Calls to ensure the attainment of sustainable development across the development spectrum in the world today need one to understand in depth the role played by all stakeholders. For a long time, Civil society organizations (CSOs) have contributed immensely to the realization of the social pillar i.e., social transformation initiatives, family building, cultural value upholding and respect for individual human rights,etc. of sustainable development through the inclusive engagement of all sections of society. A big part of their focus has been on youth following CSOs’ acknowledgment of youth as the leaders of tomorrow. This acknowledgment has also been actualized through CSO efforts such as empowering youth to participate in low-level democratic processes of their organizations and groups. This thesis paper attempts to deepen and expand on how Civil society activism has for a while now concentrated on building society with the approach of ensuring local ownership. The approach led to the inclusion of youth in the development interventions which for a long time now started paying off. The endless objective participation of youth in many social issues like the demand for social accountability today has a big contribution from the work of Civil society Organizations.I argue in the paper that with the increasing regression of democratic practices in the world, the most affected category of society is the youth and mainly those believing in being a part of contributing to social development based on their lived experiences as well as acquired knowledge.

This thesis aims to study how unaccompanied asylum-seeking children navigate through the asylum systems of two European member states, Sweden and France. By using a qualitative approach, five interviews have been conducted in order to study the complex situation of three Afghan young adults, having experienced a rejection to their asylum application in Sweden and who now live in France, engaged together in solidarity work with two European civil society activists and their experiences across these questions. The method used, a narrative analysis, together with theories on citizenship, deportability, and civil society activism helps bring to light how the informants speak about their situation and perceptions of belonging and solidarity. With the European migration policies having become stricter in recent years, this study finds how asylum-seeking migrants have resisted threats of deportability and border control. With civil society activism and solidarity work playing an important role in the migrants supporting themselves, their volunteered engagement can be viewed as crucial when it comes to stepping in with help where the state response has withdrawn, leaving them in a temporary phase and position of clandestinity.

<p>Civil society activism in traditional non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is seen as one of the cornerstones of a vibrant participatory liberal democracy in most Western democratic states. Whereas this issue has been explored from a variety of perspectives in a Western context, only limited research has been carried out in a post-Soviet context. This study presents unique survey data on civil society core activism in post-Soviet Latvia addressing the following two main questions: What are the characteristics and factors that influence a person to become a core activist in a civil society organization? How does the post-Soviet Latvian context influence civil society core activism?</p><p>Two nationwide surveys were carried out among core activists in all sorts of NGOs and for a comparative purpose among the population at large, from which non-activists have been extracted. Through cross-tabulations based on the three comparative dimensions: a) activists in general vs. non-activists, b) fields of interest and c) position in organization, this study indicates that many of the factors proven to be important when explaining civil society core activism in Western contexts also have explanatory power in post-Soviet Latvia. Important factors are an individual’s educational level, empathic ability and level of civic literacy, as well as the presence of activist role models and positive support for the decision to become involved in civil society activism. Citizenship and gender are other important factors, but unlike Western countries women dominate the civil society sector in Latvia. Two new factors are also suggested and tested, showing that the perception that one has the ability to organize activity and prior leadership experience from a communist organization are important for Latvian core activists.</p><p>Binary logistic regression analysis is further used to test the significance of each of the independent variables alone and in combination with each other, introducing different types of core activists based on gender, motives for activism, intensity of political, charity and recreational activity, as well as the positions they have in their organizations.</p>

Civil society activism in traditional non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is seen as one of the cornerstones of a vibrant participatory liberal democracy in most Western democratic states. Whereas this issue has been explored from a variety of perspectives in a Western context, only limited research has been carried out in a post-Soviet context. This study presents unique survey data on civil society core activism in post-Soviet Latvia addressing the following two main questions: What are the characteristics and factors that influence a person to become a core activist in a civil society organization? How does the post-Soviet Latvian context influence civil society core activism? Two nationwide surveys were carried out among core activists in all sorts of NGOs and for a comparative purpose among the population at large, from which non-activists have been extracted. Through cross-tabulations based on the three comparative dimensions: a) activists in general vs. non-activists, b) fields of interest and c) position in organization, this study indicates that many of the factors proven to be important when explaining civil society core activism in Western contexts also have explanatory power in post-Soviet Latvia. Important factors are an individual’s educational level, empathic ability and level of civic literacy, as well as the presence of activist role models and positive support for the decision to become involved in civil society activism. Citizenship and gender are other important factors, but unlike Western countries women dominate the civil society sector in Latvia. Two new factors are also suggested and tested, showing that the perception that one has the ability to organize activity and prior leadership experience from a communist organization are important for Latvian core activists. Binary logistic regression analysis is further used to test the significance of each of the independent variables alone and in combination with each other, introducing different types of core activists based on gender, motives for activism, intensity of political, charity and recreational activity, as well as the positions they have in their organizations.