Civil Society Index 2019 is in progress

Since the last workshop in June 2018, where key stakeholders discussed relevant topics for the Civil Society Index Update, the work of IGO and the NPO & SE competence center has been going on has been going on. For the survey of significant changes in the framework for civil society engagement since 2014 we have conducted more then 40 qualitative in-depth interviews. In these, experts and stakeholders of Austrias civil society are asked about following issues: democracy, legal situation, financial resources, general climate related to trust, media and public debates, as well as how the changes affect the framework conditions for CSOs in Austria.

The next step will be evaluation of the collected data and comparison the status quo with the results of the Civil Society Index 2014. In addition, a media analysis will show changes of how civil societiy is represented in the last four years.

One new topic will enrich the update: the condition of political participation in Austria. Even if a comparison won’t be able, paying attention to the legal regulations and their execution promises to be interesting.