Civil Society Organisations

We define Civil Society Organizations in research and innovation for health, equity and development as:

Organizations that are private, not-for-profit, operate between the state and the public, and between the state and the market. These organizations represent or serve groups of people, are guided by a passion to contribute to social justice, have interest in research, science and innovation, and in using these to assess and tackle health determinants, influence health policies and improve health outcomes.

The CSOs may act on an international, national or local level. They can be of a charitable, research, social enterprise or educational nature and are concerned with a wide range of health and health determinants issues. Some raise money to help fund or implement research projects. Others implement health community projects or focus on improving health systems. Some “attempt to educate the public and others campaign on major global issues or lobby governments and international agencies to change public policies.”[1]

Clarification notes:

For the purpose of this work, we are including in the definition of CSO Community based organizations, Indigenous Peoples organizations; Non-governmental organizations; Philanthropic organizations; Faith based or Religious organizations; Professional associations; Humanitarian organizations; Think tanks; Patient/Disease organization or association; and Social enterprises.

We understand that Academic Institutions at times could also be considered a CSO. However, the present work with CSOs is trying to give visibility to organizations that are not usually considered as a key partner in research for health and development.  For this reason, we are not focusing on the work done by academic institutions.

In all of COHRED activities, we define:
 

-Research as the generation of new knowledge

- Innovation as the process from the generation of a new idea to its transformation into practical applications (useful services, products, diagnostic tools, drugs, methods, management practices and policies), and to their implementation via public procurement and distribution.

- Social Innovation as the process that involves the elaboration of more effective ways to organize people and information in health systems

- Invention as the creation of a new idea

- Development as the process of scaling up innovations

- Not-for-profit or non-profit organization is an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals and to reinvest them in social goods.