Civil society & local authorities
Civil society and the broader set of non-state actors (NSAs) and Local Authorities (LA) are privileged partners of the EU. Support from the EU for these actors encourages them to work towards better governance and more participatory development, increasingly involving citizens through their specific, often complementary, approaches. To facilitate its relationship with civil society and local authorities, the EC has established a space for dialogue and tools tailored to their specific requirements.
Story from the field
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Guaranteeing labour rights of young people in Chiapas (Mexico)
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Network of Friendly Support for Abandoned Children
The "Network of Friendly Support" provides a family-style support mechanism for abandoned children in Ukraine. At the rehabilitation centre constructed, children benefited from medical services and social workers received extended training. -
Enhancing the participation of students and youth in decision making and civil society in Sudan
The project aims at increasing political participation of the youth in Sudan influencing policies favouring youth participation and reducing violence on university campus.
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What's On
The launch of CiSocH
The EC has launched an online tool to facilitate access to existing information on and for civil society in development cooperation: CiSocH (Civil Society Helpdesk). With a powerful search tool, CISOCH offers a one-stop-shop for all your questions on cooperation between EuropeAid and civil society - making procedures, vocabulary, methods of work, etc. easier to understand.
The Structured Dialogue
The Structured Dialogue is an initiative launched in March 2010 by the European Commission (EC) to address the participation of civil society organisations and local authorities in the EC development cooperation. It aims to improve the effectiveness of all stakeholders involved in European cooperation, based on current global and European debates. The seminars schedule and the content and reference documents are available on CiSocH.
Financial support
TheCommission provides NSA-LA with financial support, of which the objectives are defined in geographic instruments , thematic programmes and instruments .
For the period 2007-2013, the EU’s support to NSAs and local authorities is financed through two types of instruments:
- On the one hand, geographic programmes that are articulated around development priorities defined for a specific country or region. They form the core of EU cooperation. These encompass the European Development Fund (in the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries), the Development Co-operation Instrument (in Latin America, Asia and South Africa), and the European Neighbourhoud & Partnership Instrument (in the neighbouring regions),
- On the other hand, the European Commission foresees thematic programmes. The thematic programmes are cross-cutting programmes that address a particular issue (eg, human rights and democracy, environment, civil society, asylum and migration, food security). Unlike geographic programsme, they do not require the consent of governments and other authorities of the partner country. These actions are subsidiary and complementary to those undertaken by geographic programmes. A specific Non State Actors and Local Authorities thematic programme is devoted to the support of NSAs and Local Authorities. NSAs are also supported by other thematic instruments and programmes, in particular the EIDHR.
- Civil society and local authorities are the prime beneficiaries of these tools and programmes, to which they are asked to participate by means of calls for proposals. Throughout the year, more than 300 calls for proposals are published by both the headquarters and the delegations of the EU based on geographic and thematic programmes available for each country. We recommend you regularly visit the publication site to identify calls that would meet your context: New calls for proposals.
Background information
For more specific information, visit the pages dedicated to civil society and local authorities.
The EU promotes cooperation between NSAs and local authorities, as their efforts are often complementary (multi-actor partnerships). Moreover, support to civil society is increasingly mentioned in partnership and cooperation agreements with third countries.