Civic Space Watch
Rebuilding the Democracy Monitoring Platform
How SEOFLY helped the European Civic Forum build a modern, accessible democracy monitoring platform for Europe – compliant with the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.
About the client
European Civic Forum
& Civic Space Watch
European Civic Forum is a European network of nearly 100 non-governmental organizations operating in 29 countries. It was founded in 2005, and its mission is to protect civic space, promote participation, and foster dialogue for democracy.
Since 2017, it has been running the platform civicspacewatch.eu – a center for analysis, alerts, and resources documenting the state of civic space across Europe.
As part of a new EU-funded project, the client needed a complete overhaul of the website: the implementation of an early warning system (EWS), a Protection Hub, and modern data filtering and visualization tools.
| Client | European Civic Forum (ECF), Brussels |
| Scope | Redesign, Development, WCAG 2.1 AA |
| Completion | 2025 |
| URL | civicspacewatch.eu |
CHALLENGES
What needed to be fixed and built
The client came with a list of urgent technical issues and an ambitious vision for new functionalities to support democracy monitoring in Europe.
Broken search system
Filtering did not allow multiple options to be selected at once. We rebuilt the entire filter logic.
Critically slow scrolling
The site was practically unusable – due to theme errors, scrolling was so slow that it discouraged all users.
Interactive map of Europe
The client needed a map with links to national pages and data cards that appear when hovering over a country.
Early Warning System
A new tool: trend visualization, an alert taxonomy with severity levels, and a submission form.
Protection Hub
A new module featuring a resource database, a protection map, an interactive question path, and country-based filters.
Full WCAG 2.1 AA compliance
Color contrast, font scaling, screen reader support, and keyboard navigation.
Restructuring the information architecture
The previous site was disorganized, with many solutions built on plugins – over 50 of them. Taxonomies were mixed up, with "Resources" entries appearing where "Alerts" should have been. Logically and cleanly restructuring the site and migrating the properly organized alerts was our task and challenge.
PROJECT GALLERY
Project Preview
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Homepage
Archive
Protection and Resource Hub
Single Alert
Activizenship
Country preview popup
OUR SOLUTION
What we delivered
The project required a comprehensive approach – from the visual layer, through data architecture, to technical optimization.
Complete website redesign
A refreshed, unified look across every aspect. A new layout highlighting the EWS, interactive map, project partners, alert archive, single alert view, publications, About subpages, a conditional logic form, and much more.
Early Warning System
Trend visualizations, alert taxonomy, submission form, and feed. Alerts are highlighted based on their status. We also migrated old alerts, organized them, and restructured the entire system.
Interactive map of 29 countries
Clickable countries with a popup displaying country-specific details. Fully automated, dynamic data loading.
Protection Hub
A resource database featuring a protection map, a question path, and dynamic (AJAX-based) filters for fast database searching. Easy management and visual editing for administrators. The table is designed for convenient browsing — details appear only after selecting a title of interest.
Country pages
Visual presentation of data and trends, alerts, country-specific resources, and filtering.
Full automation
Maintaining order in such a large database, adding updates and related actions, creating separate subpages for actions, country statuses — this can be overwhelming. We built maximum automation in from the very start. As a result, the administrator saves a lot of time and headaches.
Plugin reduction
Instead of 50 plugins, we managed to close the project with 14 (half of which are utility plugins such as backups, SEO, page duplication, security, etc.). We adapted WordPress to the client's needs — not the other way around.
Technical optimization
From roughly 25 points on Google PageSpeed Insights on mobile, we managed to achieve around 70 on the new site — without any major optimization tricks. If needed, there is still potential to reach 90+.
WCAG 2.1 AA
Full accessibility for people with disabilities. No extra plugins that only imitate accessibility — no compromises.
Planning process
Live client communication
Civic Space Watch had a team of several people who only had a general idea for the new website. Instead of sending hundreds of emails, SEOFLY proposed communication in FigJam, where both sides could easily share their thoughts. We minimized the clutter in the threads being discussed to an absolute minimum.
DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY
A website accessible to everyone
Civic Space Watch meets the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard – it is fully digitally accessible to users with disabilities.
Contrast and color inversion
All elements meet the WCAG 2.1 AA contrast requirements.
Dynamic font resizing
Using appropriate units ensures the website remains readable regardless of zoom levels – WCAG criterion 1.4.4.
Screen reader support
Semantic HTML5, ARIA roles, alt texts, and correct focus order – works with NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver.
Keyboard navigation
The entire website – map, filters, Protection Hub – can be operated without a mouse, in compliance with WCAG 2.1.