Middle East/ Northern Africa
02.11.2021

CDS Publishes the Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index 2020

The USAID, International Center for Non-profit Law (ICNL) and FHI 360 collaborated with active CSOs from the MENA region -including our Egyptian partner CDS- to develop the 9th edition of CSO Sustainability Index for the MENA region in 2020.

The report presents the sustainability index of 8 countries from the MENA region, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen. The aim is to provide stakeholders with an understanding of the existing state of affairs of CSOs in the region and the key factors used to measure and determine this status quo.The scores range from 1 (most advanced level of sustainability) to 7 (most impeded level of sustainability). Each country's overall sustainability score is determined by sub factors which are: 1. Legal environment 2. Organizational capacity 3. Financial viability 4. Advocacy 5. Service provision 6. Sectoral infrastructure 7. Public image. 

 

The report also presents the unprecedented challenge faced by CSOs in the year 2020 due to the outbreak of Covid-19, which has negatively affected the economies of all the mentioned countries. These circumstances have acted as obstacles for CSOs, from closing civic spaces, increased unemployment rates, decreased funding and other human rights concerns associated with surveillance to minimize the spread of the virus.  

 

As experts in CSO sustainability, our Egyptian partner CDS worked on Egypt’s sustainability index, which scored a 5.4 -sustainably impeded. Despite this year’s challenges, Egypt has shown advances in organizational capacity, service provision, public image and sectoral infrastructure. 

For more information, find the report here