The research Digital Tools for Active Citizens aims at understanding how Civil Society Organizations in the Black Sea Region are using digital tools to advance their mission, manage their resources (human, financial, etc.) and to outreach to donors and beneficiaries, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interest in this topic comes at a time when the use of the Internet and technologies grows exponentially, while social media and digital tools are used to create new forms of participation and claim agency.
Furthermore, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the entire world became dependent on the use of technology and was forced to work and study remotely, the gaps in digital skills and tools became even more visible, forcing Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to test their resilience in adapting to the new circumstances. In this context, the present research is looking to fill in some of the existing gaps, supporting the understanding of how CSOs and activists use digital tools to advance their causes, the opportunities and obstacles encountered, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on CSOs working in four countries in the Black Sea: Armenia, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine.
*The research takes place as part of the sub-granting scheme of the project “Black Sea NGO Forum: Building CSO Capacity for Regional Cooperation within the Black Sea Region”, implemented by the Romanian NGDO Platform – FOND, with the financial support of the European Union.
The research study is the central activity of the “Digital Tools for Active Citizens” project run in partnership by the Civic Resource Centre – Romania, “Open Borders” Institute of Peace, Democracy and Development NGO – Armenia, “Local Democracy Agency” Foundation – Armenia, “Local Democracy Agency” – Georgia, “Local Democracy Agency” Dnipropetrovsk – Ukraine .
