Abbreviation CCS Headquarters Durban, South Africa | Formation 2001 | |
Focus Social and Environmental Justice, Globalization Product Critical Research, Policy Analysis, Political Community Organizing, Capacity Building | ||
The Centre for Civil Society (CCS) is a transnational alternative policy group that produces and disseminates analyses, proposals and information tools oriented towards the enhancement of social and ecological justice. The Centre was established in 2001 and is based in Durban, South Africa.
Goals and Activities
Working to advance eco-social justice, the Centre’s practices include:
In its efforts towards constructing alternatives to existing economic, political and cultural relations, a great deal of the CCS’s energy is devoted to capacity building and developing dialogue and partnership with local social movements and struggles. It has developed a close relationship with the Durban activist community (developing knowledge in concert with local activists), as well as providing intellectual and cultural resources to it.
To this end, the CCS supports a number of 'Community Scholars'—activists grounded in local communities, that receive a stipend and have their own space at the Centre to pursue their own initiatives. It also offers its multipurpose meeting room (which hosts up to 50 people) to Community Scholars and visiting scholars, to facilitate political organizing and research. Its ‘Protest Laboratory’ also contains various resources for activists, including an online library of radical literature.
Despite the fact that the many publications and initiatives credited to the Centre’s principles and associates maintain a local thrust, the CCS has managed to build a visible international profile, in part through the ubiquity of its director, Patrick Bond.