N G O F I N A N C I N G
Held at the Regional Environmental Center's (REC) head office in Szentendre from May 12-14, the workshop, entitled NGOs and the Future, brought NGOs from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union together with donors and development banks including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Phare, USAID, European governments and private foundations. A special session was devoted to meetings between NGOs and the World Bank which also financed the workshop along with USAID and European governments.
"We've come to listen to what the Bank can do best for NGOs and what NGOs can do for the Bank," said Alex Rondos of the World Bank's NGO Unit. "The critical issue here is long-term sustainability for NGOs because the foreign assistance that supported them until now is beginning to dry up," said Jon Blyth, Program Director for the US-based C.S. Mott Foundation.
During the workshop, funders had the opportunity to learn about the crucial role played by NGOs in protecting the environment and in building civil society in the region in the last six years. Funders also saw the impact and importance of their investments in the region to date, as well as the great need for their continuing support.
Funders suggested alternative sources of funds, particularly local philanthropists, for NGOs as a means of reducing their dependence on multilateral and bilateral donors, and tax reform in many countries to provide tax incentives for the private sector to fund NGOs. They also urged NGOs to begin to act more like consultants and service providers, to specialize in particular issues, and to cooperate more with each other. "The World Bank can't negotiate with thousands of NGOs. You need leaders," said Rondos.
NGOs responded that local resources were scarce in the region and that external support is still urgently required, particularly to begin new projects and to pay for NGO overheads and salaries. "NIS NGOs have little chance to raise money or to convince the state or corporations to fund them," said Eliza Klose, Executive Director for ISAR-A Clearinghouse on Grassroots Cooperation in Eurasia which co-sponsored the workshop along with the REC, the Environmental Partnership for Central Europe, and ECOLOGIA. "We must help those who have the motivation but who lack indigenous resources," she said.
At the close of the workshop, an NGO Advisory Group was created to explore ways of developing greater cooperation between NGOs and donors. The World Bank also stated their commitment to improving communications with NGOs concerning future projects, particularly by appointing new full-time NGO liaison staff at each local resident mission. "We can now better understand NGO capabilities which can be tapped later," said Marcelo Selowsky, Chief Economist for the World Bank in Europe and Central Asia. "We're now in a better position to argue for new resources."
Rondos added that the workshop succeeded in breaking the ice between the World Bank and NGOs. "Now NGOs need to know in time what they can be part of and we need to know what NGOs can do best."