HELVETAS at International Civil Society Week in Belgrade

The International Civil Society Week 2019  is a global gathering for civil society to connect, debate and create shared solutions.  It brings participants together as co-creators and co-owners under the slogan: ‘Power of Togetherness.’

In 2019, the ICSW was held in Belgrade, Serbia. It was organized by the CIVICUS Alliance, of which Helvetas is a member, and the Serbian Civic Initiative.

Helvetas participated in the panel debate which kick started the event and presented global trends related to the shrinking space of civil society, while giving examples on how to promote an enabling environment for civil society through our EU funded projects in:

• Myanmar (PEACE), which sees a repressed environment with examples of negative government rhetoric and an exclusion of Civil Society Organizations. In addition, Cyclone Nargis (2008) fuelled the growth of civil society which brought along its own set of challenges and opportunities.
•  Bhutan (CSO support), where the young democracy develops within an emerging civil society, which is perceived as service delivery based, and not rights based. In addition, there is limited experience and capacity for the state-civil society engagement.

Find out more about ICSW and see how Helvetas works on the theme of ‘Enabling Environment for Civil Society’.