News – The International Civil Society Centre

Leading Together on transforming CSO culture

15th January 2020 by Åsa Månsson

Under the new name of Leading Together, in June we will convene Global Heads of Division of international civil society organisations (ICSOs) for high-level strategic discussions on global trends, best practice and joint challenges. This meeting presents a unique chance for senior leaders to network with and learn from peers. It is a space for leaders to explore opportunities for collaboration and discuss how to push for change in the sector together.

Previous Participant:
“The fact that I managed to meet and connect with my peers was amazing. The collaborative spirit and safe conversations were highly appreciated.”

This year, Leading Together will have a specific focus on Organisational Culture. Organisational Culture is a critical element of an organisations potential success or failure. Most ICSOs are investing considerable amounts of time and resources in strategy development and implementation. In some cases, however, organisations pay only a little attention their culture, which – since ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ – means there is a high risk of undermining their strategy. Yet, there are also plenty of examples of good organisational culture playing a key role in strengthening strategies, making them more relevant and legitimate. There is a need for ICSOs to develop a deeper understanding of how culture functions and develop a broader toolset on how to shape culture.

About Leading Together

Event format and focus: Leading Together 2020 offers two separate but interlinked conference elements:

Joint sessions: Space to explore, discuss and shape burning issues related to the future of the civil society sector – with all participants.
Parallel meetings: Space for peer exchange and exploration of collaboration – in parallel groups of Directors.

Joint sessions theme: Organisational Culture

Understanding organisational culture
Learnings from changing CSO culture

Parallel Meetings: Peer exchange and exploration of collaboration

In the second part of the conference, the following four groups will meet in parallel:

Policy & Advocacy Directors: The Centre has convened this group annually since 2016.
Programme Directors: The Centre convened this group for the first time in 2018.
Human Resources Directors: The Centre convened this group for the first time in 2019.
Heads of Urban: The Centre has convened a thematic group of ICSO innovators annually since 2017, this year’s focus on urbanisation in the Innovation Report adds this group to the Leading Together format for the first time.

Åsa Månsson

Programme Director

International Civil Society Centre

Executive Director. Between 2010 and 2013, Åsa acted as manager of the INGO Accountability Charter (Accountable Now). In September 2013, Åsa took up the role as Director of Development, innovating the Centre’s fundraising and communication efforts. Since October 2016, Åsa has been Director of the Global Standard and has additionally taken on the role as the Centre’s Programme Director in mid-2017. Originally from Sweden, Åsa earlier worked for a consultancy, evaluating social projects within the public and civil society sector. Åsa studied European Studies and Sociology at universities in Gothenburg and Berlin. She completed her education with a Master’s thesis on the role of civil society in European governance.

Join us to help make voices heard and count in SDG implementation

15th January 2020 by Peter Koblowsky

In 2020, The Leave No One Behind global partnership enters a new 3-year phase after successful completing the pilot stage between 2017 and 2019. The focus remains on Making Voices Heard and Count through empowerment of marginalised groups, assessment of their local situation through community-driven data and advocating for sustainable improvement of their livelihoods.

In this new stage, the global partnership is expanding its scope with countries from both the Global South and North. This means a continuation of our scaling up in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Vietnam and Nepal. Additionally, we are exploring new national partnerships in Denmark, Canada, Malawi and the Philippines. The partnership plans to highlight the importance of implementing the SDGs in different socio-political contexts, demonstrating, that there is considerable room for improvement in countries in the Global North as well, thus recognising the universality of the Agenda 2030.

The International Civil Society Centre remains in the role of a host organisation. The increase in scale of Making Voices Heard and Count means that the Centre is additionally looking for new strategic partners to come on board and contribute to the bigger impact through their expertise. Currently we have 12 global international civil society organisations and national level coalitions, consisting each of numerous CSOs, throughout all action countries.

Join the Partnership

The Centre is expanding both the partnership itself and advisory groups on different topics, such as:

Data generation and analyse,
Working with margilised communities,
Implementation of the SDGs.

If your organisation has expertise in one or more of these fields, or if you want to build a deeper understanding of the project, feel free to contact Peter Koblowsky for further information and framework questions.

Let’s join forces for the practical achievement of the SDGs in a growing number of countries worldwide!

Peter Koblowsky

Project Manager - Leave No One Behind

International Civil Society Centre

Peter joined the Centre in January 2013, back then as a trainee. He completed the traineeship in the advocacy & campaigning office of World Vision Germany. Peter now coordinates the Leave No One Behind project and contributes to the development and implementation of various other strategic formats. Before joining the Centre, Peter worked for various organisations and think tanks in the development sector, being an expert in multi-stakeholder processes. He studied at the University of Bonn and graduated with an MA in Political Science with a focus on multi-actor advocacy for climate policy.