NGOs Need Legal Framework to Cooperate with State Institutions

Gradjanske Inicijative

The round-table discussion, organized under the auspices of the Civil Society Public Advocacy Initiative programme by the Civic Initiatives, in cooperation with ECNL Budapest and the Government Team for implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, gathered about 60 participants. The debate, Institutional Models for Cooperation between the State and Civil Society was held at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade.

Dragana Rajić from the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government said that civic association fought for their position of unavoildable partner of the state administration, adding that the level of cooperation with the NGO sector has turned into a measure of democratic development of a society.

Miljenko Dereta from the Civic Initiatives said that the cooperation lacks transparency and that rarely an institution will freely admit that it implemented a project in cooperation with the NGOs. In his view, once the legal framework is established, it will likely meet with strong opposition from the civil sector, since NGOs will view it as type of control.

ECNL expert Dragan Golubović, speaking of various models of institutional cooperation, said that a special Government body for cooperation with the civil sector would be needed, with strictly defined role in the process of European integrations and a person that commands the respect of the public at its helm.

The gathering concluded that civic association are necessary partner of the state since they work in the areas that present strong need for change that the state can`t respond to. Due to functional limitations of the state, the public sector in the developed countries pulls back and leaves such obligations to the NGOs that have the adequate financial and human resources.

NGOs and civic associations are a private initiative to solve social issues, but without a proper legal framework to cover their creation and actions, they can`t meet the manifest needs of the society, concluded the meeting.

Representatives of the Croatian Government Office for Cooperation with Associations, Montenegro office for cooperation with NGOs and Podgorica`s NGO Development centre also participated in the discussion.

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