On December 19, 2018, USAID’s Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance V. Kate Somvongsiri formally launched the four regional 2017 Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI) reports at an SCS Global Learning Event focused on the Journey to Self-Reliance. The CSOSI includes 71 country reports, summaries of significant regional trends and graphics depicting country scores for the Index’s seven dimensions of sustainability. Also at the event CSOSI promoted an online data dashboard for exploring visualizations of the CSOSI’s current and historical data (back to 1997 for some countries).

Presenters at the event included Thomas Carothers, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, speaking about how new types of civic movements have challenged the legitimacy of mainstream CSO sectors; Jenna White of LINC speaking about how CSOs’ financial viability has been affected by reduced funding and alternative models; and Cathy Shea, International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, speaking about how growing authoritarianism has affected legal environments for CSOs.