CISU Education Weekend 2024 - The impact we create

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CISU's Education Weekend is an annual event that gives CISU members the opportunity to meet one another, explore current topics relating to development work, civil society and the future. 

Education Weekend 2025

The Education Weekend will take place at Askov Folk High School.

The ‘official’ programme runs from Saturday 3 October at 10.30 am to Sunday 4 October at 2.00 pm.

However, you are welcome to arrive as early as Friday evening, 2 October at 6.00 pm for dinner and take part in a slightly more informal programme, including screenings of some of the films that CISU’s funds have helped to create.

This year’s theme: The role of the Danish organisation

CISU’s strategy for 2026–2030 sets an ambitious course for how we can work together to strengthen civil society worldwide, ensuring it remains independent, diverse, locally rooted and globally connected.

Danish organisations play a key role in the model we know, and also in the partnerships that need to be supported in the future. But how do we best fulfil our role as a partner, where the value we add is tangible and meaningful for all parties?

This is what we will focus on with the programme for the 2026 Education Weekend.

A more detailed programme will be available in mid-May.

Registration

You can register now and get a discount on your registration until 19 June.

Signup here

Registration includes accommodation, full board and, of course, all the programme content. You are responsible for your own transport.

You can register for accommodation from Friday onwards, when you can take part in some slightly more informal and social activities.

The deadline for final registration is 11 September.

Workshops

At the 2025 Education Weekend, we offer three tracks with a range of workshops that you can explore below. In addition, we have an “activity track” that provides alternative ways to engage. The program is available in English only and will be updated continuously.

Plenary

Personal and professional perspectives on what has brought the Danish civil society together.

The purpose of this event is to share and talk about some of our joint history on what has shaped the popular Danish civil society that engages in global development issues. We will take point of departure in 1) Pooled funds and partnership, 2) Personal relationships and professionalism, and 3) Politics and priorities.  

Speakers: Johanne Rebsdorf, Erik Vithner, TBC

Track 1: The role of civil society

What is the role of CISUs member organsations? What is the role of partner organisations? And what is CISU’s role? 

We need to be clear on what alliances we are forging. Who we stand side by side with. Based on all the things we can do, how do we strengthen our position in this world, we are entering?

Workshops under Track 1

CISU and grantees plays an intermediary role to facilitate that communities elsewhere in the world can improve their lives. But how do we play that part? Looking at the “9 Roles that Intermediaries Can Play”, we will identify the relevant roles of Danish civil society organisations from the perspective of locally led development.

Speakers: TBA

We have heard about it for some time now, but what does locally led development look like in practice? With presentations from Ghana Friendship about inclusive programming and budget planning with partners, and Dreamtown about micro-granting, we will take a further step into the practical side of things. With inspiration from the cases, there will be time to reflect and discuss how you can potentially take steps towards strengthening locally led development in your own work.

Speakers: Dreamtown, Ghana Friendship

Det vil være muligt at deltage både som dansk og engelsktalende.
It will be possible to participate in both Danish and English.

The General Assembly of CISU initiated a focus on developing CISUs next strategy. In this workshop, we will build on the insights from the weekend to explore:

What kind of strategy does CISU need – to stay relevant to you, and to the people and communities you work with around the world?

What priorities, principles and focus areas should guide us in the years to come?

Track 2: Promising practices in partnerships

Promising practices in partnerships – events initiated and co-organized by member organisations and partners.

What approaches or promising practices can contribute to joint learning across thematic areas, geographies and target groups?

Workshops under Track 2

Does outputs, outcomes, indicators, targets, and milestones ring a bell? If you have applied CISU, it surely does. But why not learn from others how to crack it? Through a presentation from Organic Denmark and workshop exercises and discussions with the other participants, join this workshop to bring something home.

Speakers: Sigrid Solberg Vestergaard, Organic Denmark

This session aims to explore the shrinking space for cultural and civil society actors, to discuss broader global trends. We will share case studies highlighting how creative and cultural organizations navigate these pressures: resisting erasure, preserving community identity, and building resilience through arts, storytelling, and grassroots action. 

Speakers: Danish House in Palestine

Track 3: Civil society in conflicts and democratic crises

How can member organisations best engage in strengthening the democratic developments in current and future contexts affected by conflict and crises?

Workshops under Track 3

We are increasingly experiencing legal and/or political pressure on the space for civil society in a long range of countries with civil society fund projects. This can have very serious implications as e.g. recently in Georgia and in Nicaragua, but also implications for specific areas of work as e.g. minority rights in Uganda or administrative restrictions in Peru. However, no matter which type of restrictions it is important to ask the question: How can we as partners in the best possible way continue solidarity and support in different contexts of restrictive CS?

We will explore the general trends on restrictions on CS, and dig deeper into two case studies from CISU member organisations, with the purpose of looking at how to continue working with partners in restrictive contexts.

Speakers: TBA

The event is based on a presentation by DANWATCH journalist and editor of Afrika-brevet, Oscar Rothstein. Oscar will begin by outlining four current trends in West and East Africa:

Military rule and democracy: What do the recent military takeovers in West Africa signify? Could they even hold some liberating potential?
Spread of insurgents: Are militant groups likely to expand into traditionally more peaceful countries? Can international development help prevent this?
Fake news: With disinformation increasingly shaping African politics, what role can civil society play in countering it?
Youth rebellion: Is there a youth rebellion underway in Kenya and East Africa—and should civil society support it, and if so, how?

This time, however, we’ll flip the script: instead of Oscar asking the questions, we’ll be the ones questioning him! Using pre-prepared thematic questions developed by member organizations working in West and East Africa, we’ll open a dialogue on democracy, power, and civil society. Therefore, following Oscar’s presentation, three CISU member organizations will pose their questions to him, sparking a broader discussion that all participants will be invited to join.

How do we support democratic development in a country at war? We focus on the current situation in Ukraine and the crucial role that civil society plays in strengthening both democracy and the resilience of citizens. We examine how a broader understanding of the concept of democracy can help build bridges between the realities of war and the vision of a free, open society, so that we don’t end up in a one-dimensional ‘Nordic’ understanding of democracy. Through presentations and debates, we focus on how international actors and local initiatives can promote participation, trust, and resilience in a time of uncertainty and change.

Professor Jeremy Morris (AU) will guide us into the democratic and civil society space in Ukraine (and Russia). And we will have perspectives from two member organitations new projects working in Ukraine working with giving voice to veterans as part of civil society projects

Activity track

Workshops that are more physical and active – outside the “classroom”.

Workshops under Activity Track

I den helt nye dansk-bolivianske dokumentarfilm ’Dagbog fra La Paz’ får vi et unikt indblik i fire bolivianske gadebørns hverdag gennem deres egne øjne. Udstyret med kameraer har de i et år dokumenteret deres liv – et liv præget af hårde realiteter, men også af håb, venskab og drømme om en bedre fremtid.

Blandt dem møder vi Abigail, som er 16 år, da filmen begynder. Hendes historie skiller sig ud: Trods de vanskelige vilkår kæmper hun for at bryde mønsteret og skabe en ny vej for sig selv. Gennem hendes rejse oplever vi både de barske realiteter som en ung pige, der er vokset op på gaden, og de små, men betydningsfulde sejre, der giver håb.

’Dagbog fra La Paz’ er en stærk, rørende og autentisk fortælling, der giver en stemme til dem, der ofte er usynlige.

Filmen er skabt i samarbejde mellem producenten Jonatan Jerichow, International Børnesolidaritet og organisationen Alalay, som arbejder med udsatte gadebørn i Bolivia. Efter filmvisningen fortæller Jonatan Jerichow om processen med at skabe filmen, mens International Børnesolidaritet vil sætte ord på, hvordan de bruger filmen i deres arbejde i både Danmark og Bolivia.

CISU Education Weekend

Education Weekend 2025

This year’s theme: The role of the Danish organisation

Registration

Workshops

Plenary

FRIDAY 19.30-21.30: Where do we come from? And where to now?

SATURDAY 15.45-17.30: Why do we still talk about aid?

Track 1: The role of civil society

Workshops under Track 1

SATURDAY 9.00-11.45: The roles of the intermediaries

SATURDAY 13.00-15.00: What does locally led development look like in practice?

SUNDAY 9.15-11.15: What direction should CISU take?

Track 2: Promising practices in partnerships

Workshops under Track 2

SATURDAY 9.00-11.45: How do we measure change?

SUNDAY 9.15-11.15: Shrinking Civic Space & Cultural Survival using Palestine as a lens

Track 3: Civil society in conflicts and democratic crises

Workshops under Track 3

SATURDAY 9.00-11.45: What challenges democratic development in the EU neighborhood region?

SATURDAY 13.00-15.00: Who decides democracy? Cases of West Africa and East Africa

SUNDAY 9.15-11.15: How can CSO partnerships strengthen democratic development?

Activity track

Workshops under Activity Track

SATURDAY 9.00-11.45: Walk and Talk

SATURDAY 13.00-15.00: Percussion & dance workshop with Kenyan dance troup, Nafsi

SUNDAY 9.15-11.15: Aktivitet: Filmvisning af dokumentarfilmen ‘Dagbog fra La Paz’