Mapping Study “Belarus Civil Society Organisations In Cross-Sectoral Dialogue” is now published

The aim of the research is to present the current state of interaction between civil society organizations (CSOs) and government agencies with regard to political decision-making in Belarus.

The research reflects the existing legal and institutional framework for cross-sectoral dialogue, as well as an assessment of current cross-sectoral dialogue practices by CSOs themselves. This analytical material is aimed at identifying key problems in the establishment of cross-sectoral dialogue and the course for potentially improving its effectiveness.

The theoretical part of the research provides information on the legal environment for CSO activities, including opportunities to create associations and other forms of CSOs, conditions for obtaining legal entity status and opportunities for unregistered CSOs’ activities, legal regulation for CSOs’ financing (private and corporate donations from domestic sources, foreign funding, government support, etc.) as well as legal rules outlining the opportunities for CSOs’ participation in various forms of cross-sector dialogue.

The empirical part of the research study includes focus groups and an expert survey conducted by the Belarusian Analytical Workshop. The experts were leaders (managers or members of regulatory bodies) from registered and unregistered CSOs in Belarus. A total of 150 experts participated in the research: 123 CSO heads and 27 members of managerial bodies. 110 respondents (i.e. 73.3%) represented CSOs registered in Belarus and 40 (i.e. 26.7%) were from CSOs unregistered in Belarus.

Siarhei Matskevich, the Head of the Assembly’s Working Group, stressed that the Mapping is the first research of this kind in Belarus.

“The idea was to launch a sectoral analysis which would help us better understand people’s attitude towards civil society, as well as identify the main challenges that prevent CSOs from influencing the decision-making process,” Siarhei Matskevich said.

The Mapping was first presented at the Belarusan Not-for-Profit Law Forum in Vilnius, and then at the Belarusan Congress of Researchers in Kaunas. The authors plan to organize a discussion of the research in Belarus soon.

The research was made in the frames of the EU project for all the six EaP countries. In Belarus, the process of the Mapping preparation was organized by the Assembly of NGOs, International educational NGO “ACT” and Belarusan Analytical Workroom.

English version of the research is available here.