CLA-Driven Civic Engagement Programming in Ethiopian CSOs

The work of CSOs in Ethiopia has largely been confined to humanitarian and basic services, and their role in governance, democracy and human rights has been minimal due the restrictive politico-legal environment and their limited internal organizational capacity. The Ethiopia Civic Engagement (ECE) Activity aims to seize the opportunities opened by the 2019 revised CSO Proclamation to strengthen the nexus of citizens, CSOs, and government in the country. ECE depends heavily on CLA, as the project's philosophy is based on collective action, so that diverse actors with a broad range of experience come together and work seamlessly under a consortium. This requires building up a strong collaborative culture among themselves. The Ethiopian CSO sector is dynamic, and little is known about the the ways CSOs engage with and governance processes. This CLA case demonstrates how ECE's collaborative efforts, including study co-design workshops, internal validation sessions, co-creation, and pause and reflect sessions have fostered a collaborative culture among consortium members. It also showcases how various studies like Citizen Surveys (CS), Applied Political Economy Analysis (APEA) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) feed off one another, generating baseline data, stimulating learning among partners, and informing ECE programming. We believe ECE has laid the foundation for evidence-based programming and collective action among CSOs which will steadily draw private, media, and public actors in to the civic space. This effort is expected to pay off later in the project phase by strengthening linkages between citizens, CSOs, and government, and thereby strengthening the broader civic fabric in the country.