Discover and learn from the Solidarity Playbook on cybersecurity

As diverse as the topics and audience are the panellists, most of whom work in CSOs and academia. “We look for practical people who are at the same time firmly grounded in principles and values,” says Ryan Stanton, the Event Manager of the Centre. He is proud that every single panel is balanced in terms of gender and geographic origin.

The International Civil Society Centre partners with CTIN (Civic Tech Innovation Network), and Digital Dialogue is a collaboration between both organisations. The panels are held (almost) monthly, except for breaks in August and January, on the first Thursday of the month. Geci Karuri-Sebina of CTIN says, “Our objective is to offer inclusive and, at the same time, diverse perspectives from expert speakers from both the Global North and South to enrich the dialogue and give a complete view of global challenges and innovative solutions in civic tech.” This year, the theme for our panels has been social justice, and we are debating how digital technology advancements should serve the public good and not increase inequalities.

In February, the series started with a session on e-waste management, highlighting the urgent need for responsible consumption, recycling, and supporting the right to repair movement. This discussion stressed the importance of regulating production and adopting circular economy practices to address the growing problem of electronic waste.

March and April’s sessions focused on elections, democratic participation, and digital technology, with an emphasis on Africa. March’s session examined digital technology’s influence on participation and transparency, while April’s session discussed youth participation, tech platforms, and advocacy campaigns. These discussions showcased various tactics employed to influence elections, as well as advocacy campaigns and technological solutions aimed at encouraging people to actively participate in elections, thereby increasing their involvement in democracy.

In May, the focus was on protecting minority groups from digital targeting, particularly LGBTQ+ groups and individuals. This important session explored strategies to shield vulnerable communities from online threats and advocated for creating safe and inclusive digital environments.

June’s dialogue tackled the complex role of artificial intelligence in conflict situations. The discussion considered the ethical issues of using AI in conflict zones, such as the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, particularly Gaza. The panellists weighed the potential benefits against the risks posed by these technologies.

July’s session focused on the ethics and accountability of civic tech development. This panel highlighted the responsibilities of developers and organisations to maintain ethical standards and stressed the need for accountability and protecting users from unethical tech practices.

In every Digital Dialogue session, we are committed to inclusivity and accessibility for all participants. Thanks to the support of Sightsavers and CBM Christian Blind Mission, we provide sign language interpretation and live captioning to ensure that the discussions are accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community. At each session, there is one deaf and one hearing sign interpreter, working together to bridge communication and promote an inclusive dialogue. This initiative reflects our belief in creating a space where everyone can engage meaningfully, regardless of their hearing ability.

“The 2024 Digital Dialogue series by the International Civil Society Centre and Civic Tech Innovation Network continues to inspire CSOs through the complex relationship between technology and social justice,” says Nkosinathi Mcetywa of CTIN. The series offers valuable insights into the complex issues affecting CSOs. These discussions not only highlight the challenges but also point the way towards a more equitable and just technological future. The series also emphasises the importance of working together, showing how multi-stakeholder approaches can have a greater impact.

Join us in September for our next panel in the 2024 series, on 5 September 2024, at 4 pm CEST: Can technology help address global food security challenges?

You can find information on past sessions and catch up on previous panels here.  Are there any topics you would like to see covered in a future Digital Dialogue, let us know!

Rachel Wilkinson

Programme Manager – Futures and Innovation

International Civil Society Centre

Rachel leads the Futures and Innovation programme at the Centre. She is responsible for managing the portfolio of projects and events as well as leading and developing the Scanning the Horizon strategic peer learning platform. Rachel has more than 15 years of experience working in the third sector, on a national and international level, working for various ICSOs in international development and human rights in both London and Berlin.

Within the sector, the International Civil Society Centre (the Centre) is neither vanguard nor laggard when it comes to digitalisation. The Centre acknowledges there is room for improvement in its digital performance. However, from a modest and realistic perspective, its achievements are remarkable and offer valuable insights for others in the sector. 

Practical Steps Towards Digital Transformation

When the French rock band Feu! Chatterton sings about the new world (Nouveau Monde), it concludes that despite the fact that while we all want it, achievements are, as they put it, zero, and continues: ‘catch the Bluetooth’. Feu’s view that we are driven by, rather than drivers of, digital transformation should not be taken as a factual statement but as an incentive to do better. 

Over the years, the Centre has introduced remote work, moved its IT to the cloud, and set up a media studio to support live streams and many online events. This followed an inductive approach and came about without grand design. Questions about off-the-shelf products vs. open-source and non-proprietary software were handled practically (often in favour of the former) and not ideologically. Cybersecurity, an often-overlooked risk in civil society organisations, was outsourced to cloud-based business partners. When running an organisation committed to social justice on small budgets, pragmatic decisions and cost-efficient software are often utilized. 

Reinventing Convening in the Digital Age

In the first quarter of the 21st century, CSOs must navigate the digital sphere. For a long time, convening was no longer meant to reserve conference facilities or arrange for cookies during coffee breaks. Be it the Centre’s annual Global Perspectives, open to everybody, or the Vision Works and Leading Together events for CEOs and senior CSO staff to discuss key strategic issues, best practices, and opportunities for joint action online as well as offline.  

And when the Solidarity Action Network is addressing civic space restrictions, it looks as much at cyberspace as any other operating condition CSOs may face. Likewise, the Leave No One Behind Partnership, hosted by the Centre delivers practical solutions so that marginalised communities no longer remain invisible to official statistics. Here again, the relevance of the project is linked to its successful delivery of digital solutions. The Accelerating Inclusive Power Shift project would be futile if it did not address access to technology as a determining power factor. 

Collaborations and Global Engagement

For three years, the Centre, jointly with CivicTech Africa, has been organising a monthly online panel discussion known as Digital Dialogues to bring relevant issues on digital technology to the civil society sector. On each occasion, eminent speakers, both from the Global North and the Global South, are invited to discuss the ongoing digital transformation from a civil society perspective. The variety of topics covered in more than 30 panels is incredibly varied, encompassing cyber mediation, digital colonialism, hacking for good, and others. The Digital Dialogues panel discussion on diversity led the Centre to upgrade its websites and introduce international sign language and captions to be as inclusive as possible for audiences. 

While the Centre is seen as a major convener, bringing together traditional social justice actors and with a newly set-up digital focus, it also contributes to the wider efforts within the civil society sector. In 2023, the NetHope Global Summit provided an opportunity for an in-person experience in Munich (Germany) and virtual gatherings, which the Centre was happy to contribute to. We led sessions across time zones, fostering ideas to link social justice, collaboration, and technological innovation. We also provided an Executive Leaders’ forum, co-hosted by the ICSC and NetHope, on how artificial intelligence is affecting the work of civil society. 

The Intersection of Technology and Human Behaviour

Members of CSOs and the non-profit sector met representatives of tech companies in order to exchange ideas and reflect on innovative ways forward for the benefit of the humanitarian, conservation, and development sectors. While there is no doubt that technology matters, the workshop What Next for Mis-, Dis-, and Malinformation in a “Post Truth” World? looked in particular at the interplay of technology and human behaviour. The virtual workshop Supporting and Surveilling the Deserving Poor not only provided a historic tour d’horizon of social welfare programmes but also reviewed the ongoing digital transformation of welfare in places as different as India and Denmark. It also explored the potential of unconditional basic income in Finland. 

Sustainability and Digital Development

In an era defined by rapid technological advancement and growing environmental concerns, the need for a more sustainable approach to digital development has never been greater. Hence, there is a need to explore important theories such as the Digital Doughnut. However, only time and further consideration will tell if they provide the answers we are looking for. 

The Need for Continuous Digital Integration

So, our digital journey goes on. As long as CSOs continue to work on relevant issues of social justice, addressing the effects of the ongoing digital transformation will remain inevitable, and many CSOs have integrated digital issues into their overall strategies and programmes and with current advancements in digital technology, this is now more important than ever.  

Artists inspire us. That is why we love them. The Austrian pop band Yukno offers their outlook on the Digital Playground and sings: I will reinvent myself; I will never be alone again! It’s on this positive note that we wish to end this tour d’horizon with the renewed understanding that civil society needs ‘The Digital’ to make our world a better place! 

Karl Steinacker

Digital Advisor

International Civil Society Centre

Karl Steinacker is currently the Digital Advisor of the International Civil Society Centre. He studied political science at the Free University of Berlin and international law at Cambridge University. He then spent three decades working for the United Nations (UNDP, UNRWA, DPKO, UNHCR) in the fields of development, peacekeeping and refugee protection. At the UN Refugee Agency, he held positions in Africa and at its Headquarters and was responsible for Registration, Statistics, and Data and Identity Management as well as for Camp Coordination/Camp Management.

At the end of last year, I had the chance to participate in the #Shift the Power Summit in Bogotá, organised by the Global Fund for Community Foundations and TerritoriA, which gave me, and the International Civil Society Centre further resolve in supporting ICSOs in their power shift journey. The Summit gathered over 700 participants from over 70 countries to discuss how to work together to truly shift power and overcome the blockages that prevent a truly systemic change of the system, moving away from top-heavy and top-down systems of international development and philanthropy. 

While in recent years the debates around shifting power, localisation and decolonisation within the civil society sector have gained prominence, resulting in an increasing number of actors seeking to foster a paradigm shift, the challenges to dismantle and readdress power, roles and responsibilities remain significant. 

The Summit was a pivotal event that saw activists, national and international organisations and funders, convene in agreement that the current development and philanthropy systems are not fit for purpose but require a radical restructuring of their architecture. 

As Marie-Rose Romain Murphy of the Haiti Community Foundation, poignantly said in her address:

“Communities have been historically marginalised in the development process by governments and NGOs. Shifting power means recognising that local communities hold the solutions.” 

During the conference, communities and practitioners who have been historically disenfranchised were front and centre. Throughout the discussions and sessions, we reflected on how as actors we can foster an enabling environment for change, avoiding window dressing and empty commitments. 

In order for significant shifts to happen it is pivotal for organisations to re-examine their assumptions regarding where they stand in the sector. Developing self-awareness and defusing power dynamics within an organisation is helpful in ensuring that partnerships are genuine, built on trust, and free from exploitative practices. For international civil society organisations (ICSOs) changing the system entails not giving away power entirely, but rather engaging with it to progressively shift it to communities we aim to serve.  

A key question that was discussed during the Summit was: Beside shifting power as a moral imperative, what does it mean for development and philanthropy actors to address the problem of power inequities? 

Since 2018, the International Civil Society Centre’s Power Shift Labs have addressed the problem of power imbalances between Northern and Southern, but also between large and small, rich and resource-scarce entities of ICSOs. During the Labs, ICSO leaders explored the questions of how to overcome barriers and lead the necessary transformational power shifts in governance. Our goal is to prioritise the perspectives of the communities we serve by facilitating the exchange of lessons learned while supporting organisations in re-evaluating how they add value to a system that is infused with a colonial mindset.

The Summit highlighted that the challenging and dismantling structures that perpetuate power imbalances is paramount to define the legitimacy of ICSOs in the civil society ecosystem. 

Here are some of the reflections from the Summit on how organisations can start addressing power imbalances: 

Power Shift cannot happen without mindset change 

At the Summit, there were several discussions around the idea that before shifting power we need to shift culture and mindsets, and that requires individual reflections. Most dimensions that contribute to unequal decision making can be interpreted through an intersectional lens. To fight such inequalities, organisations should commit to identifying and eradicating the negative power dimensions that allowed such decision-making structures to develop and foster. Power imbalances are recognised as being not only an issue between Global North and South, but also across Southern, patriarchal power dimensions. All individuals working in the sector ought to ask themselves; how do you use power responsibly once you have it? How can we use our positionality and power to influence the sector to do better? 

Concrete change requires strong sponsorship 

In many organisations, there is a public commitment to being less colonial at internal and structural level and more conscious of power imbalances. While at macro-level, there is widespread agreement on the need to change and on such intent, there is a lack of vision of how to achieve change in the short-term, resulting in lack of consistent progress. In fact, while at a personal level, decision-makers might want to be de-colonial, they often struggle to transfer such commitment to the policy and strategy level. Finding sponsors for change within the organisation is crucial to implement such theoretical commitments and move from policy to concrete action. 

There is a wealth of power in language and communication 

The use of empowering language is a key tool to establish genuine and more equitable partnerships with communities, moving away from bureaucracy and flawed impact measurement to shared values and empathy for each other’s needs. Reflecting and being intentional about language also requires avoiding the co-option of the language of liberation, that radical groups have used to address the need to overhaul the system. Furthermore, while most organisations agree that decision-making should be moved to the closest point of impact, efforts to prioritise such commitments should be communicated better, creating safe spaces for critical and thought-provoking discussions.  

We look forward to exchanging with organisations that endeavour to embrace this transformative mission despite the challenges. One of our key avenues to build momentum is the Power Shift Lab, which serves as a dedicated platform for a comprehensive review and assessment of the intricate interplay between power dynamics, organisational intent, and governance reform. This year’s Power Shift Lab, taking place on 10-12 June 2024 in Senegal in collaboration with Tostan, will focus on the intersection of governance transformations and shrinking civic space, delving into how such transformations affect local civil society. Connecting with local initiatives, we will further assess how to develop governance frameworks that facilitate the empowerment of local decision-makers in strategy, with the aim to dismantle the top-down decision-making structures that still pervade the sector.  

If you are interested in participating in the event, want to find out more or keep up to date with our Accelerating Inclusive Power Shift initiative, sign up for our newsletter or reach out to Myriam Ciza Gambini, directly at mcgambini@icscentre.org

Myriam Ciza Gambini

Project Manager

International Civil Society Centre

Myriam coordinates the “Accelerating Inclusive Power Shift” project, which aims to foster equitable partnerships and more inclusive governance models in the development and humanitarian sectors. Prior to joining the Centre, she worked on EU development policy in Brussels for CONCORD and Humanity & Inclusion and with CBM in Italy.