GCSS Global Expertise and Services:

Enhancing Civic Participation

Civil Society Legal and Regulatory Frameworks. Establishing legal and regulatory frameworks that protect and promote civil society and civic participation.

Civil Society Capacity for Democratic Processes. Strengthening the capacity of CSOs for policy analysis, advocacy, coalitionbuilding, internal governance, membership representation and services, and engaging in other activities aimed at fostering more peaceful and democratic societies.

Citizen Participation and Oversight. Increasing citizen participation in policy- and decision-making processes, service delivery, resource allocation, oversight of public institutions, and in broader initiatives to create more peaceful, democratic, and pluralistic societies.

Civic Education and Democratic Culture. Strengthening political and civic culture to be supportive of democratic institutions and processes, active citizen participation, civic virtues (tolerance and gender equality), and other civic skills, attitudes, and behaviors.

Democratic Trade Unions. Developing and strengthening independent and democratic trade/labor unions and federations to promote international core labor standards.

Strengthening Media and Freedom of Information

Enabling Environment for Independent Media.Strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks to enable the growth of independent media and greater free expression in traditional and “new” media formats.

Media Professional and Institutional Capacity. Enhancing the technical and theoretical professional capacity of the media sector through hands-on training, consulting and mentoring.

Media Sustainability. Building financially sustainable media sectors through activities that enhance both the economic viability of media enterprises and an overall environment that supports the development of sustainable media.

Media-Sector CSOs and Other Support Institutions. Supporting independent media by strengthening media sector CSOs and related groups/activities, including, but not limited to, internet-based networking initiatives and regional initiatives.

Private, Public and/or Community Media Outlets and Infrastructure. Increasing the number of print, broadcast, on-line and “new” media sources delivering reliable and objective news. Upgrading the technical capacity of public and private news outlets. Creating community media outlets for greater local access to news and information, especially from independent sources.

Government Communications. Providing technical assistance to help governments develop and implement public relations strategies and public information campaigns to increase transparency, build public awareness of reform efforts and enable citizen engagement with government.

Program Design and Learning

Sector Assessments and Program Design. Developing and conducting needs assessments, baseline studies, targeted evaluations, special studies and other information-gathering activities specifically for the design, monitoring and evaluation of USG-funded programs.

Best Practices. Developing and disseminating best practices and lessons learned, testing demonstration and pilot models, and preparing strategic plans and other short-term programming activities.

New Approaches. Disseminating technical materials through publication, internet, public fora and other related events to improve civil society and the media’s understanding of the program area.

CSO Capacity for Information Sharing. Augmenting CSO capacities to share information for better learning, especially through the internet and other electronic mediums. Developing training materials and modules for stakeholders and development practitioners.

Cross Cutting Themes

Community Mobilization. Strengthening the capacity of civic groups, community-based organizations, professional associations and advocacy groups to contribute to an active civil society.

Youth. Implementing programs, partnerships and policies that actively and constructively involve young people, while helping them to develop the skills, attitudes and knowledge they need.

Conflict Mitigation and Transformation. Working to avert imminent violence or the escalation of a dispute into a violent encounter by identifying and addressing the root causes and triggers of conflict. Mitigating ongoing violence and addressing its immediate aftermath. Labor. Serving as a watchdog for labor rights, labor markets, and labor governance, including worker rights, labor migration and trafficking, labor organizations and trade unions, among others.

Media Outreach. Using mass media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet, text messaging and/or other media) to disseminate information about any aspect of civil society development or citizen empowerment.