The thematic session Open Sesame! concentrated on the co-operation between NGO´s and authorities. Speakers gave some examples of their experiences of good co-operation as well as different co-operation models within the Baltic Sea Region.
First speaker, Researcher Christian Wellmann (Schleswig-Holstein Institute for Peace Research at the Kiel University - SHIP) gave an interesting overview on the NGO terminology that raised fruitful and lively discussion among the participants. He stressed that only a common terminology guarantees that our communication is successful. Firstly he pointed out that even if an association is under civil law it is not enough to qualify for being an NGO, it may be organised or influenced by governments, city halls and parliaments. There are also financially interested "NGOs". In principle there is nothing wrong with them as far they don't hide their relation with the power structures. Secondly he claimed that to be really non-governmental still does not automatically qualify for being a part of civil society. In his opinion civil society is basically the interface between the political system and individuals. The role of NGOs includes the control of state power, bringing forward political education, promoting values and moral standards, strengthening social cohesion and pushing for reform in politics and society. He reminded that NGOs are able to have an influence on public opinion, which will affect on authorities in the long run.
He proposed the CBSS and the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Council (BSPC) jointly call an experts meeting or a study group which reviews the CBSS member states' existing legislation on tax deductibility of donations and other legal provisions of relevance for strengthening the independent financial basis for NGOs as well as the voluntary engagement in NGOs. The outcome should be a report with recommendations for improvement of respective legal provisions. The CBSS and the BSPC should place the issue of how to strengthen the incentives for citizens to donate financially and to contribute personally to civil society NGOs on their agenda.
Director Eero Yrjö-Koskinen (Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC)) told about co-operation between FANC and the Finnish parliament. FANC consults Finnish ministries and national Parliament and has representatives in state and private bodies. In his opinion the described co-operation has gained positive results: for instance thanks to FANC the environmental tax reform is mentioned in the Finnish government´s work plan. According to Yrjö-Koskinen there is still much to do if NGO representatives are expected to act as full and equal members in the official delegations: NGOs are often marginalized. Participation in the delegations guarantees first-hand information from one another and NGOs can keep certain topics on the agenda.
The crucial question of funding was commented: FANC accepts state funding. Yrjö-Koskinen stated that for them it is very important that this does not affect their goal. Also Special Adviser Gunnar Lassinantti (Olof Palme Centre) commented the question of financing. Accepting financial support should not allow the authorities to meddle in the internal affairs of NGOs. Support enables NGOs to organise study circles, unemployment benefit funds etc. and allows them to exert a democratic influence locally. Expertise requires time and financing and applying for funding requires time and work. He also reminded that Nordic welfare model is characterised by decentralisation and openness in the public decision-making process, and the principle of public access to official records guarantees the citizens the right to view public documents.
Lassinantti pointed out the fact that there are fewer and fewer members, especially among young people, in old popular movements in Sweden. The future NGO model in Sweden according to him is greatly dependent on how a dialogue is improved between the political system, the old popular movements and the new social movements. They all have lot to gain from extending and improving their relationship.
Ambassador Stanislaw Stebelski (MFA of Poland, Helsinki) described the situation in Poland where most of the NGOs are very young. Therefore a lot is needed to be done in reforming and modernising the legitimacy. Nowadays the authorities act more like supervisors than co-operators. The question of financing is very crucial in Poland: regional governments support NGOs and at the same time meddle in the work. Some of the support is not distributed under supervision which results in favouring one's friends and relatives. However, there are many positive effects: NGOs provide support to children, disabled and elderly people by arranging education, promoting culture etc. There have also been strong steps forward in improving information systems and co-operation between NGOs. Publishing of annual reports and sources of funding of NGOs would still improve transparency and democracy in the civic society.
Member of the Representative Council of the Estonian NGO Roundtable Helmut Hallemaa described the situation in Estonia. The NGOs are active in a local level and co-operate with local authorities. The Estonian NGO Roundtable is an open forum for all non-profitable NGOs which improves network in regional and local level. The Roundtable has produced "Estonian Civil Society Development Concept" which has been accepted in the Estonian parliament. This document describes the principles and mechanisms for improving the society both by state and NGOs. Its goals are to encourage civil initiative, increase charity, improve participation and promote transparency. To implement the document, open communication, participation in decision making, alterations in legislation, and concrete guidelines for improving NGO financing and resources are needed. Lastly Hallemaa concluded that developing a civil society is a never-ending process in a developing society.
After more common geographical overviews, shorter case studies and comments to the theme of the session were given by different NGOs within the region. Deputy Director Turo Bergman (International Department, Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions - SAK) lightened the situation from a trade union's point of view. The impact of market forces increases all the time and decreases the impact of democracy. Therefore there is a strong need for active co-operation between NGOs and other organisations. Even though SAK is very strong and influential in Finland, their power stops at national borders. New global co-operation is needed to influence international corporations. The Baltic Sea Trade Union Network (BASTUN) was established in 1999 and it represents a bout 20 million trade union members in 21 trade union confederations in the Baltic Sea area, and they have some joint projects. Especially SAK wants to concentrate on social responsibility in Finland as well as abroad. SAK is able to use media to achieve their goal, companies are very sensitive about their reputation.
Chair Olga Senova (Children of the Baltic) gave some examples from Russia. The question of funding is significant: most of the financing comes from foreign funding agencies which require co-operation with authorities. The problem is that this kind of good relationships are difficult to create and local authorities don't always have motivation to work together with NGOs. But there are also positive effects: NGOs have become more visible to authorities and the attitude of the authorities has become more positive towards the NGOs. Lack of modernised legitimacy.
Director Ali Rashidi (Uppsala Folk University in St. Petersburg) told as a case study about Swedish experiences in Russia. Rashidi pointed out that NGOs in Russia are heavily dependent on foreign aid and there is strong lack of co-operation between NGOs and authorities, as well as lack of legislation and regulations. Uppsala Folk University took part in a project where they created a model for NGO licensing based on a training package which could function as a quality mark for recognition of NGOs by governmental sector. Rashidi noted that during this project they learned more about Sweden than Russia. Swedish NGO model is based on membership and co-operation with local authorities, Russian NGOs are usually based on one active person and Russian local authorities don´t usually recognise NGOs. Rashidi challenged NGOs with two questions: Russian developed NGOs have been dependent on foreign aid, what if these grants stop? Promoting the civic society has not been very successful, NGOs should create continuing co-operation with authorities, even with corrupt ones, for who changes the corrupt system if not NGOs?
Secretary General of the Roma Advisory Board Sarita Friman was able to give a successful story from Finland. The Roma Advisory Board's idea is simple: Romany people themselves co-operate with authorities at the same table. The Board discusses and promotes their education, social and health care, non-discrimination by Finnish authorities, equal participation for Romany people and supports the developing of Roma culture and language. All this promotes confidence between public administration and Romany people.
Executive Director Mikhal Gorny (Center Strategy St. Petersburg) stressed that NGOs must nothing but implement their missions: to contribute to public participation efficiency improvement by offering independent and innovative solutions, educating, co-operating, developing dialogue etc. Gorny pointed out that people should have free access to the data of decision making process. He had also noted the lack and need of common terminology as well as lack of information (e.g. media is not aware of things).
Project Manager Linda Austere (Transparency International Latvia) shared a positive experience from Latvia where their NGO had succeeded in influencing in the decision making process. Their achievement eases to control the corruption. The law concerning conflict of interests is more accurate thanks to their hard work. According to Austere they have been loud also concerning other issues but got few real actions. For their organisation it is important to follow up the project and dare to criticise even if they work in close cooperation with the government. Their NGO is supported by international donors because it is impossible to influence if their action is financed by government or enterprises.
Also a very important topic of the co-operation with Russia after the EU enlargement was in the agenda of the theme group. Chief Expert Elena Ivanova (Committee for External Affairs of the St. Petersburg City Administration) greeted from St. Petersburg, from "a window to Europe", from a city with a huge industrial potential and highly skilled staff in all fields of activities. She told about many ongoing projects there, most of them improving the living standard of the population by means of protecting environment and creating favourable conditions to manage trade. According to her, participation of NGOs in the international co-operation is becoming a leading practise and successful work is guaranteed by mutual understanding of all the partners.
Igor Joukovskii (Youth for Freedom of Speech, Kaliningrad State University) reported about the situation in Kaliningrad region. The NGOs in Poland and Kaliningrad region work together in different areas, ranging from ecological issues through human rights, education, civil education, culture and on to political and economic issues. Their purpose of co-operation lies in sharing experiences for supporting the development of local communities and promoting civic activity. The projects are mostly financed by foreign sponsors. One of their projects trains officials, businessmen and NGO workers in municipalities to co-operate. Joukovskii challenged NGOs to develop even more intensive co-operation with governments and business life.
Project Manager Erkki Vedder (Peipsi Centre for Transboundary Co-operation, Estonia) described the situation around the lake Peipsi area that occupies most of the border area of Estonia and Russia. Most of the local authorities are small and poor: weak infrastructure, no money to invest. The local authorities and stakeholders lack capacity, both human and financial, and are therefore in need for external support. The Peipsi CTC focuses international support to deal with issues of water pollution, economic underdevelopment and social problems in the area. They want to include local stakeholders to the decision making process. The forthcoming EU enlargement affects Estonian society. The main challenge in the future is a growing gap in social and economic development, different norms and standards, practices, and different information between different sides of the border. To solve this problem more funding to the Russian side of the border should be provided for the infrastructure and especially for information dissemination about the EU as well as for administrative and institutional capacity building, development of new skills.
In the last session the purpose was to discuss the co-operation within the framework of the annual Baltic Sea NGO Forum and the future challenges of it by taking the existing Baltic Sea organisations as a model for co-operation structure. First General Director Daria Akhutina (Norden Association in St. Petersburg) as an NGO representative concentrated on the topic how to further strengthen the role of Baltic NGOs. She described some visions for how to access this goal: to create an open contact arena. This kind of arenas are important for creating networks, exchanging information, meeting in regional, national and international level, finding interested NGOs to common projects. The arena should have a right to accept common documents etc. The arena should be co-ordinated by a consultative committee which main purpose would be informing, organising smaller events, implementing the decisions and applying for funding. She stressed that Russia should have an important role in the cooperation. She also told about the ongoing project DISNET which produces electronic data open to everyone. It's aim is to promote the development of civil society and to make it easier for NGOs to find funding nationally, as well as to inform NGOs about enterprises and authorities, and vice versa.
Secretary General Merle Haruoja (Estonian Institute for Human Rights) gave many positive examples of co-operation between NGOs and authorities. For example NGOs in Estonia can participate as experts at committee meetings and present their views. She also pointed out the importance of providing expert knowledge by NGOs to the authorities. NGOs in Estonia provide also legal aid (free of charge) and counselling for citizens. NGOs can work effectively if the society and the legal environment support sustainable development of the civil society, therefore it is very significant that NGOs participate in decision making and implementation. Co-operation with local governments is problematic: they are usually too poor and small to be good co-operators, to achieve goals. Haruoja told that even though NGOs can find foreign funding, it is difficult to fill the requirement of self-financing. Haruoja paid special attention to human rights: everyone should have a right to just administration and to the use of their mother tongue.
After NGO speakers, the representatives of different Baltic Sea organisations shared their opinions and experiences. Director Hannu Halinen (Council of the Baltic Sea States - CBSS - Secretariat) declared the call on active co-operation. He proposed that CBSS could establish a commission to investigate the legislation in different countries concerning NGOs: legal frameworks and taxation legislation. He emphasised that CBSS could be a helpful partner in studying these issues. He promised that CBSS can facilitate in financing and provide guidance.
Chairman Brunon Synak (Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation - BSSSC) challenged NGOs to participate in co-operation especially with youth and women's organisations and chambers of commerce. Also he pressed that NGOs should support governments by fresh and innovative ideas. He told good news from Poland where decentralisation process goes on and governance has become more transparent. He also challenged NGOs to implement the Nordic Action Plan and encouraged to get information from BSSSC: they support NGOs in strategic planning, education and employment services.
Chairman Per Bödker Andersen (Union of the Baltic Cities - UBC) recalled that local bodies are the true body of influence. We are grass-root actors! According to him good governance means looking upon the strengths and looking upon the weaknesses together. We should be open to new ideas rather than taking it as a criticism. He recalled also for transparency in political decisions, citizens must know the reasons and have a possibility to participate. Local authorities may help NGOs by giving places where to meet and questions to think, and NGOs can present the views of marginal groups. He reminded that we share experience for free.
Conclusions
The third thematic group Open Sesame! Promoting transparency in co-operation between NGOs and authorities emphasised that open contacts and dialogue between civil society actors and authorities as well as open access to information concerning decision making process are essential for democracy.
The thematic group wants to underline the importance of continuation of the Baltic Sea NGO networking on annual basis. The group wants to see the Baltic Sea NGO Forum recognised by the CBSS and asks for support from the CBSS Ministerial Meeting for being able to continue the process: especially the difficult question of financing has to be solved. The CBSS study group of experts should be created and it should examine conditions for strengthening NGO activities.
Co-operation between NGOs and already existing different Baltic Sea organisations should be improved, first of all with the Council of the Baltic Sea States but also with the Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation and the Union of the Baltic Cities. Co-operation between all the levels is essential for the stability and democratic development of the Baltic Sea region.