How can civil society organisations improve the state of the world?

The Civil Society communities that engage with the World Economic Forum have a unique role to play towards improving the state of the world: they bring with them their institutional goals of working for a world where citizens, businesses and governments live in mutual respect and open dialogue for the common good. In their respective ways, they promote a world where the principles of social and environmental justice, human rights and rule of law are upheld as the tenets of inclusive societies.

Global challenges

Over the past few years, there has been increasing constraining pressure from public authorities on civil society: this is quickly becoming a concerning trend. While it is true that the limiting of the freedoms of expression and assembly are not new phenomenon around the world, this current wave of repression has a Fourth Industrial Revolutionary twist. Specifically, as the spread of affordable communication technologies enables citizens and organisations to mobilise, organize and assemble in new ways, some governments have identified these same tools and approaches to restrict the public political space, to justify spying on citizens, declare mythical “foreign” activities and suppress transparent information-sharing.

These issues have been brought to light by civil society organisations and individual human rights defenders in various parts of the world, and their voices have recently been supported by a growing group of citizens, practitioners, businesses, international organisations and even governments who are concerned by the serious threat represented by this negative phenomenon that risks undermining the roots of social cohesion, stability and the economy.

Coalition of partners needed

Despite the high-level attention from many actors around the world, the widespread suppression of civil society is often overlooked. At this year's Annual Meeting and beyond, Civil Society leaders will be championing the need to bring more attention to this challenge from a broader set of stakeholders. It requires a coalition of partners willing to foster international solidarity around this challenge and support efforts to keep the civic space open.

Helping to create lasting solutions

By amplifying the voices and experiences of the underrepresented and marginalised in the Forum’s multistakeholder interactions, the Civil Society leaders promote societal prosperity through just, fair, and inclusive economies. Knowing that the foundation of systems and structures in societies that can enable businesses to predictably thrive are characterized by social stability, greater transparency, low corruption and a strong rule of law, leaders will be encouraged to view active civil society as an enabler for a healthy economy.

Annual Meeting 2016

The conversations that will take place over the few days in January are part of the long and complex journey towards improving the state of the world and have the potential to help shape the outcomes of other global discussions in 2016. The Forum is lending its platform to provide a fertile ground for Civil Society voices to resonate globally.

The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting is taking place in Davos, Switzerland, from 20-23 January.

Author: Alexandra Lopoukhine, Community Lead, Civil Society, World Economic Forum