Subject: Re: NGO Re-Registration in Russia--Threat to Civil Society?
From: Al Decie (ECHOal@krsk.ru)
Date: Wed May 26 1999 - 19:33:09 EDT
Subscribers to Civilsoc may find of interest my colleague's comments on
Goble's 5/24 article. The following appeared in today's issue of Johnson's
list (#3305).
Al Decie
ECHO, Inc.
Krasnoyarsk
''''''''''''''''''''''''''
[Material below has been edited for brevity. Full remarks
available from Sarah Lindemann at e-mail address directly below.
CivilSoc moderator, CCSI.]
Date: Wed, 26 May 1999
From: "Sarah C. Lindemann" <echo@mail.nsk.ru>
Subject: Response to Paul Goble/3304
I do not share Paul Goble's alarmist reaction to the re-registration of
NGOs. His argument demonstrated a genuine lack of understanding of what
we call the Third Sector here, and the overall process of civil society
development...
I can only speak knowledgeably about Siberia where I have lived for 7
years, the last five of which my organization, ECHO, has been dedicated
solely to supporting grassroots civil society development.
First of all, it is important to point out that the legislative base
established to support the existence of these organizations, the Law on
Social Organizations (May 19,1995), the Law on Charity Activities and
Charity organizations (August 11, 1995) and the Law on Non-Commercial
Organizations (January 12, 1996), pertains to political parties and
religious organizations as well as those whose mission is devoid of
ideological bent. The name Third Sector evolved as a way of describing
groups that were not political or religious in nature. Certainly, one
element of this identification was related to support from Western funders
which precluded grants to political or religious groups. However, it was
also the expressed desire on the part of many activists to keep the
movement from becoming politicized into oblivion. That approach has
proven to be very effective and the sector has grown substantially in
size, professionalism and respect amongst the other sectors...
Second point, there is actually a solid rationale for requiring
re-registration. The list of registered organizations currently on file at
local Departments of Justice is virtually meaningless. Over 2,000
organizations are currently registered in Novosibirsk Oblast. In a
directory of Novosibirsk NGOs published last fall by the Siberian Civic
Initiatives Support Center and the Novosibirsk Oblast Department for
Social Relations approximately 500 organizations are listed. These are
organizations that responded to mailings and fit the Third Sector profile.
Certainly, there may be some who chose not to be included or for some
other reason did not reply but in all 12 Siberian cities where we publish
a directory the 25% of registered organizations is the norm. A percentage
of those not included would be political parties and religious
organizations but the largest percentage are surely organizations no
longer operating. Of these many were sports and other hobby related clubs.
The first 12-city edition published in 1996 contained 400 organizations,
the 1998 version 1,740. During the April quarterly meeting of
coordinators for the Siberian Center statistics showed an 8% increase in
organizations registering for services provided by the support centers.
This was particularly significant because the August crisis not only
resulted in a significant decrease in registered commercial organizations
in Novosibirsk but also in the potential for business sponsorship for
organizations. Still, new organizations are forming every week, seeking
training and access to incubator services.
Throughout Siberia organizations in many cities are busy preparing for
Independence Day (June 12) NGO Fairs. Organizing committees include NGOs
as well as representatives of city, Oblast/Krai/Republic administrations.
In Novosibirsk this is the 4th annual such inter-sectoral partnership
event. A record number of over 90 organizations have already signed up to
participate and for the second year there will be a grant competition with
funds collected from business and government. The judging committee will
be made up of representatives of all three sectors. Thus, in Siberia it
is wholly inaccurate to say that re-registration will "inevitably cast a
chilling shadow over the development of this key element of civil
society."
I read of a case this week from Western Russia where a group was refused
registration so I am aware there is always the potential for abuse. To
date, however, lawyers working in the 12 Siberian Center affiliates have
not received a single request for legal support by any group in our region
who has been refused. Independent of re-registration it is clear that the
dynamic growth of the sector has made it a recognized factor in social
development and the significance of this is accelerated during election
time...
None of this should be discouraging, this is a transition environment.
Change is always threatening and change is the essence of any democratic
development process. In fact, this interest should be taken as a positive
sign. Four years ago political parties and local governments paid very
little attention to the Third Sector. The greatest testimony to the
successful development of the sector is that they are now taken seriously.
The critical questions should be: are organizations strong enough, wise
enough and committed enough to maintain their integrity? Time will tell
but every indication I have from here would say, yes.
Another important point is that we must not identify the development of
civil society solely on the basis of the Third Sector. What is important
is that citizens become active. In America many of my friends are not
members of any NGO but they are active citizens in their community when a
specific need arises. In Krasnoyarsk, ECHO created the first school based
community development center in Siberia. While it has led to the
founding of 21 school-parent foundations and other NGOs in five Siberian
regions, the majority of people who have become active as part of this
program are doing so on a strictly project oriented basis.
Three weeks ago we conducted a Week of Happiness in which 5,000 citizens
from 4 cities in Krasnoyarsk Krai took part in 71 actions to improve the
quality of life in their communities. It is a perfectly legitimate choice
for a group of citizens to decide to work informally. In fact, we
encourage this. Anyone can write an "ystav" and register an organization.
That is the easy part. The hard part is conducting effective programs
that address the needs of local communities. Once an organization is
created that organization must be sustained and this takes time and
financial resources which are scarce. We recommend that people work
together first and if it is clear that attaining legal status is the best
way of effectively achieving their goals, and they have the capacity to
sustain this activity, then register. Otherwise, continue on as an
initiative group.
What is positive about Goble's "Analysis From Washington" is that he is at
least drawing attention to civil society development. There is much too
little written or studied about the process that is taking place. This
lack of solid information results in the unsupported assumptions he puts
forth. It is ironic that while local governments in Russia are recognizing
civil society development as a major force, Western academics, governments
and funders continue to relegate it to the role of supporting player to
politics and economics. A comprehensive look at the evidence over the
last 9 years would indicate this is not appropriate.
The West can continue to play an incredibly important role in this
process. Continued support for civil society development is the best
possible mechanism for supporting overall democratic development.
Economic and political programs have either failed or shown minimal
results. Support for civil society development projects has demonstrated
measurable and increasing positive change. Equally important, as we come
up to election time, it allows organizations who are providing services
that are inspiring civic activism, as well as the creation of NGOs, to
remain independent.
That said, Western funders can do a better job at insuring that the right
groups get funding. In my 7 years here as an activist ECHO has only been
attacked once. It came in the form of a newspaper article written under a
pseudonym in a "yellow newspaper" which led to inspections of our Russian
partner organization by the tax office and Department of Justice. The
irony is that the author of the article turned out to be a member and
lawyer for the regional affiliate of an organization that is recognized in
the West as one of the great democratic organizations in Russia and
receives funding commensurate with that status. As true testimony to the
strength of democratic processes in Siberia, the investigations resulted
in an official acknowledgment that we are complying with all laws.
Still, we recognized that in a democratic society there are two courts,
the legal one and the court of public opinion. So we conducted a very
aggressive public relations campaign which was supported by the most
respected newspaper in the City. When presented with the facts they
interviewed our clients for supporting evidence and wrote a positive
article. We collected over 500 signatures in -40 degree weather when most
schools were closed and the Krai Administration wrote a very strong
support letter.
There are hundreds of wonderful organizations working in Siberia. There
are also a small percentage of people who have learned how to talk the
talk that sounds impressive in Washington, Moscow or Brussels but to those
in the region it is clear they don't walk the walk. Most all-Russian
competitions continue to be decided by committees who are composed of
Muscovites. Western funders can truly enrich the process of civil society
development by improving their grant evaluation process to insure it is
responsive to the needs of the region which means giving voice to the
local people. Otherwise, we are only reinforcing the oligarchic
tendencies that proved so counter-productive in the economic sphere.
We welcome Paul Goble and other Russia specialists to come to Siberia and
spend some time meeting with the organizations and citizens that are
working hard to improve the quality of life in their communities. The
Siberian Center has just published a booklet detailing some of these
accomplishments which we would be happy to send to anyone interested.
The booklet about community school development will be available in
September. Requests can be sent to me at ECHO@mail.nsk.ru.
Sarah Lindemann
President, ECHO, Inc.
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