• Introduction
• Appendix A1: Methodology
• Appendix B: Members of Advisory Group
• Appendix C: Other countries involved
• Appendix D: Civicus

Introduction

The Scottish Civil Society Index (CSI) is part of an international project that aims to assess the state of civil society in countries around the world, including Scotland, with a view to strengthening civil society. The Scottish civil society index has a distinct identity but is collaborating with over sixty other countries, all using a standardised approach to assess civil society. The international dimension to this project is coordinated by CIVICUS, the world alliance for citizen participation.

In Scotland the term civil society does not have much currency, as the focus tends to be the activities of the different civil social organisations such as the voluntary sector, charitable trusts and foundations, trade unions, the Churches, co-operatives and academia.

Focusing on civil society as a whole however provides a wider context from which to identify and take forward areas of joint concern, to address conflicts of interest, as well as effectively taking forward initiatives to address civic governance and social development.

As part of a global initiative the civil society index project will showcase Scotland, and the extent to which Scottish civil society makes a distinctive contribution to Scotland. Using robust tools it will assess what this contribution is and what factors impact on civil society.  It will involve civil society stakeholders in the process by collating existing evidence where this is available and undertaking a series of consultative activities where the evidence is particularly weak.   The project’s Advisory Group will assess this evidence using a scoring approach. The results of this assessment and scoring will be made available for scrutiny by a wider group of civil society stakeholders as part of a series of consultation events, which will also be used to identify the scope for further action to strengthen the contribution of civil society in Scotland.

For the purposes of the Civil Society Index for Scotland, civil society is defined as, “The act of associating to advance common interests, in the arena outside family responsibilities, statutory obligations and activities purely designed for generating profit”.

An initial review of available data sources has shown that there is useful range of statistical information on the structure of civil society organisations in Scotland and the level of public involvement in them through employment, volunteering and membership. But we have insufficient evidence on the impact of civil society and the level of agreement on shared values such as philanthropy and social justice.  The following approach has been planned:

1)     A review of secondary data on civil society membership, how civil society is structured in Scotland, and the level to which it sits in a supportive social and political environment (More details in Appendix A).

2)     Eight focus groups consultations to review experiences of civil society with up to 70 individuals in total from the following disenfranchised sections of the community: disenfranchised young people, homeless people, recent arrivals (refugees/asylum seekers), disenfranchised older people, ethnic minorities in rural areas and the travelling community (See Appendix A for more detail).

3)     Facilitate a (series of) scoring exercise by the Advisory group to assess the evidence collected by the project (More details on the scoring exercise in Appendix A and Advisory group in Appendix B).

4)     Hosting a series of consultations with groups specific civil society ‘sectors’ to review the findings and to consider an agenda for further action (More details in Appendix A).

5)     A national workshop to bring together representatives from across civil society to jointly consider the findings of the Civil Society Index for Scotland and consider an agenda for further action.

1)     A series of consultations with civil society groups, civil society intermediaries and disenfranchised stakeholders.

2)     A comprehensive and accessible ‘state of civil society’ report for Scotland’, identifying its specific strengths and weaknesses and to provide a focus for determining forward action for strengthening Scottish civil society.

3)     Contribution to a global report highlighting exemplars of best practices, and an international conference hosted by Civicus to set a forward action agenda on strengthening global civil society.

4)     Briefing on ‘what works?’ with respect to the methodology and implementation of the project in Scotland.

Each country involved in the project has a National Co-ordinating Organisation, which manages and coordinates the project. In Scotland, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is carrying out this role.

The project’s National Advisory Group is designed to involve senior representatives from a cross-section of civil society networks. The Advisory Group (1) reviews the definition of civil society, (2) reviews the progress of the research activities and (3) assesses the evidence collected by the co-ordinating organisation in a specially designed scoring exercise.  (More details on the scoring exercise in Appendix A).

The final report is drafted by the co-ordinating organisation but edited by an external civil society expert, a knowledgeable and respected individual approved by the Advisory Group.

A list of the advisory group, co-ordinating team and civil society expert is available in Appendix B.

The secondary evidence review takes place from August 2004 to January 2005 disenfranchised stakeholders consultations are designed to run from March 2005 to May 2005, with the scoring exercise assessments covered in two sessions, one in February 2005 and one in June 2005, the consultations with civil society groups in June to November 2005, the national workshop in February 2006 and presentation of the final report at the Civicus World Assembly in June 2006.

Ruchir Shah, Project Co-ordinator

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Email: ruchir.shah@scvo.org.uk Tel: 0131 474 6158


Appendix A: Methodology

The methodology is designed to collate existing evidence where this is available and undertaking a series of consultative activities where the evidence is particularly weak.

A review of evidence, based on both secondary and primary research collected by the project, and preparation of a draft evidence report on the state of civil society. This review of evidence is based on publically available research reports and is collected against a set of indicators developed by CIVICUS. The standardised indicators are comprehensive and are designed to facilitate international comparisons.

A series of eight focus groups with 69 people drawn from disenfranchised sections of the community: young people, elderly people, homeless people, recent arrivals (refugees/asylum seekers), ethnic minorities in rural areas and the travelling community to identify and explore the following key research questions with the target groups:

• What do participants’ experiences tell us about the capability of civil society to inform /educate citizens?
• What do participants’ experiences tell us about the capability of civil society to build capacity for collective action?
• What do participants’ experiences tell us about the capability of civil society to meet the needs of marginalised people?
• What do participants’ experiences tell us about the capability of civil society to influence ‘bonding’, ‘bridging’ and ‘linking’ social capital in disenfranchised communities?

The scoring exercise is an activity carried out by the Advisory Group after the evidence collection phase of the project. The Advisory Group is presented with a draft country report, which summarises the evidence against a comprehensive set of indicators. The indicators have been devised by Civicus and are shared between the 60 countries participating in the project.

The output of this exercise is a series of scores with accompanying qualifications. The scores are used to summarise the assessment along four broad dimensions (Civil society structure, environment, values and impact), but each of these is also disaggregated down to sub-dimensional scores. The qualifications are the basis for a more detailed report that aims to show how and why the Advisory Group has come to the assessment it has made.

To consult a wide group of people from civil society on the state of civil society in Scotland today and from this, develop their vision for the action required to strengthen civil society’s contribution to Scotland.

The aim of this action is to make the preliminary assessment from the scoring exercise available for scrutiny by a wider group of civil society stakeholders, to use this as a basis for teasing out conflicts in interest, as a basis for identifying the action that would be needed to strengthen the role of civil society in making Scotland a better place to live, and the scope for delivering this action.

National Workshop

These outputs in turn feed in to the national event, providing a much wider group of stakeholders to discuss and comment on the assessment, and particularly whether the assessment accords with their own experience.

SCVO will produce a report presenting the evidence on Scottish civil society, the final assessment of civil society, including the comments and amendments from the events, a set of action points to strengthen civil society, and an assessment of the scope for delivering these actions.

Advisory Group Chair: Stephen Maxwell (Associate Director, SCVO)

National co-ordinator: Ruchir Shah (Research Officer, SCVO)

International co-ordinator: Volkhart Finn Heinrich (CSI Project Manager, CIVICUS)

Civil Society Expert: Professor Will Storrar (Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, Faculty of Divinity, University of Edinburgh)

CIVICUS is an international alliance established in 1993 to nurture the foundation, growth and protection of citizen action throughout the world, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens' freedom of association are threatened.

CIVICUS aims to contribute towards a healthy global society in which:

1. Citizen intervention is a vital aspect of political, economic and cultural life.
2. Citizen bodies are able to interact openly and legitimately with government and business.
3. The relationship between a society's citizens and its businesses and government is balanced and equal.

Our Mission
CIVICUS is an international alliance dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world.

Our Vision
A worldwide community of informed, inspired, committed citizens engaged in confronting the challenges facing humanity.

CIVICUS seeks to amplify the voices and opinions of ordinary people. For effective and sustainable civic participation to occur, citizens must enjoy rights of free association and be able to engage all sectors of society.

Our Values

o   Justice and Equality - CIVICUS believes in the equality and dignity of every person, and that all people should be free to exercise their rights as citizens as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

o   Reciprocity – CIVICUS exists to ensure that people treat one another with the respect with which they themselves wish to be treated. Civil society cannot thrive without mutual respect.

o   Knowledge – CIVICUS realises that, in order to increase its global awareness of civil society and before it can assist or take action, it needs to form alliances with other concerned bodies to increase its influence and knowledge.

o   Vision – CIVICUS is realistic about conflict in today’s world, but remains optimistic that most people, organisations, governments and businesses will work together for the benefit of all.

o   Principled Courage – CIVICUS will always promote civil justice and pledges to act in a manner that honours the principles of democratic civil society.

This understanding underpins the three major objectives that inform our mission:

1.  Civic Existence - to promote the rights of citizens to organise and act collectively towards defined goals for the public good.

2.  Civic Expression - to increase the effectiveness and improve the governance of civil society organisations, as well as their capacity to set and achieve their individual and collective goals.

3.  Civic Engagement - to foster interaction between civil society and other institutions in order to increase the voice of citizens in public life.