Hivos and ISS organise regional consultative workshops

Author(s): Jeroen Mimpen
Publication date: Friday 11 April 2008

Hivos and ISS jointly organise two regional consultative workshops in San José (15-16 April 2008) and Johannesburg (2-23 April 2008) to further develop the knowledge programme on Civil Sociey Building. Together with major partners, research institutes and regional offices, Hivos and ISS will discuss main issues in civil society building and will propose a concrete research agenda to contribute to the debate on civil society building.

Hivos and ISS have developed a joint programme to address main issues in civil society building. Three main questions of the programme are:
1. How can we understand the dynamics of civil society building?
2. How can we improve the relevance/effectiveness of civil society initiatives?
3. How can we improve the role of outside actors in civil society building?

In Costa Rica, the focus of the programme is mainly on social movements. Indigenous, women, and alternative free trade movements will be subject of discussion. Furthermore, we will try to compare challenges in different movements and formulaet a concrete research agenda for Central America.

In Johannesburg, the focus of the workshop is on three distinct issues in civil society: leadership, conditions for effective civic action and the monitoring for responsive government. Similarly, the workshop will be used to formulate a concrete research agenda for Southern Africa.

More information? Please contact Jeroen Mimpen, Knowledge Officer Civil Society Building at Hivos: j.mimpen@hivos.nl.

Related links:

www.hivos.nl

www.iss.nl