Civic space and humanitarian assistance. Online discussion between OGP partners
How can OGP countries help civil society organizations in development cooperation activities and humanitarian assistance? This will be the focus of the online discussion of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) partners taking place on Monday 13 December 2021, in the run-up to the OGP Global Summit 2021. The representatives of governments, of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and civil society will initiate a joint discussion on developing concrete actions to implement the provisions of the DAC Recommendation (OECD Development Assistance Committee) on enabling civil society in development co-operation and humanitarian assistance, and on the expansion of civic space in the OGP context.
The Recommendation, adopted in July 2021, is the first international standard that guides the governments providing humanitarian assistance on how to support civil society in contributing to the 2030 Agenda and in its efforts to strengthen democracy. The Recommendation suggests to Governments three "pillar actions" to foster civil society in partner countries and territories:
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- to respect, protect and promote civic space;
- to support and engage with civil society;
- to encourage the effectiveness, transparency and accountability of civil society organizations.
The provisions of the Recommendation include best practices, provide Governments with clear and feasible guidelines and represent an opportunity to support civil society in view of co-creation processes undertaken by many OGP partners during the development of National action plans.
The event is organized by the OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
More details and the registration form to the online partner session are available on the ICNL website.