Previously, Resilience & Resistance featured a post by RACI’s executive director, Guillermo Correa. In “We Are Called to Build,” Correa notes that civil society “is a space where citizens come together to defend freedoms, provide services to people when governments and markets fail, and imagine new possibilities for democracy and solidarity.” He goes on to say that a weakened civil society makes a democracy less effective, failing to live up to its promise. This piece, written by RACI staff members, looks at the narratives around civil society.

Narratives matter more than we often admit. They shape how we imagine civil society, what we expect from it, how much legitimacy we grant it, and what role it plays in times when everything—politics, technology, conflicts, public perceptions—feels accelerated. Today, narratives are shifting at the global, regional, and national levels, revealing a deeper collective redefinition.

A Global Shift Is Deeper Than It Appears

At the global level, something fundamental is happening: the way civil society and development are described is changing. For decades, international cooperation was organized around a vertical and binary logic rooted in a colonial mindset, a model based on the idea that some actors “help” and others “receive help.” This framework shaped discourse, funding structures, institutional relationships, and expectations. It was never designed to be equitable, and its limitations go far beyond the current crisis.

Today, democratic, economic, environmental, and humanitarian crises are intertwined and make the inadequacy of this model impossible to ignore. But it is important to be clear: the system is not failing because of the crisis; it was flawed at its conception. The present context simply makes structural problems more visible.

This moment, then, is an opportunity. Not to adjust the old model, but to rethink it from the ground up: how it works, who decides, who defines success, and how responsibility is shared globally. The dominant narrative is moving toward interdependence, a perspective in which all societies contribute, build, and make decisions, and in which proximity to communities, local legitimacy, and long-term trust matter more than financial leverage or bureaucratic compliance.

This shift is also visible in language. Terms like beneficiaries, which reduce people to passive recipients, are giving way to words like actors, communities, and partners, which recognize agency, history, and collective identity. As such, language is not cosmetic; it helps reorganize the architecture of the system.

Changing narratives is a key component to real transformation around redistributing power and ensuring that decisions are made closer to those affected. It also necessitates that legitimacy be grounded in presence, consistency, and lived experience rather than in external indicators.

Identity, Contestation, and Creativity in Latin American Narratives

The Latin American region reveals a landscape where narratives about civil society are marked by political tension, historical inequalities, and new digital actors who are competing for attention and legitimacy.

One of the strongest dynamics impacting the success or failure of narratives is polarization. In many countries, civil society has become entangled in an environment where any public intervention is interpreted through rigid partisan lenses. For many people, suspicion is now part of everyday life. There is suspicion surrounding financing, political ties, and international alliances. In this climate, it is difficult to communicate complexity or to build broad public trust.

At the same time, the region has seen the rise of highly organized actors—some using traditional media, others deeply digital—who craft their own narratives and compete for cultural influence. The public debate is no longer framed simply as “civil society vs. government” but as a multifaceted arena where movements, platforms, and networks compete for legitimacy.

Technology accelerates these tensions. Social media has become a central arena where misinformation spreads quickly, stereotypes are reinforced, emotions outrun evidence, and algorithms reward outrage and ignore nuance.

These circumstances push civil society organizations to not only rethink how to communicate but also to reconsider how to reach diverse audiences without sacrificing depth.

In contrast to these challenges, a powerful idea has emerged: the most compelling narratives in Latin America come from within its territory. They come from everyday stories of communities organizing, resisting, creating, and experimenting:

• women forming and sustaining neighborhood kitchens
• youth producing their own positive digital content
• communities developing technologies that reflect their needs
• collectives defending rights that are grounded in their own cultural, historical, and epistemological frameworks
• organizations generating data and documentation from the ground up

Born from lived experience, these narratives are often more impactful than top-down, formal messaging.

Latin America is home to extraordinary narrative creativity. The region blends cultural heritage, innovation, and collective action in ways that produce new forms of storytelling and participation. This creativity not only generates solutions but also generates meaning.

The Argentine Lens

Nationally, Argentina presents yet another layer of this global–regional phenomenon.

Civil society often oscillates between two opposing stereotypes:

• an idealized image (“good people helping others”)
• and a suspicious one (“politicized organizations with hidden interests”)

Both flatten the complexity of the work, which involves professionalism, planning, data analysis, policy advocacy, accountability, and strategic management.

News media play an ambivalent role. On the one hand, they are drawn to conflict and controversy; on the other, they increasingly rely on civil society for reliable data, territorial insight, and contextual analysis. This creates an opening: civil society can become a trusted reference in a context marked by widespread institutional distrust.

Digitally, organizations face a rapidly evolving environment. Algorithms move fast, misinformation circulates effortlessly, new platforms emerge constantly, and artificial intelligence reshapes how audiences engage with information. Many groups with strong digital strategies already dominate the conversation and are pushing civil society to adapt while preserving accuracy and integrity.

Communication is not an accessory but it is part of institutional work. Explaining what organizations do, why they do it, and what impact they generate strengthens social trust, connects with supporters, and helps counter harmful stereotypes.

Connecting the Three Levels

When the global, regional, and national perspectives are viewed together, several shared insights emerge:

• Narratives are part of the struggle for power. They influence legitimacy, public trust, and the ability to shape agendas.
• Civil society must reclaim its own story. Not defensively, but by clearly stating its mission, evidence, and long-term contributions.
• Community voices belong at the center. The strongest narratives come from the ground up, not from distant institutions.
• Technology amplifies but does not replace content. The message—grounded, coherent, meaningful—remains essential.
• The current crisis creates room for reinvention. The fall of old models opens a rare opportunity to build a more just, horizontal system.

Civil society is living through a moment of narrative re-writing — one that carries responsibility and possibility. The challenge is not to invent something entirely new but to recognize what has always been there: communities, shared experiences, collective strength, and the capacity to create futures even in the midst of uncertainty.

The Argentine Network for International Cooperation (RACI) is a civil society network based in Argentina. Much of its work focuses on strengthening organizations, fostering collaboration across sectors, and promoting a more enabling environment for civil society, both locally and globally, through research, capacity building, dialogue, and international cooperation.

Resilience & Resistance is a Charles F. Kettering Foundation blog series that features the insights of thought leaders and practitioners who are working to expand and support inclusive democracies around the globe. Direct any queries to globalteam@kettering.org.