30-04-2026
Strategic simulations with civil society and key allies put forward new opportunities to strengthen resilience amidst attacks.
The Uniting for Change initiative develops a new, collaborative approach to protecting democratic values. One that is proactive, not just reactive, and is rooted in collective action.
As part of the initiative, in early 2026, 21 civil society leaders and experts from 12 countries from Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans gathered in Skopje, North Macedonia to participate in targeted simulations, testing possible strategies to respond to typical arising restrictions. The resulting strategies can inspire civil society across counties to anticipate different type of restrictions and respond effectively.
What are the key takeaways?
- Think ahead: Civil society needs to realistically anticipate how far authoritarian governments are willing to go and what overt and covert methods they might use. Regular foresight exercises facilitate this process and can be used to generate ideas for preparation.
- Think out of the box: When in danger, civil society tends to default to standard advocacy strategies, such as dialogue with the government or blankly rejecting proposed restrictions. Alternative strategies will be more effective - proposing specific alternative legislation, making economic arguments, or forming alliances with businesses, financial institutions and other context-specific allies.
- Think together: Civil society can use its diversity to its advantage. Deeper sharing and peer-to peer learning within and between countries will generate much more new innovative ideas. Further, greater dialogue with businesses, trade unions, chambers of commerce, banks, marketing agencies, influencers and other potential allies can outline concrete pathways to turn ideas into strategies.
- Think like an expert: Civil society will be effective when it proposes specific economic, legal and technical arguments against restrictions. These will also be especially important to get new allies on your side. Organisations should use peer-to-peer learning to deepen their understanding of the operations of economic actors, of international standards and regulating mechanisms, and of illustrating the side-effects of restrictive legislation.
- Re-think how you speak: Much more needs to be invested into the communication strategies of civil society. Emotional connection with the public and building narratives that actually resonate will be key to maintaining resilience. Successful narratives will be those that reduce anxiety, position civil society as a safety net for people in need, and those that connect with national history and shared experiences. Civil society should always have a two-stream communication strategy – speak of the highly technical details towards policy makers and economic allies, while avoiding technicalities when speaking with the public.
The simulations showed me how important it is to anticipate different types of restrictions (legal, financial, and narrative) before they fully materialise. Instead of reacting to crises, I want to incorporate more proactive risk assessment and preparedness strategies into our organisational planning.
Responding to 3 types of restrictive scenarios
The simulations tested specific strategies to respond to 3 standard forms of restricting civil society. Participants represented either civil society, governments, institutions or new allies from the business and financial sectors.
Authoritarian strategy 1: Adopt civil society restrictions justified by foreign interference, sovereignty, security and disinformation concerns
Civil society responses:
- Develop specific counterproposals. When governments propose restrictive frameworks, prepare alternative versions that accept the stated goal (transparency, accountability) but remove restrictive mechanisms. The simulations showed that reframing government proposals was more effective than rejecting them outright. Here, precise legal analyses are crucial.
- Include business associations in civic space coalitions. Expanding coalitions beyond traditional civil society organisations complicates government narratives about "foreign-funded NGOs" and brings actors with economic leverage to the table.
- Ask international allies what positions they already hold. Before briefing EU officials or donors, ask what agreements they have made with the government and what constraints they face. Officials often arrive with positions already formed, listening yields more than repeating arguments.
- Identify specific legal incompatibilities with EU/international frameworks. When governments frame restrictions as EU-aligned, general objections are weak. Precise citation of directive provisions, Commission interpretations, and treaty obligations provides concrete ammunition.
Authoritarian strategy 2: Change social norms so civil society loses legitimacy
Civil society responses:
- Proactively campaign to promote the added value of civil society. Lead with emotional framing, not facts and figures. Messages about anxiety reduction, safety nets, and personal testimonies resonate with public audiences. Budget justifications and compliance explanations do not. Any campaign that emphasises that civil society contributes to an anxiety-free society will be more powerful than any technical arguments about transparency.
- Connect civil society to shared national experiences. Evoke specific moments when civil society helped post-conflict reconstruction, disaster response, or community support during crises. Shared memories create empathy that abstract arguments cannot.
- Develop the "safety net" narrative. Frame civil society as the actor that steps in when government fails. "When the government is not there for you, civil society is" positions organisations as complementary, not oppositional. Further, emphasise that civil society is integrated in society, so attack on organisations is an attack on people, particularly the beneficiaries who will not be able to receive services.
- Prepare personal testimonies from beneficiaries. Train beneficiaries to share their stories in public settings. A woman from a rural area describing 30 years of CSO support is more powerful than any statistical report.
- Maintain message discipline in face of attacks. Governments will make inflammatory accusations designed to pull civil society into defensive fact wars. Prepare responses that acknowledge concerns without abandoning emotional framing. Keep repeating your original message and emphasising your added value.
- In general, it is necessary to have two sides of a communication strategy – towards the public, civil society needs to emphasise personal stories and the added value it brings. Towards policymakers, it requires concrete counter-proposals and technical arguments. These two should not be mixed.
Authoritarian strategy 3: Make civil society operations economically unviable, using banking compliance, payment processor liability, and anti-money laundering systems to create a self-enforcing financial exclusion system
Civil society responses:
- Build coalitions with domestic banks around shared compliance burdens. Banks face costs from disproportionate AML requirements. Engage banking associations to advocate jointly for proportionate, risk-based regulation. Document unintended consequences with concrete numbers. Globally, AML overreach costs banks $35 billion per year in unnecessary compliance. Collect local data on compliance costs, account closures, and operational disruptions to make economic arguments concrete. Approach banks to identify what their concerns are – compliance costs, not understanding civil society operations, inconsistent internal procedures? Offer your technical expertise to help.
- Frame financial restrictions as threats to investment climate. Connect civic space to IFI safeguard requirements and business environment. When restrictions threaten IFI operations or investor confidence, economic actors have reasons to push back.
- Develop technical expertise on AML/CFT frameworks. Credibility with regulators requires detailed knowledge of FATF standards, EU directives, and risk-based approaches. Invest in building this expertise within civil society coalitions.
- Prepare beneficiary impact stories for technical debates. When AML discussions become abstract, introduce human consequences. For example, excessive reporting and publication requirements may cause victims of gender-based violence to withdraw from protection programmes out of fear of their names being exposed in their communities.
Join the first webinar of the Uniting for Change initiative!
Amidst new challenges, civil society will benefit from reaching out to new allies. How are the operations of commercial banks and development banks relevant, in both restrictive and enabling contexts? How can civil society effectively speak their language and engage them on a variety of topics?
Uniting for Change: How to work together with banks and international financial institutions
Date and time: 13 May 2026, 10.00-12.00 CET