a strategic partnership with CIVICUS, has launched the development of the REZILIENCIA+ framework.

 

What is resilience-based organisational development?

The framework for building the resilience of civil society organisations draws on insights from recent academic and practical research on resilience, complex operating environments and the threats of civil space, as well as on civil society organisational models and capacities. The REZILIENCIA+ organisational development methodology was developed by the international civil society coalition CIVICUS and our parent organisation Partners Global, based on research findings from 45 countries. The process delves into different levels of resilience (individual-organisational-sectoral-civil society space) and strengthens organisations in seven factors of resilience:

  1. systems theory
  2. creating space in uncertainty
  3. building coping strategies that benefit the organisation
  4. to connect and experience community and turn it into a resource
  5. developing a business approach
  6. strengthening transparency and the engagement of our depositories
  7. well-structured organisational communication

The NGOs involved in the process, in addition to the process monitoring, will also receive a scholarship of USD 1600 each.

Who participates in the programme?

From November 2020 to August 2021, we will accompany three NGOs working in the field of education or Roma inclusion under the RESILIENCY+ organisational development framework:

  • ReSuli Foundation
  • Lightbringers Foundation
  • Somnakuno Drom: 21st Century Roma Women's Association

The programme is sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an independent, non-profit foundation that supports the development and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. The NED provides more than 1,600 grants each year to support projects by foreign NGOs working for democracy in more than 90 countries.

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