At the workshop, held in January, were participants from non-government organizations and international organizations (e.g. United Nations Development Program, Soros Foundation).

The REC organized the workshop to link users and providers of electronic information. "We are running this workshop to learn about existing networks and any planned initiatives," says Winston Bowman, Information Exchange Team Leader at the REC. "We want REC-Net to avoid duplicating the work of others." Through a project called REC-Net, the Regional Environmental Center plans to link its offices in 10 countries by e-mail.

As an NGO and an environmentalist, you have two strikes against you," said Chuck Lankester. UNDP's Lankester advised NGOs to join the mainstream if they want to be heard and want to have impact. Lankester participated in the REC's workshop on electronic communication in Central and Eastern Europe.

Tadeusz Wegrzynowski, one of the participants at the REC workshop, is a pioneer in electronic communication in the Region. He now works with the Consortium for International Earth Science Network (CIESIN), and he helped establish the "first permanent connection in Central and Eastern Europe between an international network and post-communist Europe," he says.

He explains some of the obstacles in connecting people to the Internet: "The problem is, in my opinion, to establish a permanent connection between the country and the international network. The next step is more difficult: users must have access to the network, and must build a parallel network in the country to serve as an infrastructure."

Representatives of nine NGOs at the workshop prepared a statement that began: "The highest priority for e-mail development for Central and Eastern European environment groups is providing access to basic communication for those groups that have bad possibilities for other communication (telephone, fax, post)."

The statement agreed that "REC-Net is an important initiative," but also mentioned that instead of Internet and other world-wide networks, "an increased priority should be put on providing access to basic services for citizens groups." These services would include training, hardware and software purchase, and support for upgrades.

A report on the workshop's results is available at the REC.