FSVC is implementing a program in Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama with funding from the U.S. Embassy in Panama to promote civil society organization (CSO) capacity building and collaboration for the protection and advancement of human rights.
The goal of this program is to strengthen CSOs in Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama, enabling them to more effectively engage with governments and promote transparency, accountability, and public participation. To achieve this, FSVC will provide targeted training and technical assistance to CSOs, focusing on areas such as organizational management, advocacy strategies, and public outreach. The program focuses on the following objectives:
Objective 1: Strengthening management and programmatic capacity of CSOs in Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama that contribute to the promotion, protection, and advancement of human rights.
Objective 2: Strengthen the Belizean, Costa Rican, and Panamanian Civil Society networks within each country’s context. The human rights civic space in each country is representative, collaborative, and complimentary with established mechanisms for dialogue and engagement with government institutions.
Objective 3: Strengthen the Belizean, Costa Rican, and Panamanian civic space regionally, building on the synergies of policy, procedure, and the operational area of advancing human rights to establish a robust framework for regional communication and coordination.
Program Impact
- 39 baseline capacity assessments conducted for local CSOs across three countries
- 16 actions taken by trained CSOs across the three countries to support human rights and/or anti-corruption initiatives
- 10 domestic collaborative initiatives and/or joint advocacy campaigns formed among trained CSOs
- 25 new or updated policies, procedures, methodologies or tools adopted by trained CSOs to improve their financial, administrative, program and/or communication management