Smart CSOs CIC

About us

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have a crucial role to play in catalysing transformative social and political change, yet new ideas and strategies are needed to address the ecological and social challenges we face. Our current focus on single issues and short-term goals means that while we may win many battles, we are losing the war. As a response in 2011 we founded the Smart CSOs Lab, an international network of civil society leaders, researchers and funders aiming to develop and put into practice strategies that embrace the cultural and systemic root causes lying behind the social and environmental crises of our times. The Lab’s vision is to embrace the journey ahead of us as a Great Transition to sustainability similar in its dimension to the Industrial Revolution (in accordance with the Great Transition framework as it was originally developed and promoted by Tellus Institute and later by nef). What makes the Smart CSOs Lab distinct is that it provides a space to rethink and redesign how CSOs can more effectively work towards this vision rather than developing another platform for campaigns or coalitions. In one sentence we aim to learn together how to work in a more systemic way, how to create the new narrative for the Great Transition, how to support and catalyse the new models for the new economy, how to become a global movement for the Great Transition and how to get all this funded.