Challenging Cooperation on the Local Level

The success of civil society organisations in Belarus depends upon many factors.

One significant factor is the role of the local authorities in accepting an organisation and its projects. But interaction is possible and can lead to some positive examples of cooperation.

This article was first published in the Polish magazine “New Eastern Europe”, №1(X), 2014, pp. 109-111.

According to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus, on April 1^st 2013 our country had 2,487 registered NGOs, including 229 international, 691 national, and 1,567 local NGOs; 31 unions (associations), and 139 foundations. About 40 per cent of them are sport- and leisure-oriented organisations, and their work does not consist of social or political activities.

Unfortunately, there have been serious problems in the relations between the local authorities and NGOs from the very beginning of civil society in Belarus. During this short time, the relationship went through a period of cooperation and a period of mutual enmity - during which the highest echelons of centralised power stigmatised NGOs as "agents of the West", and the "enemies of the Belarusan people". Nowadays, the relationship remains controversial and problematic.

Total control

The problems are largely due to the rigid centralisation of power in the country and the resulting total dependence of local authorities on the centre. Centralised, politically-motivated decisions fall on NGOs and aim to retaining total control over them, opposing the development of civil society and minimizing its impact on the nation’s social and political processes. The attitude of the centre towards NGOs is a key issue, both for local authorities and for the NGOs. Local authorities willing to cooperate with the NGOs risk being punished by the central authorities; while NGOs collaborating with the authorities risk their image and will be perceived as collaborators with the dictatorial regime.

Beyond this, there are several other problems negatively influencing the cooperation of local authorities and NGOs. The main ones include: registration of projects, the lack of competition among NGOs, areas of cooperation and the politicisation of relationships.

According to national legislation, all international funding allocated by the European Commission due to receipt of foreign donations should be officially registered. Not only is the registration procedure time-consuming, but it is also used by the authorities as a filter for ideas, views and sponsors. If an NGO, in the opinion of the registering organisation, belongs to the field of the democratic opposition or its activity is in conflict with the interests and attitudes of the current government, the project will not be registered. Even projects involving local authorities among their partners experience trouble with registration. In this case, the standard reason of refusal to register the project is its "unreasonableness" without any further specific explanation.

As previously mentioned, there are 1,567 NGOs in Belarus with local status. This means that on average every region can count on 270 NGOs, and every local area (an average area of 1,750 square kilometres with 65,000 inhabitants) has only 15 NGOs. This is definitely too low, and, again, one of the reasons is the registration process. Not only is registering a project an issue, NGOs can also be refused registration under any pretext. As a result, de facto there is no competition at the local level among NGOs which negatively affects the quality of their proposed projects and services. Furthermore, citizens have very little information about the activities of NGOs. They have difficulties accessing media, and the NGOs’ lack of skills and motivation in the dissemination of information about their activities does not help.

Cooperation

Local authorities come in contact and interact with NGOs only on non-sociopolitical issues such as the development of small and medium businesses, animal welfare, environmental protection, historical and cultural issues, and combating drug abuse, HIV infection, human trafficking, etc. It is also very difficult to find a balance between the interests of the local authorities and NGOs because they use different approaches in the evaluation of the projects’ usefulness and effectiveness. Local authorities are more interested in the infrastructure components of the project (construction, investment, equipment), while NGOs tend to focus on intangible assets such as the development of democracy, the protection of the rights and interests of citizens, the transfer of knowledge to improve citizen participation in the decision-making process at the local level or improving the quality of services.

If we look at the local authorities, there is no doubt that the head of the local authorities carries a lot of weight - so his or her worldview, life experience, management style, ability to make decisions and take responsibility for them, and his perception and understanding of the importance and role of civil society will strongly impact any possible cooperation. On the side of the NGOs, their loyalty to the current government, together with an evaluation of the partners and sponsor organisations, is crucial. As a result of this approach, many projects are blocked by the authorities.

The problems mentioned above do not imply that interaction between the local authorities and NGOs is impossible. There are, in fact, positive examples of on-going collaboration. Of course, successful joint projects were and are being implemented only in areas in which the authorities do not perceive as sensitive. It is not the same case for a variety of key issues for NGOs and citizens, including human rights, of the abolition of the death penalty, freedom of the media, access to and the free flow of information, the development of local self-government or an independence of the judicial system.

However, interaction and cooperation give both parties extremely valuable experience, improve their mutual understanding, build confidence and demonstrate the desire of both parties to cooperate. Maybe this is exactly what the central government fears. We could reach a point where local authorities and NGOs will understand that working in partnership is necessary and a practice that takes place in all democratic countries. It may turn out that the only obstacle to better cooperation between NGOs and the local authorities in Belarus is the current political system.

About author:

Miroslav Kobasa is president of the Lev Sapieha Foundation, one of the oldest civil society organisations in Belarus.