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Norwegian Civil Society Sector and the Active Citizens Fund Csilla Czimbalmos November 2018. Norwegian Helsinki Committee. Contact point coordinating information-sharing and promoting bilateral cooperation between civil society organisations in Norway and the beneficiary countries.
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Norwegian CivilSocietySector and the Active Citizens Fund Csilla Czimbalmos November 2018
Contactpointcoordinating information-sharing and promoting bilateral cooperation between civil society organisations in Norway and the beneficiary countries. NHC’srole
Civilsociety in Norway • 115 000 NGOs • Large, dynamic and innovative sector • 80 % of Norwegians are members of one or more organisations(s)
Recognizedroleofcivilsociety • Establish channels of political influence • Evaluate and criticise the work of the government • Engage and educate the public • Train members to understand democracy and its rules • Provide a wide range of services • Represent the interests of different groups in the society
Tendencies • Decrease in the overall numberoflocalorganizations • Increase in thenumberoforganizationswithnationaloutreach
Tendencies • On locallevel: increase in organizationsinvolved in culturalactivities and sports as well as in organizedlocalcommunities • On nationallevel: dominated by professionalassociations (business, employment, unions) with an increase in organizationsworkingwithsocial and societalissues, cultre and leisure
Tendencies The national and locallevelare more or less independentofeachother. • Localorganizationsarrangeactivities for theirownmembers • National outreachorganizationsorganizeactivities for a wider target group
Tendencies • Membership in organizations is in slightdecline (service provision for public and volunteers have become more importantthanmembership) • Increase in amountofvolunteering (over 142 000 man years in 2014 from about 115 000 in 2009).
Politicalinvolvment and outreach • Regularcontactwithdecisionmakingbodies has decreased, butthenumberofcontacts has increased • Contactwithparliament and ministries • Decrease in traditionalcorporativerepresentationoforganizations in decision-makingbodies, but at the same time widerspectreofstrategies to influencedecision-making • Lobby • Advocacy • Campaignsaddressingspecificcauses
Competencies and contribution • Advocacy, awareness raising and outreach to citizens • Citizen activism, volunteering and civic participation • Capacity building of civil sector, including sustainability, networking and accountability • Partnership between NGOs, public and private sector entities • Participation in policy and decision-making processes, including promoting an enabling environment for civil society
Key elements ofsuccess • Common understanding of important values • Common understanding of content and strategy • Developing the project together • Good project planning • Building good and sustainable relations • Long-term perspective • Agreement of financial framework
NGOPartnershipPortal www.ngonorway.org www.eeagrants.org acf@nhc.no More information