Strengthen civil society narratives
In a time when disinformation shapes public opinion and powerful interests manipulate discourse, civil society’s capacity to reclaim the narrative and tell its own story has become even more essential.
Our publications offered a civil society perspective on the major issues of the day, highlighting civil society struggles for climate justice, democracy, environmental safeguards, freedoms, inclusion and social and economic rights, and civil society responses to conflict and crisis and demands for access to global decision-making spaces. Our analysis covered all global regions but had a strong global south focus and prioritised the voices of our target groups, including women, Indigenous people and people of colour.
During the year, CIVICUS Lens published 246 interviews and 97 articles, including over 40 covering protests. Emerging trends from this analysis were presented in the State of Civil Society Report, which highlighted growing restrictions on the right to protest and the persistence of civil society movements mobilising for climate justice, solidarity with Palestine and respect for the democratic will as expressed in elections.
Our external media engagement expanded significantly. At least 40 CIVICUS Lens op-eds and a similar number of our interviews were republished by IPS, and 24 op-eds and interviews with an African focus were republished through allAfrica. Additional op eds authored by CIVICUS staff appeared in outlets including Al Jazeera, Alliance, Context, The Diplomat, Global Nation, The Globe Post and Newsweek.
Our messages generated over 12,200 organic conversations across traditional and digital media, demonstrating the resonance of our advocacy positions with civil society, commentators and journalists. This was supported by coverage from 2,300 media outlets worldwide, resulting in 5,800 press stories and 46,000 social media mentions of CIVICUS and our work. This media footprint reflects both the global relevance of civic space issues and CIVICUS’s effectiveness in providing credible evidence and compelling narratives that media professionals trust and reference. As a result, our messages are reaching diverse audiences and influencing public discourse on civil society freedoms. democracy and human rights.
CIVICUS content now reaches more than 140 countries and is available in 102 languages, reflecting our commitment to global accessibility and inclusion. Several global south countries, including Bangladesh, India, Uganda and Zimbabwe, have become significant sources of content, strengthening our commitment to amplifying voices from the most affected regions.
Media reach and citations
The USA on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist: sparking global debate on civic space
The CIVICUS Monitor placed the USA on the Watchlist for the first time in March 2025, citing concerns over excessive use of force against protesters, surveillance of activists and restrictive legislation. This decision sparked global debate about civic space restrictions in democratic countries and challenged the perception that repression is primarily a global south issue.
The announcement generated coverage from over 120 media outlets worldwide, including The Guardian and Time, producing more than 5,000 mentions on social media within the first week. The Guardian’s coverage became the most viewed article across their platform when published, with the Guardian US Instagram post receiving 12,000 likes and over 5,700 shares. Time magazine’s article generated 3,300 reactions and 1,200 shares on Facebook, causing over 2,500 people to talk about CIVICUS. Several US public officials and civil society leaders publicly responded to the Watchlist inclusion.
The announcement also reached major podcasts including Talking Feds with Harry Litman, which has 375,000 subscribers, and social media influencers with millions of followers.
We established the Communicators for Civic Action network, bringing together citizen journalists, civil society advocates and communicators from across the globe to collaborate on strengthening pro-civic space narratives. The network focuses on uniting diverse communicators to amplify grassroots stories, enhance localisation and innovation and equip members with skills to deliver impactful narratives, particularly targeting young people and other excluded communities.
During the Communicators for Civic Action convening in Bogotá, Colombia, we employed the expertise of digital communications and media consultants to strengthen the network’s capacity, focusing on audience analysis and segmentation, campaign design, media engagement skills, social media strategy and storytelling. We have also started an initiative to promote positive civil society narratives: through the Vuka Coalition! – a global network of over 200 civil society groups working to counter civic space restrictions – we worked with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association to create a Communications Lab in Latin America and the Caribbean.
I’ve felt very frustrated about the false narratives spread around civil society, but after finishing the exercises, I felt reassured that even though we’re a very small group, we can have a big impact, we continue to be agents of change.
Nadia Ramos Serrano, Centro de Mujeres Américas, Peru