From Ebola to the bombing of Gaza, civil society was the first responder to humanitarian emergencies during the last year, but faces dire threats and a funding crisis around the world, says a new report. During the last year civil society was everywhere, doing great work often at the frontline of the world’s challenges, but at the same time having to stave off threats to its very existence, said the CIVICUS Secretary-General on launching the organisation’s 2015 State of Civil Society Report. CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations, says that in addition to the work it does on pressing global challenges, such as poverty, inequality and climate change, civil society also finds itself at the frontlines of response when it comes to humanitarian emergencies, including those caused by conflicts and disasters. In addition to the Ebola crisis and natural disasters in Nepal and Vanuatu, civil society has, in the last year, also been called on to respond to a range of conflicts, including in Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, Gaza, Central African Republic and South Sudan.