The CSO Meter has been regularly monitoring the civil society environment in the countries of the Eastern Partnership since 2017. The monitoring has led to the identification of a multitude of recommendations to improve the enabling environment for civil society in each of the countries.
The latest CSO Meter reports show a lack of improvement in the CSO environment. In 2023, the overall regional civil society environment score remained the same as in 2022 - 4.2 out of 7. Protecting and ensuring civic freedoms remains a key challenge for CSOs and activists, particularly those in Belarus and Azerbaijan. In general, access to funding and overall financial sustainability have remained critical issues to the future and long-term work of CSOs in the region. However, the European perspective for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia opens possibilities for further civil society development.
Integral to the CSO Meter project is an active civil society community working towards an improved environment (CSO Meter Hub), launched in 2021. As of 2024, the Hub consists of 25 CSOs from the region who actively monitor and advocate for a strengthened CSO environment. To enhance their ability to monitor and contribute meaningfully at both country and regional levels, it is essential to invest in the Hub’s development, strengthening the capacities, skills and knowledge of CSOs in monitoring and advocacy.
In the third phase of the project (CSO Meter: Empowered for Action), ECNL has thus launched additional financial support in the form of advocacy grants. Member organisations of the CSO Meter Hub can implement projects worth up to 10,000 EUR to carry out advocacy actions for specific legislative changes and improvements in practice, identified as priorities during monitoring in their countries.