Quarterly Progress Report: Strengthening Civil Society Globally

The first COP-led Roundtable was held in March, and it allowed COPs to share experiences, challenges, and lessons learned during implementation. The AAs continue to be implemented successfully, and learning activities have accelerated to ensure facilitation of learning, problem solving, and innovation. The SCS Global team responded to multiple Mission requests for proposals and finalized the Capacity Development Interventions Guide, which received United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) approval. The team also completed additional Implementation Tips for USAID Partners and is in the early stages of startup in Djibouti. Under the Research and Learning Agenda, SCS Global completed two research projects and is poised to launch three more. The first project explored how counter-terrorism financing and anti-money laundering laws are being used to restrict the operations of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). This research pinpoints how new laws can curtail human rights obligations by limiting the right to freedom of association. The second project is creating the Civic Media Literacy Toolkit, a resource for CSOs to build effective media-based initiatives. The toolkit emphasizes the benefits of a digital platform, allowing facilitators to access it outside the classroom and be a one-stop shop for freely accessible digital tools. A webinar to gain USAID's feedback on the newly created media resource is scheduled to take place in May. SCS Global continues to work with two other USAID mechanisms to avoid duplicative activities and to collaborate to fill research and resource gaps. FHI 360 and Social Impact (SI) created the Capacity Development Interventions (CDI) Guide to contextualize, illustrate, and explain capacity development. The CDI Guide was formally approved by USAID during the reporting period and will be disseminated this upcoming quarter. The guide offers a new view on capacity development by classifying organizational capacity levels and corresponding capacity development interventions. SCS Global organized a virtual training and roundtable in January 2018 to ensure that all COPs have a working knowledge about the breadth of activities under SCS and how the mechanism works. The team also introduced a new, required Learning Supplement to the quarterly report template to capture lessons, trends, and challenges the AAs are facing in their respective countries. After the successful introduction, Jamaica LDP COP hosted a roundtable in March 2018 to share challenges with implementation and solutions that worked in Jamaica. The Citizens' Involvement in Health Governance (CIHG) in Guinea COP volunteered to host the next COP quarterly Roundtable in June. Analyzing the second set of Learning Supplements, a common theme of press repression in a number of the countries appeared again. For the Balkan Media Assistance Program (BMAP) and Media-K in the Kyrgyz Republic, the governments used the bully pulpit to isolate media as foreign agents take them to court for defamation. The projects will continue to monitor the status of Key Partners (KPs) to see if the government is inhibiting them from being effective. In Tanzania's Boresha Habari, a new regulation targeting primarily bloggers and internet café's aims to force additional financial costs onto media. This quarter, the SCS Global team launched one new AA awarded the previous quarter—the Civil Society Organization Strengthening Project (CSOSP) in Djibouti. The project is up and running, and the official project launch will occur in the next quarter. Challenges faced and the resulting lessons learned were also important to the growth of SCS Global this quarter, including quick turnaround times on Requests for Applications (RFAs); learning how to remain adaptive in difficult political landscapes during project startup; and making sure they are coordinating their efforts with other LWA Mechanisms to be as effective and efficient as possible with their funding. Looking forward to next quarter, SCS Global hopes to launch a new associate award in Honduras, as well as setting the foundation for learning events to facilitate conversations among civil society practitioners. Continuing to find ways to provide practical resources for development practitioners under the Research and Learning Agenda remains a key point of discussion in moving the LWA forward. SCS Global looks forward to implementing seven current AAs in the coming quarter, and starting activities in at least one additional country. The SCS Global team is working to launch a new associate award in Honduras and setting the foundation for learning events to facilitate conversations among civil society practitioners. The team is also continuing to find ways to provide practical resources for development practitioners under the Research and Learning Agenda. SCS Global looks forward to implementing seven current AAs in the coming quarter and starting activities in at least one additional country. The Capacity Development Interventions Guide, developed by FHI 360 and Social Impact (SI), was formally approved by USAID during the reporting period. The guide offers a new view on capacity development by classifying organizational capacity levels and corresponding capacity development interventions. SCS Global organized a virtual training and roundtable in January 2018 to ensure