Graciela Hopstein, Possible Now Stitching Fellow (Brazil)

The Stitching Fellowship — a new programme of the Global Fund for Community Foundations that I will be involved in on the road to Kathmandu — aims to continue the process of reflection initiated during my #ShiftThePower Fellowship. In fact, this new Fellowship offers an opportunity to follow-up on some of the ideas proposed in my paper The Crisis of Democracy and Civil Society: Challenges and Perspectives for the #ShiftThePower Movement. In this next phase, I will map and analyse strategic civil society players and dynamics in Brazil, taking into account the current political context marked by the presence of far-right dynamics and actors, a democratic crisis, shrinking civic spaces and politically-driven funding shifts. This initiative will combine research into relevant players and networks, the creation and promotion of permanent and open spaces linked to Possible Now, agenda building and the development of joint actions.

The scenario of the structural crisis we are facing, certainly demands creative and bold solutions —both in the political sphere and within philanthropy and international cooperation. Creating new global articulation spaces, understood as permanent forums for dialogue that bring together global, regional and local civil society, alongside diverse networks, should be a strategic priority to design alternative funding models that foster civil society autonomy and collective impact. In this context, the upcoming Possible Now Summit and dynamics involved should be recognized as an innovative form of collective resistance and policy advocacy. Also serving, at the same time, as a call to action!