The civic space for activists in the natural resource sector has seen increasing restrictions and attacks on activists are growing. Civil society and activists have seen strategies employed to undermine their credibility and legitimacy, to surveil and intimidate, and legislation which has restricted access to funding, and shifts in donor priorities has restricted civil society’s ability to work on anti-corruption issues. At the same time, developments and proliferation of digital technologies have provided new opportunities and new challenges for civil society - we have seen Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) used to communicate and mobilise people both within and from outside a country in support; to document and communicate abuses by state and private-sector actors. On the flip side, we have seen technologies used to surveil, intimidate, profile activists and conduct smear campaigns to undermine the legitimacy of civil society working in an already difficult sector.
This session will be an interactive workshop where participants will discuss and share their experiences in relation to the following three questions:
- How is civic space changing in the country that you work in? How has this affected your work?
- What positive and negative experiences relating to civic space have you had with technology in your work?
- What strategies and tactics have you used to make the most of the opportunities or counter these threats?
The conversation will be kicked off by a number of named speakers before workshop participants will be invited to join the conversation. This will be a highly participatory session - please come prepared to join the conversation!
Session Rapporteur:
Alexandra Malmqvist
