STRENGTHENING STRENGTHENING CIVIL SOCIETY CIVIL SOCIETY GLOBALLY GLOBALLY 2017 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION SUSTAINABILITY INDEX FOR ASIA 4th EDITION - NOVEMBER 2018 2017 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION SUSTAINABILITY INDEX FOR ASIA 4th EDITION - NOVEMBER 2018 Developed by: United States Agency for International Development Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance In Partnership With: FHI 360 International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) Acknowledgment: This publication was made possible through support provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-LA-17-00003. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the panelists and other project researchers and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or FHI 360. Cover Photo: Women garment workers rally in Dhaka on May Day for their right to freedom of association. Without a union, garment workers are often harassed or fired when they join together to seek living wages or ask their employer to fix workplace hazards. Photo Credit: Solidarity Center TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................................................i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .........................................................................................................................................................................ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................................................................................1 2017 CSO SUSTAINABILITY INDEX COUNTRY REPORTS Bangladesh ..................................................................................................................................................................................12 Burma ............................................................................................................................................................................................22 Cambodia ....................................................................................................................................................................................32 Indonesia ......................................................................................................................................................................................41 Nepal .............................................................................................................................................................................................51 Pakistan .........................................................................................................................................................................................60 Philippines ..................................................................................................................................................................................70 Sri Lanka ......................................................................................................................................................................................80 Thailand ........................................................................................................................................................................................89 ANNEX A: CSO SUSTAINABILITY INDEX METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................99 ANNEX B: STATISTICAL DATA ....................................................................................................................................................... 119 ANNEX C: REGIONAL MAP ............................................................................................................................................................ 121 The 2017 CSO Sustainability Index for Asia D This page is intentionally left blank. The 2017 CSO Sustainability Index for Asia INTRODUCTION The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is pleased to present the fourth edition of the CSO Sustainability Index (CSOSI) for Asia, which reports on the strength and progress of the CSO sectors in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and for the first time, Burma. It addresses both advances and setbacks in seven key components or “dimensions” of the sustainability of the civil society sector: legal environment, organizational capacity, financial viability, advocacy, service provision, sectoral infrastructure, and public image. In 2017, USAID reaffirmed its commitment to working with a diverse array of partners, including civil society, to advance the principles of self-reliance and locally-sustained development. The CSOSI provides a comprehensive assessment of the capacity of civil society to serve as both a short-term partner in implementing development solutions and a long-term actor in ensuring development outcomes are sustained. The CSOSI empowers local civil society to collectively assess not only the environment in which they are operating, but also their own to advocate, operate sustainably and communicate with citizens. Allowing local civil society to self-identify their development challenges is the first step in promoting resiliency and long-term self-reliance. The Index’s methodology relies on CSO practitioners and researchers, who in each country form an expert panel to assess and rate these dimensions of CSO sustainability during the year. The panel agrees on a score for each dimension, which can range from 1 (most sustainable) to 7 (least sustainable). The dimension scores are then averaged to produce an overall sustainability score for the CSO sector of a given country. The Index groups all scores into three overarching categories—Sustainability Enhanced (scores from 1 to 3), Sustainability Evolving (3.1–5), and Sustainability Impeded (5.1–7). An editorial committee composed of technical and regional experts reviews each panel’s scores and the corresponding narrative reports, with the aim of maintaining consistent approaches and standards so as to allow cross-country comparisons. Further details about the methodology used to calculate scores and produce narrative reports are provided in Annex A. The Index is a useful source of information for local CSOs, governments, donors, academics, and others who want to better understand and monitor key aspects of sustainability in the CSO sector. The CSO Sustainability Index for Asia complements similar publications covering other regions: the CSO Sustainability Index for Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, which assesses the civil society sector in twenty-four countries; the CSO Sustainability Index for Sub-Saharan Africa, which covers thirty-one countries; and the CSO Sustainability Index for the Middle East and North Africa, covering seven countries. These various editions of the CSO Sustainability Index bring the total number of countries surveyed in 2017 to seventy-one. The 2017 CSO Sustainability Index for Asia i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A publication of this type would not be possible without the contributions of many individuals and organizations. We are especially grateful to our implementing partners, who played the critical role of facilitating the expert panel meetings and writing the country reports. We would also like to thank the many CSO representatives and experts, USAID partners, and international donors who participated in the expert panels in each country. Their knowledge, perceptions, ideas, observations, and contributions are the foundation upon which this Index is based. BANGLADESH Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar, Jamirul Islam and Rubel Siddique, The Hunger Project BURMA Juan Miguel Sanchez Marin and Daren Moon, Equality Myanmar (EQMM), John Alonso, United Nations Volunteer CAMBODIA Dr. El Sotheary, Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC) INDONESIA Serlyeti Pulu, Fitriani Sunarto and Rustam Ibrahim, Konsil LSM NEPAL Kedar Khadka, Ms Rekha Shrestha and Mr Poshta K.C., GoGo Foundation PAKISTAN Shazia Maqsood Amjad and Muhammad Ali, Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy PHILIPPINES Roselle S. Rasay and Ma. Aurora Francisco-Tolentino, Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) SRI LANKA Sabrina Esufally, Malsirini de Silva and Sakeena Razick, Verité Research THAILAND Chalida Tajaroensuk, Thiti Orn-in and Pansa Tajaroensuk, People’s Empowerment Foundation ii The 2017 CSO Sustainability Index for Asia PROJECT MANAGERS FHI 360 Michael Kott David Lenett Alex Nejadian INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR NOT-FOR-PROFIT LAW (ICNL) Margaret Scotti Catherine Shea Jennifer Stuart EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Mariam Afrasiabi, Michael Bradow, Gavin Helf, David Jacobstein, Zach Lampell, David Moore, Bishnu Sapkota, Megan Scanlon, Margaret Scotti, David Timberman, Asta Zinbo The 2017 CSO Sustainability Index for Asia iii iv This page is intentionally left blank. The 2017 CSO Sustainability Index for Asia EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2017 CSO Sustainability Index for Asia evaluates the strength and viability of the CSO sectors in nine countries in South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. This is the first year that Burma was evaluated by the CSO Sustainability Index. Pakistan was previously evaluated as a stand-alone publication, most