The thematic working group on civil society involvement of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs, an expert group of the EU Commission, conducted this review of literature on meaningful civil society involvement in the field of drug policy.
The working group, led by Rights Reporter Foundation and AFEW International, conducted a systematic online search to identify scholarly articles and reports published by governmental and non-governmental organisations on why and how civil society should be involved in policy making processes. Our research aimed to identify and describe:
1) competing definitions of civil society;
2) the purpose and benefits of civil society involvement;
3) forms of, and steps in, civil society involvement;
4) principles, tools and recommendations on civil society involvement;
5) facilitators and barriers for the meaningful involvement of civil society;
6) positive examples of cooperation between government and civil society;
7) barriers and challenges in civil society involvement;
8) the risks and opportunities of funding.
Peter Sarosi
