1. Working for Change in India’s Civil Society

This article discusses the working life of a NGO worker in Kerala, South India, who researches, advocates and campaigns for the rights of India’s most vulnerable communities. It draws on the personal narrative of an individual to explore the ways in which his life chances and experience of working in a professionalising civil society context have allowed him to construct his own notions of activism and work.

2. Civil Society in Times of Change: Shrinking, Changing and Expanding Spaces

The roles of civil society organizations (CSOs) have become more complex, especially in the context of changing relationships with nation states and the international community. In some instances, state-civil society relations have worsened, leading some experts and activists to speak of a “shrinking space” for civil society. How wide-spread is this phenomenon? Are these more isolated occurrences or indeed part of a more general development? How could countries achieve and maintain an enabling environment for civil society to contribute to social cohesion, to enhance political participation and processes, to encourage social innovations, and to serve as a vehicle for philanthropic impulses? Based on quantitative profiling and expert surveys, the brief arrives at initial recommendations on how governments and civil society could find ways to relate to each other in both national and multilateral contexts.