Methodology
This monitoring tool is developed as part of the Civic Champions project, drawing on extensive research conducted in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy. Its purpose is to assess and track the state of civic space through the lens of legal, financial, operational, digital, and physical challenges facing Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
The tool is structured around seven thematic areas, each corresponding to key risk dimensions identified through the project’s national and comparative research:
Legal and regulatory restrictions
Administrative and bureaucratic barriers
Funding access and banking challenges
Public perception and smear campaigns
Online harassment and cybersecurity
Physical
threats
Attacks based on protected characteristics
Each indicator is carefully designed to reflect real conditions on the ground, especially for those working on sensitive or high-risk issues. This approach ensures that both local nuance and cross-country comparability are preserved.
Data collection and analysis
The questions and indicators used in this tool are grounded in the extensive qualitative research carried out during the Civic Champions project. This included:
In-depth interviews with civil society leaders and practitioners
Focus groups with diverse CSOs and grassroots actors
Development of country-specific reports and a Comparative Report that identified shared challenges and national differences
Data is collected directly from CSOs via a secure digital questionnaire, organized by thematic section. The form gathers:
Quantitative inputs (e.g., number of threats, delays, attacks)
Qualitative descriptions (e.g., context of smear campaigns or examples of legal pressures)
Self-assessment of confidence in the tool's reflection of reality
The information submitted contributes to:
Country-level dashboards
Trend analysis
Evidence-based reporting to national, EU, and international institutions
Scoring process
The scoring system transforms CSO responses into a clear picture of risk. It uses descriptive scales to assess the frequency and severity of challenges – from legal restrictions and funding barriers to online harassment and physical threats.
Responses are interpreted using a five-level risk scale:
Minimal or no restrictions
Occasional challenges or disruptions
Frequent or serious incidents
Severe or escalating threats
Widespread, systemic, or irreversible risks
Incidents involving identity-based attacks or violence are given greater weight to reflect their seriousness.
This process, grounded in interviews and focus groups from the Civic Champions project, ensures that each CSO’s lived reality is accurately reflected and informs both individual support and system-level advocacy.