Future Challenges for CSOs: Conversations with Two Generations of CSO Workers in Asia

This paper summarizes a series of conversations on the key challenges faced by civil society organizations (CSOs) involving two generations of CSO workers in seven Asian countries. These 15 conversations involved 178 CSO workers from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

The discussions cover four topics:

• Societal issues addressed by CSOs: What changes in society do you hope to achieve?
• Evolution of CSOs as mechanism for social change: How has the role of CSOs in society changed?
• Internal challenges facing CSOs: What are the key internal issues that affect the relevance and viability of CSOs?
• The next generation of CSO workers: What are the challenges in building the next generation of CSO workers?