An Assessment of Welsh Civil Society (2005) CIVICUS CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX REPORT FOR WALES Bryan Collis Colwyn Bay 2005 Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) In collaboration with the School of Social Sciences, University of Wales Bangor CIVICUS Civil Society Index Short Assessment Tool (CSI-SAT) An international action-research project coordinated by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation 2 CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Wales 3 FOREWORD The Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) was formed over 70 years ago as a response to the effects of the great depression in the valleys of South Wales. It now represents, campaigns, and it supports and develops voluntary organisations, community action and volunteering in Wales. It has a unique role in representing a wide spectrum of voluntary organisations at the Wales and European level. It has developed and delivered grant schemes that reflect the needs of voluntary organisations and provides support and training to voluntary organisations and their partners. WCVA has also championed the concept of civil society within Wales, seeking alliances with other civil society organisations (CSOs) and working with them, when appropriate, to influence politics and policy in Wales. The Civil Society Index project in Wales was born from this sense of the need to cross boundaries, to seek a consensus regarding the current strengths and future prospects of civil society in Wales. The work presented gathers relevant published information under a set of indicators, established at an international level by CIVICUS, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation. It builds upon a pilot project, also carried out by WCVA in 2003, using a survey of stakeholders, and represents the most comprehensive recent analysis of civil society in Wales. The work has been carried out by Dr Bryan Collis, WCVA Research Officer, with the assistance of Dr Graham Day and Dr Charlotte Williams, both of the School of Social Sciences, University of Wales Bangor. It also involved a number of stakeholders in an assessment group, and their insights and contributions have been valuable. I commend this report to you. You may not agree with all its conclusions, but its aim is to stimulate debate in Wales regarding the way forward for civil society, one of the greatest assets of Wales: the way its people act together to change things for the better for themselves and others. Graham Benfield OBE Chief Executive, WCVA CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Wales 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Civil Society Index (CSI) project, using the CSI’s Shortened Assessment Tool (CSI-SAT), was carried out by Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA), in cooperation with Graham Day and Charlotte Williams from the School of Social Sciences, University of Wales Bangor. The project’s approach and research methodology was developed by the international non- governmental organisation CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. A Stakeholder Assessment Group (SAG) was established to guide the project implementation process and provide input into the research. The SAG met on two occasions, and helped to ground the information gathered in the reality of civil society groups in Wales. The SAG was composed of people with a diversity of background and experience, which prevented the information from being interpreted from one perspective in isolation. The time and effort of those who took part in the introductory meeting and the scoring workshop is gratefully acknowledged; they are listed in Appendix 1. I would also like to thank the CSI team at CIVICUS, especially Volkhart Finn Heinrich, for their support and understanding throughout the project. Bryan Collis WCVA Colwyn Bay December 2005 CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Wales 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF ACRONYMS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION I CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX PROJECT & APPROACH………………………………………………………..12 1. PROJECT BACKGROUND ……………………………………………………………………………………12 2. PROJECT APPROACH ………………………………………………………………………………………..13 II CIVIL SOCIETY IN WALES.......................................................................................................................................... 17 1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ………………………………………………………………………………...17 2. CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN WALES …………………………………………………………………….19 III ANALYSIS OF CIVIL SOCIETY.................................................................................................................................. 21 1. STRUCTURE ................................................................................................................................................ 21 1.1 The Extent of Citizen Participation in Civil Society …………………………………………………21 1.2 Depth of Citizen Participation in Civil Society……………………………………………………….23 1.3 Diversity of Civil Society Participants………………………………………………………………..23 1.4 Level of Organization…………………………………………………………………………………25 1.5 Inter-Relations within Civil Society…………………………………………………………………..26 1.6 Civil Society Resources……………………………………………………………………………….27 Conclusion……………………….……………………………………………………………....……….28 2. ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................................................................... 29 2.1 Political Context………………………………………………………………………………………29 2.2 Basic Rights and Freedoms…………………………………………………………………………...31 2.3 Socio-economic Context…………………………………………………………………………........31 2.4 Socio-cultural Context…………………………………………………………………………...........32 2.5 Legal Environment…………………………………………………………………………................33 2.6 State-civil Society Relations…………………………………………………………………………..34 2.7 Private Sector - civil Society Relations……………………………………………………………….37 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...................................38 3. VALUES ...................................................................................................................................................... 39 3.1.Democracy……………………………………………………………………….................................39 3.2 Transparency…..………………………………………………………………...................................40 3.3 Tolerance………………………………………………………………………...................................41 3.4 Non-violence……………………………………………………………………….............................42 3.5 Gender Equity………………………………………………………………………............................42 3.6 Poverty Eradication………………………………………………………………………...................43 3.7 Environmental Sustainability……………………………………………………………………........44 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….......................................44 4. IMPACT ...................................................................................................................................................... 46 4.1 Influencing Public Policy……………………………………………………………………………..46 4.2 Holding the State and Private Corporations Accountable…………………………………………….48 4.3 Responding to Social Interests………………………………………………………………………..49 4.4 Empowering Citizens…………………………………………………………………………………49 4.5 Meeting Societal Needs……………………………………………………………………………….51 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………...53 IV CONCLUSION.…………………………………………………………………………………….....55 APPENDICES BIBLIOGRAPHY CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Wales 6 TABLES AND FIGURES Tables TABLE I.1.1: Countries participating in the CSI implementation phase 2003-2005 12 TABLE II.1.1: Types of CSOs included in the study 20 TABLE III.1.1: Indicators assessing the extent of citizen participation 22 TABLE III.1.2: Indicators assessing depth of citizen participation 23 TABLE III.1.3: Indicators assessing diversity of civil society participants 24 TABLE III.1.4: Membership of CSOs by different social groups 24 TABLE III.1.5: Indicators assessing level of organization 25 TABLE III.1.6: Indicators assessing inter-relations within civil society 26 TABLE III.1.7: Indicators assessing civil society resources 27 TABLE III.2.1: Indicators assessing political context 29 TABLE III.2.2: Indicators assessing basic rights and freedoms 31 TABLE III.2.3: Indicator assessing socio-economic context 31 TABLE III.2.4: Indicators assessing socio-cultural context 32 TABLE III.2.5: Indicators assessing legal environment 33 TABLE III.2.6: Indicators assessing state-civil society relations 34 TABLE III.2.7: Indicators assessing private sector – civil society relations 37 TABLE III.3.1: Indicators assessing democracy 39 TABLE III.3.2: Indicators assessing transparency 40 TABLE III.3.3: Indicators assessing tolerance 41 TABLE III.3.4: Indicators assessing non-violence 42 TABLE III.3.5: Indicators assessing gender equality 42 TABLE III.3.6: Indicator assessing poverty eradication 43 TABLE III.3.7: Indicator assessing environmental sustainability 44 TABLE III.4.1: Indicators assessing influencing public policy 46 TABLE III.4.2: Indicators assessing holding state and private corporations accountable 48 TABLE III.4.3: Indicators assessing responding to social interests 49 TABLE III.4.4: Trust in institutions and individuals 50 TABLE III.4.5: Indicators assessing empowering citizens 50 TABLE III.4.6: Indicators assessing meeting societal needs 51 Figures FIGURE 1: The Civil society index diamond for Wales 8 FIGURE I.1.1: Civil society diamond tool 14 FIGURE II.1.1: Country information 17 FIGURE III.1.1: Subdimension scores in structure dimension 21 FIGURE III.1.2: Involvement in different types of CSOs 23 FIGURE III.2.1: Subdimension scores in environment dimension 29 FIGURE III.3.1: Subdimension scores in values dimension 39 FIGURE