Interregional working group: what it should be according to the leaders?

At the last conference of the National Platform, the question of NGOs’ interregional interaction was discussed much. It served as a stimulus for the creation of a working group, which would accumulate questions on places and spread the influence of the...

At the last conference of the National Platform, the question of NGOs’ interregional interaction was discussed much. It served as a stimulus for the creation of a working group, which would accumulate questions on places and spread the influence of the NP across the country. What the new group will look like - we have asked regional leaders.

"The feature of the interregional group is that it unites not the subject of activity, but territories, - thinks the chairperson of the Cultural and Enlightenment Public Association "Humanitarian Bridge" Sergei Dezhurko. - At present, in Belarus, there are no mechanisms of NGOs’ interregional interaction. Not to use the possibilities of such interaction within the scope of the NP is unreasonable. Every region has something to share with neighbors. And our general task is not to solve some problems - we do it on places anyway according to our competences, but to promote these problems on the level of the NP, the contents of projects and national programs".

The leader of the MahilioЕ­-based educational initiative Yauhen Boyka pays attention to the fact that some regional leaders who participate in the discussion of the interregional working group, are interested first of all in the development of their own organizations.

“The National Platform for them is only a tool of solving their own tasks. In my opinion, they do not understand that the NP without integration of regions loses its meaning. Some regional leaders ask the question - what can we receive from the center? I consider it a wrong position. We are an integral part of the National Platform. And if we do not unite, we will not be able to achieve any purpose at the national level. Therefore, our organization puts development and expansion of the influence of the National Platform on the first place. The interregional working group should work with such a prospect”, - he thinks.

The councilor of the civil initiative “Homiel Democratic Forum” Piotr Kuzniatsou believes that right now, at the first stage, there should be created a working analytical group, which will analyze the situation in the regional third sector. This analysis will allow to see the requirements and problems of regional NGOs, the possibilities of the National Platform, and the proposed mechanisms of work with regions within the scope of the NP Development Concept. After that, the analytical group will develop a really actual and qualitative proposal on the work of the interregional working group, which will contain purposes, task, and concrete actions.

“Without seeing a full picture of the condition of all regional subjects of the National Platform, their expectations and problems, it is impossible to define the general agenda”, - he explains.

As for the presence of representatives of the NP Coordinating Committee in regions, the NGOs’ leaders think that coordinators should be well informed about regional problems, but they are to be solved on places.

“The NP leaders should be well informed about local affairs and at the national level they have to create such conditions so that regional organizations could have more possibilities, tools, and resources for more effective work, - Piotr Kuzniatsou considers. - That is, it is such a strategic role, I think, - to promote the strengthening of the third sector in regions. Tactically, it is possible to help separate organizations. But the main thing - the leaders should not solve local problems, they can only help to develop NGOs in regions so that they could independently solve the questions of their region”.

In this sense, Sergei Dezhurko is solidary with the colleague, “The National Platform itself has not been formed yet - there is no concept. And to say that a non-formed-yet subject should pay attention to regional representations, while there is only one subject - the Brest Regional Platform of public initiatives, - is not correct. It is true that local problems should be and will be solved by us. Here, we would like to hear more conceptual things from the Center”.

In order to increase the NP’s influence in regions, it is necessary to inform more, - Yauhen Boyka believes. “It is needed to spread the information on the NP’s possibilities so that as many as possible representatives of civil society would like to join it”, - thinks the representative of the MahiloЕ­-based educational initiative.