Rewiring Civil Society: Building Resilience Through a Hope-Based Mindset-Shift

Author: Dimitar Keranov, Transatlantic Foundation 

As illiberal forces learn from one another, civil society should too 

Civil society organizations (CSOs) in Central and Eastern Europe face significant challenges, including threats from state actors, and negative narratives. These factors contribute to fear, burnout, and—what is worse—loss of hope among CSO members, thus impeding their positive impact and limiting their ambitions. 

CSOs often work in isolation, lacking knowledge about other groups’ activities, which weakens their networks and hinders effective information-sharing. Limited resources and the absence of a regional communications infrastructure exacerbate these challenges. 

The political environment in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland presents unique threats to civil society, and there are valuable lessons from these countries to be learned for building a stronger civil society ecosystem across borders. 

The Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Unhack Democracy, Hope-based.com, and the Political Accountability Foundation recognized the urgent need for creating a connected cross-border community of CSOs delivering hope-based campaigns that challenge illiberal narratives with a positive vision of why democracy matters. This is how the pilot project Rewire Your Mind/Rewire Your Country: Building CSO Resilience Through Hope-Based Leadership (REWIRE) was born in 2023. 

The hope-based approach teaches focusing on positive messages and opportunities for change when communicating. Rather than highlighting problems and threats, people are encouraged to promote constructive messages and solutions. 

Transforming communication and fostering a mindset shift within civil society 

Through a two-day in-person training in Budapest and a weekly online program, 14 REWIRE rising CSO leaders from Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland documented their hope-based learning journey and carried out peer-to-peer trainings for their wider network in the participating countries.  

 
 Ágnes Bardócz, a community organizer with the Civil College Foundation, Hungary who conducts peer-to-peer training, explains how the hope-based communication approach empowers CSO leaders to inspire positive change and engagement: 

• I held my very first training session on Thursday. I knew I had fantastic training materials from Thomas Coombes and hope-based communications, which I obtained through the @REWIRE incubator program with Unhack Democracy.  

  I felt a bit uncomfortable sharing my knowledge with my well-trained colleagues, especially those who are actually trainers and have trained me before. However, I had a very empathetic and curious audience. They were open-minded and creative throughout our journey into the hope-based mindset. The biggest success, in my opinion, was when one of my former trainers changed her opinion about an upcoming campaign. I witnessed how to rewire someone’s mind, and together we changed the narrative based on the hope-based communications method.  

  Such an instant success made me feel like I was swimming in happiness, seeing such a result on the spot! This experience has made me so enthusiastic that I now feel capable of passing this knowledge on to many other activists at the countrywide annual meeting of community organizers. 

Alexander Kirov of the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, who also conducts peer-to-peer training, explains the power of positive vision and effective messaging: 

• I had the privilege of leading a transformative training session for NGO leaders on the power of hope-based communication. In today’s world, it seems to be easy to fall into the trap of communicating big problems through fear, but we explored a different path— one that empowers, inspires, and brings hope.  

  Together, we delved into the principles of hope-based communication, focusing on changing the narrative to connect with our audiences in a more positive and impactful way. The session was filled with dynamic discussions and practical advice that highlighted the importance of shifting our messaging to highlight solutions that create opportunities and to envision a better future. By emphasizing hope, we can foster stronger connections, drive meaningful action, and create lasting change. Enough with the guilt-tripping comms!  

  Seeing the enthusiasm and creativity of these leaders as they embraced this philosophy was incredibly rewarding. I’m confident that by adopting hope-based communication strategies, these CSOs will inspire greater engagement and support for their vital causes.  

 
This project succeeded in bringing about a mindset shift within CSOs in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland by helping them to become more hopeful and effective, and to build positive vision-driven projects. And, most importantly, it brought hope to civil society and inspired people to “demand what they should be demanding and dream what they should be dreaming”, in the words of Zsófia Banuta from Unhack Democracy. 

The “Rewire Your Mind/Rewire Your Country: Building CSO resilience through hope-based leadership (REWIRE)” project, supported by Engaging Central Europe in 2023–2024, is being implemented under the PROTEUS program and co-funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Transatlantic Foundation (TF) or the European Union (EU). Neither the EU nor TF can be held responsible for them.