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After independence, civil society in Namibia was boosted by enthusiasm and foreign funding streaming in. However, with finance turning more and more difficult, civil society activity in Namibia subsided considerably since about the mid-1990s. Lately, leading civil society bodies themselves acknowledge constraints that force them to take up government work besides continuing to act as a counterweight to the state.

The tension between civil society acting as a subsidiary to the government on the one hand, and of civil society acting as a counterweight or functional opposition on the other hand, has been evaluated by the German Arnold Bergstraesser Institute.

Before this background, Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung would like to provide a platform with this conference in order to discuss above mentioned study and the current status-quo of civil society in Namibia as well as elaborate mutually on recommendations for actions and possible ways forward.