During April CIVICUS published the 2013 edition of their State of Civil Society Report. The 2013 report shows that CSOs still face many uphill battles and challenges towards establishing a truly enabling environment. However, although the report paints a pretty gloomy picture about the current global state of civil society it also highlights the fact that opportunities for civil society development continue to arise and that if CSOs seize these opportunities the prospects for establishing an enabling environment can become brighter. In Europe for example, the official recognition by the EC of the value of civil society, amidst the negative adjustment of many Member States’ budgets, have presented CSOs with the opportunity to engage the EU at different levels. It also presents opportunities for new engagements and partnerships between CSOs in the EU and CSOs in developing countries where the EU is active. This can be of special interest to CSOs operating in the Western Balkans and Turkey where funding is on a constant decrease and ratings related to enabling environments for CSOs are average: (Slovenia – 0,70; Bulgaria – 0,60; Croatia – 0,59; Romania – 0,58; Macedonia – 0,55; Serbia – 0,54; Montenegro – 0,54; Albania – 0,53; Kosovo – 0,53; BiH – 0,52; Turkey – 0,52). Click here for the full report and indexes. Or here for TUSEVs view on the enabling environment in Turkey. BCSDN has also prepared a short analysis on the report in which opens opportunities for collaboration between CIVICUS and Western Balkan CSOs.