Latest News (9 June 2006)
The FINAL Report for the Scottish Civil Society Index is now published and available for download. It will be launched at the Gathering, Scotland's voluntary sector fair, on Wednesday 21st June as part of SCVO's International Connections seminar. CIVICUS will also be launching the Global Civil Society Index report, to which the findings in Scotland's report will contribute.
June 2006 - Scottish Civil Society Index Final Report 2006
April 2006 - What needs to be done? Reflecting on the Civil Society Index for Scotland (2006)
April 2006 - Scottish Civil Society Index Draft Report 2006
August 2005 - Methodology of the Civil Society Index for Scotland (August 2005)
Introduction
The purpose of the Civil Society Index is to kickstart an informed debate on civil society - whether it has the strength, values, right conditions and desire to work as a constructive force for social change. In 2005, SCVO convened a National Advisory Group of people from a range of civil society backgrounds. This group carried out an initial assessment of Scottish civil society using the CIVICUS Civil Society Index. The diamond below encapsulates this preliminary assessment of the strength of Scottish civil society and is designed as a graphical tool for discussion and comparison with other countries.
What is the Civil Society Index?
The Civil Society Index is an initiative led by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations in Scotland with an advisory group drawn from people across a wide range of civil society sectors, such as the voluntary sector, charitable trusts and foundations, trade unions, professional associations, faith institutions, international NGOs, co-operatives and academia.
We define civil society as “the act of associating to advance common interests and concerns, but not motivated by personal profit or statutory obligations.”
For the purposes of this assessment, we have focused on civil society as a whole with the aim of providing a wider base from which to explore shared goals, such as taking forward areas of joint concern, addressing conflicts of interest, addressing civic governance and identifying future opportunities for social development. Recently, we have seen the huge public movements generated by civil society during the anti-war marches, Tsunami response and G8 campaigns. Could this be something we can build on?
The Civil Society Diamond for Scotland aims to open up the debate from four perspectives; its structure – how well organised it is, its environment – the legal, regulatory, statutory and policy context within which it operates, its values – the range of values present within civil society and how constructive or divisive these may be, and finally its impact – what difference does it make to its beneficiaries and how effective is it at meeting their needs. An ideal, strong and healthy civil society would be represented by a perfect symmetrical diamond which would reach to the edge of the graph in all four directions.
Findings
This is what we found for Scotland.
A values-led civil society - Promoting the values of non-violence, peace, sustainability and broadmindedness in Scottish society, but also driven by a very diverse collection of values.
Promoting equality, promoting participation, but not always - Civil society plays a crucial role in empowering people, and increasingly user involvement and governance, but there are still many ‘cliquey’ civil society organisations.
High-profile civil society coalitions - Traditional ‘islands’ of well-organised bits of civil society, but now finding themselves increasingly connected by less-formal, high-profile and cross-cutting civil society coalitions
A confident and aspirational civil society in Scotland - With a strong and varied support infrastructure, cooperation within civil society networks is strong and organised, particularly on shared issues of concern.
A benign operating environment for Scottish civil society, for now - Civil society has considerable freedom to associate in Scotland and enjoys high levels of public spiritedness and enthusiasm, but is a sector increasingly dependent on the state
A loud and vocal civil society - A very active and vocal civil society lobby which has grown in strength since devolution, but stronger on the moral and emotive-side rather than the technical side.
Meeting need but whose priorities? - Meeting tremendous amount of need, particularly with the marginalised, but the needs are enormous, and a civil society which is often forced to work within public policy priorities.
Further information
We are connected in this initiative with around 60 other countries around the world, using a shared set of indicators to make our assessment. The global dimension to this initiative is coordinated by CIVICUS, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation based in South Africa, who aim to produce a global report on civil society drawing on each country’s assessments. However, within each country the project is entirely self-resourced and we have control over the methodology to adapt it to our needs while retaining the international comparative nature of this project.
All ideas and thoughts will feed into and shape a first report on the state of civil society in Scotland to be produced in Spring 2006. The report will be publicly distributed in Scotland and formally launched at the CIVICUS World Assembly in June 2006. This major international event will bring over a thousand delegates from over a hundred countries to Glasgow annually for the next three years. SCVO is the lead local host organisation for this event, which will be an ideal place to showcase Scotland’s civil society to the world.
THE DRAFT REPORT FOR THE CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX IS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE LINK BELOW.
Ruchir Shah
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations