MOOC Effective Engagement of Civil Society in Development

Introduction

The Online Interactive Guidance on Effective Engagement of Civil Society in Development is designed to build awareness on the need to engage civil society…

The scale and ambition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires participation of all development actors, including CSOs, to ensure its implementation. Effective engagement of CSOs in development to achieve the SDGs is a shared responsibility: Governments, Donors, and CSOs all have a role to play to help maximize CSOs’ contributions to development. It is therefore urgent that CSOs meaningfully and effectively engage in development processes. But what is needed for CSOs to be able to do so? This Online Interactive Guidance offers some answers to that question. It takes participants through a history of the international commitments that call for this multi-stakeholder collaboration; what this means in practice for different development actors; and the benefits that can ensue through means of good practice examples from countries across the globe.

This Online Interactive Guidance is informed by the written Guidance and Good Practice on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment as developed by the Task Team on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment (Task Team) and amongst others draws from research commissioned by the Task Team through its Secretariat at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS-EUR).

The Online Guidance consists of five modules that each play a part in creating an environment in which CSOs can meaningfully and effectively contribute to implementation and monitoring of international development processes. Each module starts with an animated video introducing the topic and is followed by good practice examples; insights from the field in the form of video interviews; in-depth readings; and an online activity.