Insights and Strategies from the Eastern Partnership Webinar: Strengthening Civil Society and Rule of Law

KPSRL and Team Europe Democracy (TED) organized a discussion between policy makers, civil society and NGOs on civic engagement while supporting democracy reforms in Eastern European partnerships. This was a continuation of discussions from two previous sessions on Moldova (October 2023) and Georgia (July 2023).

Key findings:

• EU support to democracy and rule of law reform is only sustainable if taking the voices and needs of the population as the starting point to improve those more formal institutions and regulations. Applying such a ‘civic engagement lens’ throughout EU’s initiatives is a skill to be acquired and trained. 
• EU support still tends to go through/to ‘usual suspects’. It is difficult to collaborate with smaller organisations, or those in geographic regions that don’t have a historic culture of civil society or regions that are politically less aligned (and therefore less connected) with the EU. This requires investing in new networks, channels, instruments, and platforms. This while being cognizant of the sensitivities when reaching out on themes like justice and human rights, ensuring for example safe spaces or more subtle diplomacy. 
• Fostering a ‘CSO culture’ amongst others means supporting organisations in their revenue search, resilience against shrinking civic space and capacities to mobilise. It also means facilitating their seat at the table during institutional reform processes - and considering this the norm.

To read more, download the full report below.