Civil society encompasses the nonprofits, advocacy groups, community organizations, and grassroots movements that operate outside government and business to advance the public good. This archive collects stories of civil society actors driving measurable progress on issues ranging from human rights and environmental protection to public health and civic participation.
German workers won a key victory in their fight for a better work-life balance when a big employers’ group agreed to demands from the country’s largest trade union for the introduction of a 28-hour working week.
The General Synod, meeting in York, voted in favour of the move by 284 votes to 78. It was the second time in two days that it gave overwhelming support to motions seen as positive towards LGBT people, suggesting to some a significant change of mood.
The Kirk’s general assembly, meeting in Edinburgh, instructed officials to consider changes to church law that would allow ministers to preside over same-sex-marriage ceremonies.
The first standard of its kind in the world, ISO 20400 aims to help companies make better purchasing choices throughout their supply chains by establishing guidelines for companies to judge suppliers on ethical and sustainability issues.
Universal basic income got its first serious American test run in December 2016, when the Economic Security Project pledged $10 million over two years to fund U.S. pilots and research. More than 100 signatories joined in, from Sam Altman to Robert Reich. It marked the moment a long-running thought experiment finally met real money.
Wild tigers hit their lowest recorded point around 2010, with just 3,200 left across Asia. Six years later, a global census counted 3,890 across 13 countries — the first uptick in over a century. Scientists caution better counting explains some of the rise, but in places like India, Nepal, and Russia, protection appears to be working.
Giant pandas stepped back from the brink in 2016, when the IUCN downlisted them from Endangered to Vulnerable. China’s wild panda population had climbed to roughly 1,864, up from fewer than 1,100 in the 1980s, thanks to decades of reserves and reforestation. A rare, measurable recovery — and a reminder that decline isn’t destiny.
The Swachh Bharat Mission launched on October 2, 2014, Gandhi’s 150th birthday, with one audacious goal: end open defecation across India within five years. The government subsidized roughly 90 million toilets, and by 2022 the share of Indians practicing open defecation had dropped from 73% in 2000 to about 11%. A quiet shift in everyday public health.
MSC-certified fishing began in 2000, when Western Australia’s Western Rock Lobster fishery became the first in the world to earn the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue label. Auditors scrutinized its pot-based methods, stock health, and management rules — and it has since been recertified four times, offering early proof that commercial fishing and ocean stewardship can hold together.
The International Coral Reef Initiative launched in December 1994, when eight nations — from Jamaica to Japan — met in the Bahamas and pledged the first global partnership devoted entirely to coral reefs. Reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor but shelter roughly a quarter of marine species, and until then, no international body had spoken for them alone.
