This toolkit was produced by CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, as part of the Civic Space Initiative (CSI). A partnership between CIVICUS, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), ARTICLE 19, and the World Movement for Democracy, The Civic Space Initiative (CSI) is working to protect and expand civic space by fostering an enabling… [Read More]
Civil Society Resources
A list of free guides, how-to tools and other resources on Civil Society Development for NGOs and development professionals.
A Free Handbook for NGOs and CSOs: Engaging Africa-based Human Rights Mechanisms
This publication was produced under the ”Consolidating Civil Society’s Role in the Transition from African Human Rights Standards to Practice project”, funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the International Commission of Jurists – European Institutions (ICJ-EI), the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), the ICJ Kenya Section and the… [Read More]
A Free Civil Society Accountability Toolkit – Uganda
Civil Society Accountability: Principles and Practice is a toolkit developed by the One World Trust in partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation and the Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations. It explores what accountability means for civil society organisations in Uganda and provides suggestions on how to put accountability into practice. The toolkit has three aims:… [Read More]
A Free Civil Society Accountability Toolkit – South Africa
Civil Society Accountability: Principles and Practice – A toolkit for civil society organisations in South Africa was developed by the Commonwealth Foundation and the Co-operative for Research and Education (CORE), South Africa. It explores what accountability means for civil society organisations (CSOs) in the uniquely South African context. The aims of the toolkit are threefold:… [Read More]
A Free Toolkit for Health Professional Advocates: Addressing the Health Workforce Crisis
The Health Workforce Advocacy Initiative (HWAI) is the civil-society led advocacy network of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). HWAI’s purpose is to advocate for the policies and sustained investments necessary to develop and empower a health workforce capable of delivering on health goals. HWAI operates with the firm conviction that everyone has the right… [Read More]
A Free Toolkit for Strengthening Partnerships: UNDP and Civil Society Organizations
This toolkit, produced by the Civil Society Organizations Division in the Bureau for Resources and Strategic Partnerships, is aimed at providing colleagues with practical guidance and essential information in forging partnerships with CSOs. It includes examples of innovative country-level mechanisms to build and strengthen collaboration with CSOs. This toolkit seeks to equip UNDP country offices… [Read More]
A Free Crimes Against Humanity Treaty Toolkit
A new convention on crimes against humanity (CAH) is in its final draft stages, but most civil society groups including women, LGBTIQ, disability, Indigenous, aboriginal, youth, caste, and racial and ethnic minority rights groups have not weighed in. While the current treaty draft embraces strong language from the Rome Statute (which created the International Criminal… [Read More]
Free West Africa Drug Policy Training Toolkit
The West Africa drug policy training toolkit has been developed by the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), in collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation and the West African Commission on Drugs, with funding from USAID. It aims to build the capacity of civil society organisations in the region and to help them engage with, and… [Read More]
A Free Guide for Planners and Decision Makers: Female-friendly Public and Community Toilets
The ‘Female-friendly guide’ is designed primarily for use by local authorities in towns and cities who are in charge of public and community toilets. It’s also useful for national governments, public and private service providers, NGOs, donors and civil society organisations who play a role in delivering these services. The guide explains why toilets must… [Read More]
Free Advocacy Toolkit: Advocating for the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics
PARIS21 has produced a Country-level Advocacy Toolkit, which aims to help national statistical system managers and statisticians in developing countries with their own advocacy work and to demonstrate the advantages of planning advocacy systematically. It gathers, in a single package, advocacy methodology, tools, tips and messages. The Toolkit deals with statistical advocacy at the country… [Read More]
A Free Toolkit on Women’s Land Rights
This toolkit gathers together information on five tools that have been successfully used by members of the International Land Coalition (ILC) to promote, protect and strengthen women’s land rights. It is intended to facilitate mutual learning based on good practices. What is this toolkit for? This toolkit aims to provide a range of useful tools,… [Read More]
A Free Guide for Development Agencies and Policy Makers: Youth Participation in Development
The Youth Participation in Development Guide was created as part of a joint project between the DFID CSO Youth Working Group and the DFID Equity and Rights Team in the UK with the goal of furthering the participation of young people in the decision making process within development and support donor agencies (multilateral and bilateral)… [Read More]
Free Asia Foundation’s Beyond the Toolkit: Supporting Peace Processes in Asia
In recent years there have been growing calls for new approaches to supporting peace in post-conflict contexts, as current peacebuilding models do not accurately reflect what we know about the nature of conflict, how it ends, and how peace processes are sustained and peace consolidated. To address these issues, The Asia Foundation has launched Beyond… [Read More]
A Free Women and Peace Facilitator’s Handbook
This handbook is designed for women peace activists and women leaders. Its purpose is to empower women leaders and women peace activists by giving them the necessary tools that will not only promote and increase their effective participation in the peace processes, but equip them with the information and techniques to train other women peace… [Read More]
A Free Handbook for Engagement: Strengthening Civil Society’s Role in Development
The Feed the Future civil society engagement handbook outlines engagement practices for promoting local ownership and engaging civil society in an effort to translate aid effectiveness principles into practical mechanisms to advance development that is more participatory, inclusive, transparent, accountable and sustainable. These engagement practices, and the country examples provided, are intended to support Feed… [Read More]
A Free Toolkit on the Right to Health for Southern and East Africa
This toolkit is an adaptation of ‘A toolkit on the Right to Health’ first published in 2011 by the Learning Network on Health and Human Rights (as First edition: Toolkit on the Right to Health). This toolkit was designed in response to the need for a practical tool to empower communities in Southern and East… [Read More]
A Free National Action Plan Development Toolkit
National Action Plan Development Toolkit shows how you can use the global Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda as a tool to promote greater gender justice, peace and freedom for all in your own country. You will find information on how to advocate for the development of a National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and… [Read More]
A Free Toolkit: “From Policy to Action”- Beyond 2015
Beyond 2015 is a global civil society campaign, aiming to develop a strong framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals. Beyond 2015 brings together more than 1300 Civil Society Organizations in over 130 countries around the world. Beyond 2015 has two main goals: A global overarching cross-thematic framework for development after 2015. A participatory and… [Read More]
A Free Guide to Coorperation among the Ombusman, Children and Civil Society Organizations
The Guide to Coorperation among the Ombusman, Children and Civil Society Organizations is perceived as a guiding and suggesting document that will help Ombusman Office to enhance its cooperation with children and the civil society in Albania. This guide aims at enhancing cooperation among the Ombusman Office, children and civil society. This document has been… [Read More]
A Free Development Marketplace Grantee Toolkit
The Development Marketplace (DM) is a competitive grant program that identifies and supports field testing of innovative, early stage ideas with potential for high development impact. Administered by the World Bank, it attracts ideas from a range of innovators, including civil society groups, social entrepreneurs, academia and private sector. Development Marketplace Advances in M&E Practice… [Read More]
