Promoting an enabling civic space

Scope:

Topic scope:

Promoting an enabling civic space (CERV-2026-CHAR-LITI-CIVIC)

A thriving civic space requires an enabling legal, administrative and regulatory environment in which civil society organisations (CSOs) are supported and empowered, protected from threats, and able to operate freely. This call therefore aims to reinforce the conditions for such an environment by supporting actions that strengthen both the monitoring of civic space and the protection and resilience of CSOs and human rights defenders working to uphold EU values.

Monitoring of civic space

Projects should establish or enhance systematic and comprehensive monitoring systems to regularly assess the environment in which CSOs operate at national level. These should build on and align as closely as possible with existing frameworks—such as the indicators developed by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and data from international organisations—as well as national monitoring systems, to ensure comparability and consistency.

Such proposals can cover in particular the following:

• focus on breaches of fundamental rights affecting CSOs and human rights defenders, including the right to freedom of association.
• capture emerging issues such as digital threats and transnational repression within the EU.
• improve data collection, analysis and reporting, enabling the early identification of risks, including SLAPPs.
• Support timely, coordinated and evidence-based responses to civic space threats by relevant actors.
• strengthen the resilience of civil society actors, including through capacity-building on digital and cyber-security.
• strengthening capacity of CSOs to communicate effectively around their activities and to build effective, visible and impactful advocacy activities.

Trimmed here, the full scope, expected outcomes and award criteria are on the official topic page ↗.