Conference | Brussels, 14 October 2026 KBR - Royal Library of Belgium
Can quality management help civil society organisations become more resilient in a rapidly changing environment?
As civic space continues to shrink across Europe, civil society organisations are facing growing challenges that require adaptive, participatory and sustainable approaches. In this context, quality management is increasingly being recognised not only as a compliance tool, but also as a framework that can support organisational learning, collaboration and long-term resilience.
To explore these questions, Civil Society Europe, within the framework of the CoQuality network, is organising the conference “Civil Society Co-designing Quality: Building Resilience in a Challenging Environment”, taking place on 14 October 2026 in Brussels.
The event will build on the findings of the recent CoQuality European study on quality management in civil society organisations and will bring together practitioners, researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders from across Europe to discuss how quality approaches can strengthen organisations and help them respond to emerging challenges.
What to expect
Participants will have the opportunity to:
- Discover key findings from the CoQuality European study on quality management in the third sector.
- Explore how quality management can contribute to organisational resilience and sustainability.
- Exchange experiences and practices with civil society organisations from different European countries.
- Participate in collaborative discussions and workshops on quality, participation, accountability and organisational learning.
- Reflect on how quality frameworks can support meaningful change beyond administrative compliance.
The conference aims to create a space for dialogue and co-creation, encouraging participants to rethink quality as a strategic tool for strengthening civil society across Europe.
📅 Date: 14 October 2026
🕚 Time: 09:30 – 16:30
🗺️ Venue: Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), Mont des Arts 28, Brussels
Registration: Register here
In the current context of shrinking civic space across Europe, quality management can be an essential tool for resilience, learning, participation and the development of partnerships and alliances. Quality management is widely recognised and often practiced, but approaches are fragmented, resource constraints are severe, and formal systems are frequently associated with funder compliance rather than mission effectiveness.
In order to address this situation, this event will be guided by the following statement:
“Quality in civil society cannot be reduced to compliance. It must be understood as a shared practice of resilience, learning and accountability: strong enough to protect rights and demonstrate value, but flexible enough to respond to people, context and complexity.”
The event aims at demonstrating the importance and the value of quality for civil society beyond compliance towards an adaptive, relational and sector-specific practice, building on the findings of a EU level study conducted by the CoQuality network, as well as evidence from practices across Europe.
Through the discussions we want to overcome the paradox faced by the European third sector: civil society organisations care deeply about quality, but often lack the time, money and organisational space to implement quality systems in ways that feel useful rather than burdensome.
Civil society organisations are not just asking for suitable standards, templates or certification pathways for their sector. They are looking for ways to make quality meaningful in their everyday work through low-cost tools, peer learning, internal culture, adaptive systems and approaches that respect the relational nature of social change. To be meaningful, quality systems should not be based on reporting as it is often the case, but support judgement, learning, inclusion and resilience.
During the event we will present the results of the CoQuality study on “Challenges and differences in Quality management within Third Sector organisations across Europe”, test its implications with the sector, and build a shared agenda for quality as a driver of resilience, learning and partnership for change.
The conference will foster discussions to compare different pathways that can help us to overcome such challenges, while addressing the perspective of funders and the role of policy makers. The event also seeks to build the basis for a European space where such learnings can be shared and further improved, and support advocacy.
The one day event will bring together civil society organisations at EU and national level, practitioners working on quality management, experts, funders and policy makers.
The programme will be rolled out in different sessions:
- First session on evidence and shared diagnosis. The findings of the study will be introduced, presenting that quality is valued, fragmented, under-resourced and often experienced through compliance pressures.
- Round table on sector challenges and policy implications. We will discuss what civil society resilience requires from CSOs, funders and public institutions. We will also discuss what kinds of quality frameworks help organisations adapt in uncertain environments and promote equity and accessibility, supporting the organization’s development rather than freezing practice into rigid procedures.
- Lunch and interactive wall. Participants will contribute actively to the discussions by gathering examples, questions and identifying “what quality should enable”.
- Workshops. Participants will work on unresolved questions, collect practical examples and co-design CoQuality’s next steps on three different workshops:
- Quality frameworks fit for small and medium organisations.
- Finding the right balance between external standards, internal tools and peer-based learning.
- Addressing equity, accessibility and differentiated support.
5. Closing. We will develop advocacy messages or a set of principles for quality beyond compliance.
9:30 – 10:00 | Registration and Welcome Coffee
10:00 – 11:00 | Presentation of the CoQuality Study and Q&A
11:00 – 11:15 | Interactive Wall
11:15 – 11:30 | Coffee/Tea Break
11:30 – 13:00 | Round Table: Can Quality Build Resilience in Civil Society Organisations?
13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 | Parallel Workshops
15:30 – 15:45 | Coffee/Tea Break
15:45 – 16:30 | Closing
Registration
We look forward to welcoming civil society representatives, quality practitioners, researchers and policymakers for a day of learning, exchange and collaboration on the future of quality management in Europe’s civil society sector.
You can register here by July 17th, 2026.
The event is free of charge. Unfortunately, we are not able to cover travel and accommodation costs for participants.
