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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by
ACVFA Board Meeting
Donald L. Pressley
March 11, 1998
Good morning. Today I've organized my remarks into threes. First, I will use my time to address three topics:
A. ENI activities in support of Civil Society Development;
B. Opportunities and constraints for USAID and PVO roles in support of civil society;
C. My view of the role of ACVFA vis-a-vis Civil Society Development.
ENI's goals for the region fall into three broad categories: To assist the countries of Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union to make a sustainable transformation into thriving market economies with democratic governments and vibrant civil societies. These are closely linked and our programs are designed to be reinforcing.
Turning to Civil Society work, it too encompasses three broad categories:
A. Developing a sustainable non-profit sector;
B. Developing a modern democratic political system;
C. Developing an independent and financially viable print and broadcast press.
A. Let me start with NGOs. After the Wall came down, the ENI region saw explosive growth in local NGOs (e.g., there are now some 40,000 NGOs in Poland, 150,000 in Russia, 13,000 in Romania, and even some 4,5000 in Bulgaria). While many thousands of these undoubtedly are not viable over the long term, these figures are nonetheless impressive, given that most countries were starting from next to nothing, in terms of NGO development.
U.S. PVOs have been our vital partners from the inception of our programs in the ENI region. Especially in the former Soviet Union, we truly depended on U.S. PVOs to carry out our early humanitarian programs in Russia, Caucasus, and Ukraine.
A myriad of constraints impede maturation of the NGO sector in many ENI countries, including organizational weaknesses; lack of a tradition of voluntarism; the population's and the government's lack of knowledge of/confidence in the role and potential of NGOs; inability of NGOs to band together and build coalitions; and lack of laws and regulations to protect NGOs.
Nonetheless, we already see great progress in a number of ENI countries, especially the Northern tier. In Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic, the community of NGOs is solid and will endure, in part thanks to USAID assistance.
Our assistance has included more than a dozen large umbrella NGO support programs, implemented by U.S. PVO partners. You may have heard of the Democracy Network Program for Central and Eastern Europe, funded at a total of $30 million, through 1998, in 11 countries.
Under DemNet, competitively selected U.S. PVOs - one for each country - run in-country program of training, T.A., and small grants to NGOs. Our focus has been on public policy and advocacy training for NGOs, programs assist a wide spectrum of NGO activities. We will be extending some of these programs in Southern Tier countries.
In the NIS, we have large umbrella NGO cooperative agreements covering most of our countries. Implementers include Save the Children, Counterpart, and ISAR. These programs offer training, technical assistance and small grants and are really starting to make a difference. Funding has also totalled about $30 million since the start of our work there.
I want to mention briefly the NGO Sustainability Index, developed by our Democracy staff, with major inputs from our U.S. PVO partners. The index allows u to analyze progress in the NGO sector in each country according to 5 measures; legal environment; organizational capacity; financial viability; advocacy; and public image.
We have developed the index for roughly 15 of the 25 countries in our region, and our missions tell us it is one of the most useful tools offered them since the inception of the ENI AID program.
B. Turning to political process, the second prong of our civil society approach: it's been a checkered picture in the ENI region.
Certain countries - e.g., most of the Northern Tier, and even Bulgaria and Romania - seem well set on the road to representative democracy, having held free and open elections.
They have viable political parties that appear to be relatively demagogue-free and schooled in modern party-building practices, including voter registration drives, get-out-the-vote campaigns, creative use of local media, training of poll workers and watchers, etc.
We owe a great deal to our cooperators, all three of which are U.S. PVOs - the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, and the International Foundation for Electoral Support (IFES). They have been working doggedly across our region since our programs began in 1990.
And in most cases, they were the only foreign actors doing this kind of work. Virtually no other foreign donor has offered the kind of expertise that NDI, IRI, and IFES have provided - in party-building, parliamentary strengthening, voter education, training of pollwatchers, and election administration
Still, much remains to be done. In Russia and Ukraine, parties continue to be personality-driven, with issue-based campaigns at a premium. And in the Caucasus, Slovakia, and the former Yugoslavia, intimidation, repressive tactics and tainted elections threaten to deprive citizens of democratic government for some time to come.
C. Here is where the third prong of civil society development, strengthening independent media, figures in most prominently. A lack of reliable information, or at least an inability to make it widely available across a broad segment of the population, has been a major impediment to political and social progress in the ENI region.
Thus the primary goal of USAID's media assistance programs is to enhance the sustainable ability of the media to perform their role of giving citizens the information they need to participate effectively in a democratic society. A concurrent goal is to encourage the public in the ENI region to demand a free and independent media.
Since the fall of communism, USAID has been at the forefront of independent media development in the ENI region. USAID has spent more than $50 million in supporting independent media outlets, including radio, TV, and print, as well aiding the creation of new networks, associations and newspaper groups.
Our key cooperators have been U.S. PVOs. Internees Network, a California-based PVO, can claim much credit for fostering creation of the first truly independent television network in Russia, and continue to do valuable work across the NIS and in the Balkans.
IREX, our cooperator for Central and Eastern Europe, has put in place a dynamic assistance program across the region which is already registering major successes in journalism association development, improved media laws in several countries, and radio network development.
A great deal remains to be done in independent media development, especially in the former Yugoslavia. In Bosnia alone, USAID plans to spend upward of $10 million for media assistance this fiscal year, to hep ensure that the people of Bosnia gain access to free and unbiased news reporting, as they ponder choices in the upcoming September elections.
And so the circle goes around. We consider civil society development to be so critical to building democratic, market-oriented societies in ENI that it is likely to be the one area of our assistance that outlasts our presence on the ground.
B. Turning now to the second topic on which I was asked to speak:
The opportunities and constraints for USAID and PVO roles in support of civil society, surprisingly enough I have three points I'd like to make.
1. We must be humble and remember our roles - to assist - or to use the term of an earlier speaker - to enable.
2. We must always think of our work as a transition to the stage where we are no longer needed.
3. "Sustainability" is a catch word that needs more attention by us all. It is both an opportunity and a constraint to what we hope to accomplish in the civil society. I'm very pleased that some of you have already responded to this challenge and the dialogue is on-going.
C. Finally, I have three suggestions as to how ACVFA might use its mandate to advance the USAID/PVO partnership in the Civil Society arena.
1. As we focus on the issue of achieving results in the context of our strategic objectives, help us define and operationalize the "partnership" we have with our implementing partners in achieving these results. Too often we gob down in the mechanisms of grants or contracts and lose sight of "partnership."
2. Help us define and operationalize "sustainability." This is a point I've made before. The NGO sustainable index is one tool, but we have a long way to go.
3. Help us identify best practices and approaches that truly are "transitional" so that we transfer skills, knowledge and capacity to indigenous organizations, so that we enable them to join our partnership in an ever-widening circle.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 18, 2001 |
