An Unequal Pandemic: Collaborative report on marginalised groups amidst the pandemic

We are pleased to share with you that Robert Bosch Stiftung recently agreed to support the Leave No One Behind Partnership. The support agreement will see €150.000 between July 2020–June 2021 go towards making the most marginalised voices heard and count in sustainable development goals achievement, ensuring no one is left behind.

Specifically, the money will seed fund some of our national level LNOB projects in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, or Nepal. In addition, it will advance our global level work on the development of online data tools and capacity building for our country team. This work is being co-led by our partners from IISD and Development Initiatives.

The Leave No One Behind partnership was launched in late 2017 as a partnership of 12 international civil society organisations (ICSOs). In 2018, the partnership set up national coalitions in 5 pilot countries (Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nepal and Vietnam). The partnership further brings together national NGOs and civic platforms, as well as community-based organisations with the goal of making the voices of marginalised groups heard and count in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The partnership puts marginalised communities at the forefront of its project design: they are involved in generating monitoring data at the local level. Partners in the action countries have entered into a dialogue with local and national governments, aiming for the official recognition of this data to make it a source of public planning. Marginalised communities are empowered to take part in this dialogue, enabling them to address their needs and challenges face-to-face with authorities.

Between 2020 and 2022, the partnership wants to scale up its activities, globally promoting the use of community-driven data and other unofficial data sources in the SDG context, and establishing additional communities of action at country level. To underline the universality of the promise to “leave no on behind”, collaborative action with a focus on marginalised communities will also take place in countries of the ‘global north’. By 2022, partners aim to have jointly reached 100.000 people with the project, helping to making their voices heard and count.  

Clemens Spiess, Program Director Inequality, Robert Bosch Stiftung

“Generating community-driven data on marginalized groups and feeding the data into dialogues with local and national governments and the international community is a necessary step to make the implementation of the Sustainable Development goals more effective and more inclusive. As Robert Bosch Stiftung, we see the efforts made by the Leave No One Behind Partnership not only as a crucial building block for creating a knowledge base to tackle inequality more effectively, but also to increase the visibility of those most affected by inequality thus making voices heard and count in a true sense.”

The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH is one of Europe’s largest foundations associated with a private company. In its charitable work, it addresses social issues at an early stage and develops exemplary solutions. For this purpose, it plans and implements its own projects. Additionally, it supports third-party initiatives that have similar goals. The Robert Bosch Stiftung is active in the areas of health, science and research, education, active citizenship, as well as international understanding and cooperation.

To hear more about the Leave No One Behind partnership and its Making Voices Heard and Count project in the pilot countries, contact Peter Koblowsky, Senior Partnership Manager at pkoblowsky@icscentre.org.

Outi Ruuska

Executive Assistant

International Civil Society Centre

Outi joined the Centre in January 2018. She supports the Executive Director in organisational matters and coordinates the Centre’s governance and legal processes. Her background is in Social Sciences and Environmental Policy. She holds a BA in Social Sciences awarded by the University of Lapland from her native Finland and an MA in Environmental Policy and Planning from the Technische Universität, Berlin. In her master’s thesis, Outi studied the framing of urban climate change adaptation to heat stress in Europe.

We are looking for inspiring people to contribute to Global Perspectives 2020 – A Passion for Inclusion. Global Perspectives is an annual conference bringing together leaders of civil society organisations (CSOs) with high-level representatives from governmental, inter-governmental, corporate, philanthropic and academic sectors. Every year around 150 participants engage in interactive formats, discussions and co-creation sessions to analyse the world’s most pressing challenges and devise strategies to bring civil society forward in pursuit of solutions.

Who are we looking for?

Anyone with a Passion for Inclusion and an inspiring idea or piece of work from one of the sectors mentioned above, namely: civil society, governmental, inter-governmental, corporate, philanthropic and academic.

How can you contribute?

We are looking for anyone happy to host a workshop or panel or be part of a panel. Workshops and panels last between 1 and 1.5 hours. There are three pillars to our conference on which you can focus your contribution: Including CSOs in political processes, inclusive programmes and CSOs as diverse and inclusive organisations. There are also three cross-cutting dimensions: Digitalisation, diversity and futures. To find out more detail, please read the flyer.

How can express an interest?

Fill out the form below!

Where is it and what do I have to pay?

This year’s event is fully virtual, so there are no travel costs or hotel to pay. We do have a limited number of funded participation spots open, you can find the application form and the regualr participation fees, on the registration page. This event is almost solely funded by participation fees and relies on the generosity of people to share there time and expertise, at the same time as getting access to the most interesting people from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Got a question?

Email the Global Perspectives Event Manager, Nihal Helmy

Thomas Howie

Communications Manager

International Civil Society Centre

The International Civil Society Centre is looking for a web designer (individual or firm) to repurpose and develop specific elements of our Innovation Report website, http://icscentre.org/innovationreport/, design a printable publication and create a report-related headline graphic (for use online and in print) to communicate our Innovation Report 2020, on ‘Civil Society Innovation and Urban Inclusion’.

The inaugural report ‘Civil Society Response to Populism in a Digital Era’ was a ground breaking and award winning publication. It was first publication to take a broad civil society overview in documenting and sharing effective response strategies and case studies from a range of organisations – national CSOs and networks, ICSOs and campaigns or movements.

In terms of design, it broke the mould of civil society reports by looking at the bigger picture and trying to find a new way of communicating innovative ideas. The report was a success with 14 case studies from around the world. It gained recognition by winning AIGA’s 50 Books 50 Covers Awards.

This year we want to continue this winning trend in order to take the stories of civil society organisations and share them as widely as possible.

Find the full tender and how to apply here

If you meet the selection criteria, please submit your application to thowie@icscentre.org including:

• A brief implementation plan with the first outline of ideas for the website and publication;
• A budget proposal, including a quotation of other related software licenses if needed; and,
• A track record of your experience and examples of relevant work.

Thomas Howie

Communications Manager

International Civil Society Centre

Thomas joined the Centre in June 2017 as the Communications Coordinator. He is responsible for developing and implementing the Centre’s global communication strategy, as well as the Disrupt & Innovate platform – a place for civil society professionals and activists to discuss current innovations and future trends in the civil society sector. Prior to the Centre, Thomas worked for 5 years in the European Parliament firstly as the Digital and Social Media Coordinator for the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, and then, after the 2014 European elections, for Jude Kirton-Darling and Paul Brannen as Head of Communications, where he worked on issues such as the EU-US trade deal, issues around Brexit and as a specialist on the Petitions Committee. Thomas graduated from Bristol University with BSci in Geographical Sciences and holds an MA in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, where he completed research into the role of civil society in the post war peace settlement in northern Uganda.