Impact Assessment on Civil Society Index
During the months of October 2009 and January 2010, Skat conducted an impact assessment of the Civil Society Index (CSI), Phase 2003 – 2006 from CIVICUS – World Alliance for Citizen Participation. CSI is a participatory needs assessment and action planning tool for civil society around the world, with the aim of creating a knowledge base and momentum for initiatives to strengthen civil society.
Country:
Ukraine, Bolivia, Turkey, Italy, Indonsia, Uganda, World wide
Project Period:
2010
Name of Client(s):
CIVICUS
Description of the Project:
The Civil Society Index (CSI) aims at generating and sharing useful and relevant knowledge on the state of civil society and its role in society at large. It also seeks to increase the capacity and commitment of civil society stakeholders to strengthen civil society. Between 2003 and 2006, the CSI was implemented in more than 53 countries around the world by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) using a structured action-research methodology. It enabled the development of policy-oriented analysis, recommendations and action plans in order to strengthen civil society and its role in development and good governance.
Skat was requested to conduct and impact assessment of the CSI by collecting and documenting evidence of successful actions of the programme. It aimed at analysing the results of actions taken to strengthen civil society. The following focus areas were analysed: impact on knowledge creation, impact on knowledge-based actions, impact on intra-sectoral and cross-sectoral collaboration and networking; impact on donor policies and strategies, and impact on stakeholders’ programmatic priorities at national and regional levels.
The impact assessment was qualitative and participatory. Different methods of data collection and analysis were used such as desk review of project documents and reports; field work in six selected countries (Bolivia, Indonesia, Italy, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine); telephone and face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders and representatives of 23 countries and a survey. The assessment report presented best practices and lessons learned as well as relevant conclusions and recommendations for the most effective use of CSI findings.
