NeoN, a network of civil society organisations in the Czech Republic coordinated by Glopolis, is a vibrant example of how collaboration and long-term efforts can empower cross-sectoral collaboration with impact. Thanks to the partnership with Civitates, NeoN has grown over five years from an initial 9 CSOs networks to a stable structure that brings together more than 1000 organisations represented by 22 sector platforms. As a backbone coordinator, Glopolis plays a key role in NeoN’s strategic planning, relationship building and connecting with government institutions and business.
In five years, NeoN has succeeded in:
- Concrete joint proposals presented to the policy makers on topics such as regulation of lobbying, transparent nomination processes in advisory bodies, multi-year funding of state-subsidized projects, priorities of the National Recovery Plan or the necessary responses to the effects of the war in Ukraine, etc.
- Promoting the theme of strategic partnership building for democracy during the Czech EU Presidency 2022, which resulted in a joint conference with the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic and the partner CSOs from the EU.
- Developing a stable infrastructure for collaboration consisting of regular coordination meetings, ongoing learning and evaluation, and communication of NeoN as a brand for the civic sector and government partners.
NeoN priorities for 2025: preparedness to protect civic space
Ahead of 2025, NeoN has clarity in addressing the key challenges:
- Promote joint cross-sectoral proposals for the 2025 Czech Republic’s parliamentary elections: 1) Ensure that the needs of all groups in society are met – human rights, dignity and a cohesive society. 2) Functional anchoring of government’s advisory bodies and participatory processes in public administration, 3) Ensure effective delivery of public benefit activities through CSOs (multiannual funding, streamlining subsidy programmes).
- Conclude as far as possible the ongoing priorities with the current government: participation in public decision-making, multi-annual public funding and the adoption of important legislation (law on lobbying, law to ensure independent public media).
- Reaching out to other strong actors from CSOs to create a basis for protecting civic space in the event of a new populist government.
- Support the involvement of CSOs in the process of the European Commission’s Rule of Law Report and promot the national dialogue on the rule of law.
Through Glopolis, NeoN is also increasingly involved in European civil society initiatives, such as the FRA platform, European Civic Forum, ECNL and others. This collaboration promotes synergies for strengthening the civil sector across Europe. Thanks to the support of Civitates and the commitment of Glopolis, NeoN has an important role to play in protecting democratic values and promoting solutions to complex societal needs in the years ahead.
One of the important milestones of Glopolis and NeoN was also the successful application to CERV programme with the PROSECO project, which was created thanks to the support of Civitates and partnerships developed with Civitates grantees from Slovenia and Slovakia. The aim of the project is to strengthen the resilience and cooperation of CSOs in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia and to improve the monitoring and empowering of civic space.
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Photo from the international conference Strategic Partnership for Building Democratic Society in Europe organized by Glopolis for the informal network of networks NeoN and the Partnership Foundation in cooperation with the Office of the Government – Department of the Secretariat of the Government Council for Non-State Non-Profit Organizations – and Spiralis. The conference was held as part of the accompanying programme to the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU under the auspices of the Minister for European Affairs Mikuláš Bek. /Author: Lucie Březinová
