Section outline

  • New ways to organize around social change

    Course Description

    We have invited two movement and social change leaders to give a presentation around this topic.

    • Catherine Nyambura from ATHENA Network that operates as a loose global collective will speak on how they have created spaces for girls and young women to lead, define their own priorities, and articulate the issues that affect and matter to them.
    • Nalishebo Sinyama from Youth4Parliament will talk about how this movement has created strong results that creates meaningful youth participation in political spaces.


    Informal civil society in the shape of community groupings, movements and activists are key players in pushing for change, driving development and assisting during times of crisis. Not only as beneficiaries but as partners and trusted allies in their communities and movements.

    Many have had experiences in working in a partnership with the traditional NGOs, small, medium and in some cases, also larger national NGOs.

    They are in part shaped by CISUs guidelines where, historically, there has been a focus on NGOs being organised with board, statutes, office space, and then as they have begun operation, increased their view towards how to create good connections with the vulnerable groups (target groups). Various approaches have shaped the terminology around this (participation, legitimacy, accountability, and more recent, local leadership, #shiftthepower). 

    What is fairly new in realisation among Danish development actors (both MFA, Danish-based INGOs, and also e.g. CISU a.k.a. the small and medium-sized NGOs), is the fact that change does not always come from the NGO-side of civil society. Many events across the globe were initiated much more by movements, unorganised citizens, individual HRDs who stood up and rallied support for the cause. 

    Hence, it is relevant to ask when and how to partner with informal civil society and social movements in pushing for social change and development. And what are some of the advantages/disadvantages, what are some new learnings needed (thinking of the “traditional” setup as described above). 

    In CISU, we consider this particularly interesting for small and medium sized organisations, as they have a unique entry point into communities and civic activism. All the while, we as an institution have shaped a thinking around collaboration with the more formalized civil society, we also have to acknowledge that some CISU members do have experience collaborating and supporting such informal actors.

    Target Group

    Civil society development actors interested in learning about new ways to organize around social change and achieve strong advocacy results.

    Learning Goals

    To inspire Danish CSO/NGO volunteers and staff to think more creatively, structurally and critically when it comes to supporting actors in the countries/and on the issues they want to work in/on. Inspire them to look more for the change makers and how to be observant of who can mobilise around issues, and hence look beyond traditional NGO as the only representatives of civil society and citizens. 


    • SIGN-UP

      The discussion is part of CISU's Educational Weekend at Askov Højskole 29. Sep.-1. October 2023.
      Register for the weekend here no later than 7th of September, and then you are free to participate in this course.

  • Course material

    In a recently published report by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) recommendations are made on how the Ministry can create an enabling environment for Danish civil society to further pursue opportunities and benefits of working with informal actors and social movements. Find the report here

  • Good reasons to become a Fabo user

    • There are several advantages to creating a Fabo login:

      • It is free to sign up and you get access to a multitude of different courses, also on-demand. 
      • It gives you access to participate more directly on the course pages that allow for case descriptions, presentation of you and your organization, discussion forums etc.. 

      It is not a prerequisite to be a Fabo member to be able to visit CISU's course pages, but it allows you to participate with more features when you log in.

      Click here to get a login: