Expanding Civic Space in Unity

ongoing

The objective of the Expanding Civic Space in Unity (ECSU) project is to strengthen civil society’s joint advocacy, awareness of and capacity to ensure fundamental rights, offline and online, in the digital era and times of increased unrest. The objective will be fulfilled through strengthening civil society’s understanding of the EU, union values, fundamental rights (incl. digital rights), rule of law, civic space, non-discrimination, and gender balance and how the EU provides a framework to working with these. The consortium consists of two organisations, Global Focus and Nyt Europa, which, in combination, are in possession of the necessary capacities, experience, and networks to conduct a successful project implementation. The organisations have a proven record of collaborating on agendas related to fundamental rights and shrinking civic space, incl. in a European context. The consortium will work through three tracks; 1) Network and capacity building of civil society 2) Distribution of support to third parties 3) Collective advocacy, monitoring and awareness raising, that are interlinked and mutually supportive. During a 36-month period, the project will 1) ensure capacity building on union values and fundamental rights for more than 100 civil society actors, incl. informal groups, 2) ensure funding for a min of 40 Danish civil society actors to engage in advocacy, awareness raising, monitoring, establishment of partnerships, etc., and 3) unite Danish civil society around joint advocacy, awareness raising and monitoring efforts. These activities will help promoting, protecting and raising awareness of union values and fundamental rights incl. digital rights, and create the foundation for civil society to actively engage on a European level and around issues related to the EU, as the 2024 European Parliament election and the Danish EU presidency in 2025 approaches.