KEY MESSAGES

• Civil society is actively engaged in the Convention’s implementation, particularly through activities to raise awareness of its objectives and principles.
• Sustained state-civil society collaboration required for policy design and implementation faces strong challenges such as: insufficiencies in the capacity of national and local governments as well as civil society organizations to cooperate effectively, lack of financing and qualified human resources and lack of awareness about the Convention in civil society in general.
• Many civil society organizations participated in the preparation of the Quadrennial Periodic Reports (QPR); overall, however, the diversity of civil society voices is still insufficient and should be increased.
• Civil society’s role as ‘cultural watchdog’ remains underdeveloped; however, the Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, which already operate in 43 countries, could become a driving force to fill such gaps nationally as well as internationally.