The Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector is a non-governmental, independent, non-profit institution intended as a center for information and documentation, communication, counseling and research. It is a service organization meeting the needs of non-profit, voluntary, non-governmental organizations in the FRY.
It was established in 1996, in order to aid in building, renewing of the non-profit sector in the FR Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and prompting the development of autonomous civil initiatives and civil society.
The Center's activities include the following programs:
The Center does not provide material aid to, or arbitration between organizations, nor does it determine their agendas. It does not coordinate NGOs as a "center" from which something is either imposed or ordered.
The Center acts as a non-governmental, non-profit agency. The services for all the voluntary, non-profit organizations are free, and Center's activity does not interfere with the program and management structures of these organizations. It exists as an "aid center" for those who demand such help.
The staff of the Center consists of eight employees: Zarko Paunovic (Director), Branka Petrovic (Program Director), Ivona Simic (The Volunteer Center Coordinator), Zoran M. Markovic (Public Relations Coordinator), Zivka Vasilevska (Legal Advisor for NGOs), Ivana Prica (Project Manager), Svetlana Vukomanovic (Administrative Assistant), Sasa Savanovic (Technical Assistant).
Other associates are engaged on the need basis and occasionally, depending on the scope or type of projects: Milan Vukomanovic (Associate for International Cooperation), Milan Milosevic (Consultant for Information Technologies), Jelena Pavlovic (Volunteer Center Project Assisstant), Zivorad Petrovic (Accounting), Zorica Sreckovic (Attorney and Legal Representative of the Center).
The Center has recently become a member of the Orpheus Network, the network of the centers for the development of NGOs and civil society in Central and Eastern Europe (pertaining to the European Foundation Centre).
Since December 1, 1999, the CDNPS is an executive partner to the European Commission on small grants project for NGOs in the FR Yugoslavia.
The Center is funded through sponsorship of the projects, from donations, and from its own funds.
In 1999, the Center projects were supported by:
The strategy of work and activity of the Center was created on the basis of NGO needs indicated by the survey on NGOs in 1993-94 and 1997. Both surveys and analyses of the status and needs of NGOs were published in: Branka Petrovic - Zarko Paunovic, Direktorijum nevladinih organizacija u SR Jugoslaviji (Otvoreni univerzitet, Subotica, 1994) and B. Petrovic, Z Paunovic et al., Directory of Nongovernmental, Nonprofit Organizations in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector, Belgrade, 1997).
These researches have demonstrated that the impact of the non-profit sector and non-governmental organizations on the overall social changes, fulfillment of social needs and development of the civil society is still unsatisfactory and weak, because it is burdened by many problems.
The major problems are as follows:
Based on these problems and needs of NGOs, the Center drafted its five-year working plan, entitled "Building the non-governmental democratic institutions in the FR Yugoslavia" (1997-2001). The plan is realized through the Center's programs, while these programs are divided into projects in two ways.
First, there are projects directed towards NGOs, in which they are requested to participate and help (an "aggressive strategy"), and second, there are projects for which the Center provides service, responding to the NGOs demands ("defensive strategy"). In this way, an interaction between the Center and NGOs is provided, while the needs and activities are reasonably adjusted.
The main goal of this five-year plan is to provide help in terms of founding, development and stabilization of NGOs in the FR Yugoslavia. This includes the improvement of communication, building the structure of organizations, networking, training, education, counseling, and research, promoting the civil self-organization and activity.
This plan has being realized in phases (each phase is to be completed within a calendar year). In each phase, the priority is given to one program of the Center, which does not preclude the realization of projects pertaining to other programs.
In the first phase, i.e. during the first year of the Center's activity (1997), the main goal was to establish the quality database on NGOs in the FR Yugoslavia. Gathering information and data on NGOs, as well as publishing and announcing this information to the public, were the bases for any further action of the Center.
In the second phase, during the second year (1998), the main goal of the Center was to aid in establishing better communication and networking among NGOs based on their needs and extant information. Furthermore, one of the primary tasks was to prompt the development of new NGOs in the cities where they had not existed.
In the third phase, during the third year (1999), the major objective of the Center will be to stimulate, through public campaign and lobbying, the awareness of NGOs regarding their common interests; also, to demonstrate the necessity to associate with regional alliances, coordinations and movements. This campaign is directed towards public promotion of the non-profit sector, including its connection with the profit sector and the state.
In the fourth phase, during the fourth year of the Center's activity (2000), the main goal is to work towards building the horizontal and vertical NGO networks, aimed at connecting NGOs on the local, regional and - through the Forum of NGOs - national levels. This will, in turn, create awareness of their common interests and actions. In the year 2000, the project will include 15 cities that host more than three NGOs: Kikinda, Vrsac, Becej, Novi Sad, Smederevska Palanka, Valjevo, Uzice, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Bor, Knjazevac, Nis, Novi Pazar, Podgorica.
In these cities, the NGOs are to be connected and helped in their common work by counseling, training, information. The Information Centers for Support of NGOs in particular cities (or regions) will be established. These Centers will elect their own representatives for the bodies of the Forum of Yugoslav NGOs. Later on - with the development of the non-governmental sector and spreading of NGOs to other cities in Serbia - this network will extend to other cities as well.
The following projects were realized within this program:
The extant database on the domestic NGOs and international organizations and foundations working in the FR Yugoslavia was supplemented and updated. Now it contains 830 NGOs. Moreover, all the changes that took place in the current database (such as the new addresses and phone numbers), have been updated - provided that they were duly reported. Owing to the data provided by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, the number of NGOs entered in the data base will be even greater next year, because we delivered new questionnaires to NGOs in order to be able to prepare the new, third and extended edition of the Directory of Non-Governmental, Non-Profit Organizations in the FR Yugoslavia. Besides its printed edition, this Directory will be available on the Internet (the Internet presentation of the Center), as well as on the BBS of CDNPS. Once in three months, an updated database is presented at the Center's web site, being, thus, available to all the interested parties.
This database was established for NGO purposes and published as "Adresar medija u SR Yugoslaviji" (The Directory of the Media in the FR Yugoslavia). This Directory is not detailed, but it covers almost all the relevant media in the country. All the addresses, phone and fax numbers have been checked. The Directory includes news agencies, press, electronic media, and is systematized according to the cities (total of 307 media). The Directory is a supplement to the "Media Guidebook for NGOs"; therefore the NGOs now have basic contact addresses of the printed and electronic media and can send them information on their activities. During the previous year, the database on the media has been extended on the continual basis. Once every three months, an updated database is presented at the Center's web site, being, thus, available to all the interested parties.
The Center has published two double issues (no. 4/5 and 6/7, 1999) of the newsletter "The Non-Profit Sector" for NGOs in the FRY. The main goal of this project is to inform NGOs about the Center's and Forum's activities towards advancing their work, providing useful information and advice. In the Spring/Summer issue (4/5, 1999), the following news were published: information on the continuation of work on the project "Forum of the Yugoslav Non-Governmental Organizations", information on the Volunteer Center, possibilities for NGO development through the Internet, competition of the Know How Fund and the questionnaires for NGOs willing to be entered in the Center's database. The Summer/Fall issue (6/7, 1999) includes: the report on the realization of the recommendations of the First Forum of Yugoslav NGOs, basic information on the counseling and expert help to NGOs, an interview with Mr. James Denton (executive director of Freedom House, USA), a survey of the news in the domestic legislature (the new Law on NGOs in Montenegro), excerpts from the history of non-profit organizations in Serbia, NGO Glossary, a questionnaire for the new Directory of NGOs. The circulation of the Newsletter is 1,500 copies, and it is regularly mailed to the domestic NGOs and the media.
In order to create the best possible database on NGOs in the FR Yugoslavia, the Center regularly updates its press clipping (newspaper articles related to NGOs). The goal of this project is to get an insight into the media coverage of NGOs, as well as to supply the information on NGOs. The articles from the domestic press (the dailies such as Politika, Blic, Blic, Glas javnosti, Danas) and local media are collected according to the type of organization.
The press clipping for 1996, 1997 and 1998 is bound according to the groups of organizations. Currently, the Center possesses relevant articles on 18 types of NGOs - all published in the domestic press during the last two years. This documentation is available to all interested researchers and journalists.
Besides the press clipping, the Center collects all other material on NGOs (leaflets, newsletters, brochures, books) they provide us with, thus creating the library of non-profit sector.
Since March 1998, the CDNPS has its own presentation on the Internet (address: http://www.crnps.org.yu). In 1999, many innovations have been introduced into this presentation, and it has attracted significant interest of the public. The presentation of the Center has had more than 60,000 visits from almost all the countries that have access to the Internet. With its new design and new contents, the presentation of the Center becomes a real window into the non-profit sector in Yugoslavia and the world. The presentation includes daily news on NGOs in the FR Yugoslavia (in Serbian and English).
Within this presentation, one finds the latest data about NGOs and media in the FR Yugoslavia, various information on the Center (reports, books, newsletters, activities and implemented projects), all the documentation on the Forum of Yugoslav NGOs, links to other NGOs and foundations, the Internet Guide for NGOs, etc…
The education and training program has been realized, during the last year, within the project "NGO - Sector of the Future" of the Forum of Yugoslav NGOs, in cooperation with the Center for Democracy Foundation and Open University Subotica. The following projects and activities have been realized within this program:
In Belgrade, six representatives of NGOs completed the second level of the "Specialized English Language Course for NGOs". Besides learning English, they learned about some specific issues related to NGOs. The CDNPS and Syllabus, the School of Foreign Languages and Business Communication (Belgrade) created the program of this course. The course consisted of two levels - secondary and high courses.
Besides this course, the regular English language course was organized for the representatives of NGOs in the cities of Pristina, Kragujevac, Nis and Novi Pazar. Thirty four representatives of NGOs were included in this course. Upon completing the regular course, they will be able to attend the specialized one.
In 1999, the Center continued to provide a series of practical directions helping the extant NGOs to reach their program goals.
For this purpose, the brochure "How to establish and register an NGO in the FR Yugoslavia" was published in 1997. It explains the legal status of NGOs in the domestic legislation, as well as the procedure for registering new organizations, including all the necessary explanations. Due to great demand for this brochure, the second, extended edition was published in 1999.
In 1998, "The Media Guidebook for NGOs" was published. Its goal is to facilitate the cooperation of NGOs with the media (circulation 1,000). It was distributed to the participants of the Forum of the Yugoslav Non-Governmental organizations, and afterwards, to other NGOs maintaining contacts and cooperation with the Center.
The project "Education for building the sustainable non-profit organizations" consists of translating, printing and distributing five different booklets, issued by the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimor (USA) and designed for advancing the work of non-profit organizations. During 1999, three of these brochures were translated and published: Money, Money Everywhere, Proposal Writing and Volunteers - A Valuable Resource.
The Center has obtained the right to translate these booklets under the condition of free distributing. The booklets are delivered at the seminars and within the counseling for NGOs in Yugoslavia.
The goal of this project is to educate the representatives of NGOs, journalists and broader public, the citizens, on the basic concepts of the non-profit sector and NGOs, in order to "lift the curse" from the notion of NGO as something subversive and "anti-governmental". This is the way of motivating the citizens to participate, on a larger scale, in NGOs, as well as of directing a greater media attention to NGOs in their local communities. The state bodies, who do not help NGOs, are at least expected not to make their work more difficult.
Two talks on the topic "What are the NGOs and What is their Role in Society" were held in 1999. These talks were organized in cooperation with other NGOs, especially the local ones.
One talk was held - in cooperation with the ecological society "Toplica" - in Prokuplje, on March 8, 1999. The other was held in Novi Sad, in cooperation with the Creative Youth of Novi Sad. Each was attended by about 30 citizens.
The Forum is a flexible, functional network of non-governmental organizations in the FR Yugoslavia. It emerged from the need to change the framework and conditions in which NGOs work, and advance their activities. The Forum is coordinated by the Center for Democracy Foundation, Open Society and Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector.
The Forum is a place of the public debate, as well as the framework of conversation and agreement concerning the development strategy of the non-profit sector in FR Yugoslavia. It represents a flexible and functional network of non-governmental organizations, initiating significant topics regarding the development of the sector and proposing solutions for its further development.
Even the First Forum demonstrated the necessity for gathering NGOs, and assessing and resolving the problems characteristic of the non-profit sector. However, in the period between the two Forums, we encountered a series of different problems and specific circumstances that demanded new tasks of NGOs, especially after the NATO military intervention, and primarily in the domain of humanitarian work, animation of citizens for the democratic changes, strengthening civic courage and renovating the cities. The Second Forum of the Yugoslav Non-Governmental Organizations was, in fact, organized under these new circumstances.
The Second Forum of the Yugoslav Non-Governmental Organizations was held in Subotica, from 29th-31st October 1999. It was attended by 150 representatives of the domestic non-governmental organizations, 20 representatives of international non-governmental organizations and foundations and 13 representatives of the foreign organizations working in the FR Yugoslavia. Besides the representatives of those organizations that participated last year, the Second Forum was attended by the newly-established, active NGOs, and representatives of the centers for the development of the Third Sector from Central and East Europe.
The Second Forum was co-organized by the Center for Democracy Foundation (Belgrade), Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector (Belgrade) and Open University (Subotica), and financially supported by the Fund for an Open Society in the FR Yugoslavia, USAID/OTI, the International Olof Palme Center and Freedom House.
During the Forum opening session, the report of the organizers on the realization of the First Forum Recommendations was submitted along with the reports on the current status of the non-governmental sector in the FR Yugoslavia. The report tackled the work of both the Forum and other NGOs, whose activities are in line with the Forum Recommendations. The conclusion of these reports may be summarized as follows: "Even though the conditions for the development and activity of the non-profit sector was, overall, more difficult, due to general social circumstances, the non-profit sector has developed during the last year, becoming more profiled in comparison with the previous period. The connection of NGOs on various levels (joint projects, activities, actions) proves that the most important part of the First Forum Recommendations - the one related to NGOs - has been realized to a greater extent".
At the Second Forum of the Yugoslav Non-Governmental Organizations, special attention was dedicated to the work of NGOs within the process of democratization and reconstruction of the Yugoslav society. These topics were considered in the plenary session "The Necessity for Democratic Changes in Yugoslavia and the Potential of NGOs for Active Participation in the Democratic Processes".
The second plenary session dealt with the way in which our non-governmental sector may contribute to the establishment of regional stability (especially within the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe). Bearing in mind that the primary goal of the Forum is the development of the non-profit sector, a greater part of the Forum was devoted to the problems of status and strategy of the non-governmental organizations' development.
Apart from the plenary sessions, the work of the Forum was carried out through two groups of workshops. The first group, "The Possibilities of Joint Work of NGOs in the Democratic Processes and Reconstruction of the Society" encompassed the following topics: protection of human, civil and minority rights; the co-operation between NGOs and cities; civil education and animation of citizens; social, humanitarian and refugee organizations; ecological organizations.
The second group of workshops, "The NGO Environment and Improvement of the Status of the NGO Sector", included: public and political activity of NGOs; legal status of NGOs today; public relations; NGO networks on the local, regional, national and international levels; financing NGOs.
Based upon the tradition of the First Forum, the presentation of the work of non-governmental organizations - the NON-PROFIT EXPO - was again organized this year. The NGOs participating at the Forum presented, thus, the concrete results of their activities.
After the Forum, the organizers adopted the Recommendations for the work of NGOs, international organizations and foundations, including the recommendations for further activities of the Forum.
Besides the above-mentioned projects, the Center provides various services on daily basis: counseling, information, recommendations, mediating contacts.
In 1999, about 250 individuals addressed the Center for this type of help on the weekly basis. The greatest attention was dedicated to the ways of initiating and establishing a new organization, as well as to writing project proposals, finding resources and financial aid. The requests for obtaining information on NGOs in some cities (phone numbers, addresses, etc.) are also frequent.
In order to improve the efficiency of eight NGOs in Serbia, the "Coordination of NGOs for the Democratic Development of Local Community" was established with the help of the Center for Anti-War Action and Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector. The members of this Coordination are the NGOs that sought for an association, realization of the common project and support in the realization of this project (the support in terms of establishing the coordination, writing project proposals, realization, evaluation, reporting).
The members of this Coordination are: Civic Library "Pirgos" (Pirot), Civic Library "Lingva" (Kraljevo), Civic Library "Evropa" (Bor), Youth Cultural Club (Indjija), Center for the Development of a Democratic Society (Kragujevac), Civic Library "Libergraf" (Uzice), Association for the Protection and Development of Deguric (Valjevo), Center for the Development of the Civil Society (Zrenjanin).
This Coordination facilitates the building of organizations through joint projects and search for sponsors supporting the networking of NGOs. Also, the Coordination has left to each member to decide, on its own, what should be done beyond the joint project. The Coordination is flexible and non-hierarchical.
The Center for Antiwar Action and the Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector supported the formation of the coordination of those eight NGOs and their cooperation within the joint project "What Kind of Local Self-Governance do We Need?". This project has been implemented in eight Serbian cities, the homes of the members of this Coordination.
The members of the Center participated, as lecturers, in several seminars and conference in the FR Yugoslavia and abroad:
The goal of this project is to help NGOs to easily access the information and contacts in order to develop the network of NGOs and improve its mutual communication by direct communication at the Center, by phone or correspondence.
From the beginning of January, until the war, the following information was provided:
During the bombing, the activities of the Center, due to objective circumstances, were rather reduced. Most of organizations called just to maintain contacts with the Center (to inform us on their existences, albeit they reduced the scope of their activities). Some organizations inquired into which international foundations remained in Yugoslavia and whether the ones that left would be back. The organizations whose projects had been approved by the Fund for an Open Society before the war, were interested if the funds for those projects would be paid after the war.
In the second half of the year, after the end of bombing, the majority of inquiries referred to contact information on other organizations (especially because many organizations moved, or stopped their activities due to the war).
During September and October, the majority of the activities were related to organizing the Second Forum of the Yugoslav Non-Governmental Organizations.
In this period, the interest of international NGOs and foundations for the domestic NGOs was rather visible. Many international organizations sought for information on specific types of NGOs they were interested to work with, or whose projects they were willing to support. The Student Union from Sweden asked for contacts and addresses of student organizations, King Baudouin Foundation sough for NGOs that dealt with the protection of cultural heritage, Balkan Translator Mobility Fund was looking for contacts with associations of translators in the FRY, etc…
The domestic NGOs were mostly looking for the data on international foundations that help certain types of projects.
The CDNPS provided its professional and counseling support for the establishment of the Center for the Development of Non-Governmental Organizations in Montenegro. Very good cooperation has been launched in exchanging information and discussing joint projects with the centers from neighboring countries, such as: the Center for the Development of Non-Profit Organizations (Zagreb, Croatia), Center for Information and Support to NGOs (Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina), Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (Skopje, Macedonia).
The Volunteer Center project is realized within the regional program "Development of the Volunteer Sector" of the Open Society Institute, New York. The Fund for an Open Society, Belgrade, offered this project to the Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector, because the project was to be hosted within an organization that dealt with various non-governmental organizations. The activities on this project were launched at the initial conference, held in Poland, from 11-15 March 1998, while the Volunteer Center was officially opened on December 5, 1998 (International Volunteers' Day), under the name YU Volonter, Volonterski centar Beograd (the first workshop "Volunteer Management" was held on the occasion of its official opening). After that, the activities on creating partner organizations were carried out in 1999.
During January and February, thirty organizations in Belgrade, and outside of it, were visited. The preliminary talks on the potential cooperation with the Volunteer Center were also held.
In February, the public discussion on the topic "NGO - A New Partner in Social Relations" was organized in the Municipal Assembly of Prokuplje, where all the interested parties were introduced to the Volunteer Center.
A mini-research was conducted through these encounters. It manifested the need for educating many NGOs from Belgrade, in order to activate the labor exchange which would operate locally.
During the same month, a lecture was given to all the Centers for social work from the territory of Belgrade. The lecture was held within the Annual assembly of the Centers for social work, and the Volunteer Center representative was invited by the president of this assembly.
From March to June, due to wartime conditions, the activities of the Volunteer Center were changed, so that the Volunteer Center was engaged as a support center to only a few organizations able to carry out their projects under the new circumstances.
The Center cooperated mainly with those organizations that were financed by the IOCC (i.e. the self-helping organizations) which somehow managed to remain active in face of the hard problems, as well as with the groups that mostly needed its help in this period.
The Volunteer Center offered these organizations full support and help in terms of providing space (many of them were left without space, unable to print and photocopy their material).
During the bombing, the Volunteer Center was engaged in the pilot project "Center for Family Health Visiting the Elderly People", as a partner organization of the Center for Family Health, Belgrade. About ten volunteers, who applied to the Volunteer Center, were oriented for work on this project, while the training was conducted, in consultation with the Volunteer Center, at the Center for Family Health. The volunteers were members of a mobile team consisting of a doctor, a sociologist and a volunteer, and they visited elderly people for two months (the duration time of the project).
In July, the Volunteer Center announcement was published in the daily "Blic". An unusually high number of volunteers applied as a result of this invitation to volunteers to join various projects. They were scheduled for interviews in order to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, desires and affinities. Immediately after the publication of the first add, thirty volunteers applied for an interview, so that the further printing of an already paid add was stopped. Out of thirty applicants, twenty showed up at the appointed time, and almost all of them were hired within a week.
In the second half of the month, Svetlana Milenkovic Filipovic, from the Association of Small and Medium Private Enterprises, Vršac, was trained at the Center. During five working days, she completed her training and obtained knowledge relevant for the work of the Center. She also became familiar with the procedure for establishing and launching such a project in Vrsac, considering that Vrsac wanted to establish its own, local labor exchange.
September, October and November were devoted to the re-activation of the labor exchange and meetings with the Belgrade organizations. The goal was to create conditions for assigning an increased number of volunteers to the prepared organizations within an optimal deadline (7-10 days), because it is known that the enthusiasm of volunteers declines after that period.
The Volunteer Center's labor exchange numbered 75 volunteers by the end of 1999. During the second half of 1999, the Volunteer Center published six announcements with very good response. Approximately, there were 30 calls per add.
Thirty five people (or less than a half) reached the labor exchange through an add. Twenty five (or one third) came as a result of their friends' recommendations, while 15 volunteers were identified through NGOs. The gender structure was 47 (2/3) against 28 (1/3) in favor of women. The age structure was as follows: under age - 3 volunteers; from 18-27 (the most numerous category) - 35, or less than a half; from 28-35 - 15 volunteers; from 36-50 - 18 volunteers; from 51-65 - 4 volunteers.
This indicates the qualification structure of the people participating in the labor exchange. The number of retirees and under-aged volunteers (from secondary schools) is insignificant (3 each). Students add up to one third (or 23) and pertain to the group of 40 people with the secondary or higher education. About thirty volunteers have university education. Twenty five (or 1/3) of the volunteers are unemployed.
It could be inferred that a typical volunteer is a young women, student, or recent graduate (with higher or university education) who is unemployed and have a wish to extend her/his knowledge and working experience and, thus, more easily get a permanent (paid) employment.
The Volunteer Center cooperated with 27 different organizations. Some of them hired several volunteers, while some volunteers changed several different assignments and organizations. The cooperation with the private, for-profit organizations has also started (e.g. "Autpress", a marketing organization, and "Vajat" - a private bookstore).
The celebration of the first "birthday" of the Volunteer Center and the International Volunteers Day (on December 5, 1999) was attended by about 15 of our volunteers who were eager in helping the home for neglected children "Moša Pijade" in Belgrade. The Center provided equipment for painting the wooden walls of this home and oriented and trained volunteers for this action. After the completion of this job, the volunteers helped in delivering the IOCC humanitarian parcels - including hygienic packages, clothes and shoes for 85 wards of this home. This action was joined by the members of the Young Researchers organization and "Samohrane majke" organization who sew the curtains in this home.
Upon the conclusion of this one day action, the Volunteer Center delivered symbolical awards and thank-you certificates to volunteers. Afterwards, they proclaimed the volunteer of the year, a person distinguished for his/her enthusiasm and engagement in many projects.
In December, the Volunteer Center received a great number of NGO requests for volunteers, which manifests a significant breakthrough in their attitude, because they were somewhat skeptical when the Center started its work.
An outdated and unadjusted legislature related to the work of associations of citizens complicates the orientation and activities of the citizens interested in establishing, and working in NGOs. Since the formation of the Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector, the majority of the citizens' and NGOs' demands and requests have been related to the legislature issues. Considering that the further provision of these services surmounted the current capacity of the Center's staff, the project Legal Counseling for NGOs was launched on February 1, 1999.
This project was launched in order to provide free legal aid and counseling for NGOs with regard to their establishing, registering, working and tax planning. The main goal of this project is to create a positive legal environment for the development of the third sector in FRY through the application of the extant legal procedures and regulations. Furthermore, the representatives of NGOs will be able to work more easily and efficiently if they have obtained direct legal advice and help.
From the establishment of the Legal Counseling Service (Feb. 1), until the end of 1999, many individuals interested in registration and work of NGOs contacted the Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector either personally or by phone. They also delivered their prepared legal acts for obtaining legal advice in written form.
The legal counseling was provided by phone in 135 cases, while there were 98 personal appointments at the Center. Moreover, in some cases, the citizens sought for legal advise by E-mail (receiving their response in the same manner). They were also referred to using the directions from the manual How to Establish and Register a Non-Governmental Organization, presented at the Center's Internet site.
The required advise was predominantly related to the following issues: the registration procedure, different conditions and procedures for registering at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Internal Affairs, the content of the required documentation and aid in formulating the particular statute provisions, application deadlines, administrative costs and ways of paying these costs, etc. Some of these concerns were related to the obligations for reporting the changes in organizations, or to the very process of changing statutes and ways of formulating these changes.
Furthermore, the Center received, in many cases, the statute drafts of the citizens' associations for consultations during their preparations for their founding assemblies. In these instances, the legal counseling and suggestions concerning the improvement of the statutes and other documentation were provided.
In several cases, the clients sought for advise regarding the work of international non-governmental organizations in Yugoslavia, as well as the import and distribution of humanitarian aid. Upon the requests of representatives of some international organizations, we provided clarifications of the legislature concerning the status and work of NGOs in Yugoslavia.
We continued the cooperation with the Budapest office of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) by making suggestions for the draft report of this Center regarding the NGO legislature in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The objective of this cooperation was to clarify some parts of the report, primarily in the domain of registering and providing legal remedies for this procedure.
During this year, two meetings of the working group for preparing the Draft Law on Non-Governmental Organizations and Non-Governmental Foundations were held. The ICNL suggestions were discussed and some changes were introduced in the Draft Law general provisions.
For the purposes of this project, the extant foreign laws were studied and, in particular, the translation of the Macedonian Law on the Associations of Citizens and Foundations (passed in 1998) was made.
The second, revised and extended edition of the manual "How to Establish and Register a Non-Governmental Organization" was prepared. The additions relate to the procedure for registering an NGO at the republican bodies, as well as to the rights of citizens as parties in the administrative procedure (i.e. the right to legal remedies in accordance with the Law on Administrative Procedure and Law on Administrative Proceedings, especially when an official body does not make a decision within the prescribed period).
The second edition of this manual was published by the end of 1999.
The review of the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, recently passed in Montenegro, was prepared for the Center's Newsletter "Non-Profit Sector" (no. 6/7, 1999), and published on the occasion of the Second Forum. This review was later published, in English, in the journal Social Economy and Law (SEAL), edited by the European Foundation Center, Brussels, Belgium.
During 1999, the Center's legal counselor participated in several professional conferences dealing with legal topics (independence of the judiciary, new regulations regarding the scholarly-research activities, etc.) and topics related to the work of the Center. This includes:
The Center's counselor, along with Dr. Dragan Golubovic from ICNL, led the workshop on the "Legal Status of NGOs Today", held within the Second Forum of the Yugoslav Non-Governmental Organizations in Subotica, October 29-31, 1999. Among other things, they discussed the novelties in the Montenegrin new law and legal loopholes in its propositions related to NGOs (especially concerning the activity of international organizations in Yugoslavia). The participants of this workshop concluded that, notwithstanding some weaknesses, the passing of the new law in Montenegro represented a significant move in the positive direction. It is necessary to adjust other legislation in the FRY with the current constitution, as well as with the contemporary European tendencies in the work regulations of NGOs and needs of normal functioning of the third sector.
The Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector launched the project "PR for NGO" within its counseling and expert help activities. The main goal of this project is: a) to establish the PR position with the counseling function for NGOs; b) to establish contacts and strengthen presence of NGOs in the media and broader public; c) to identify journalists interested in cooperation with the non-governmental organizations; d) to promote the exchange of information among NGOs. Consequently, the NGOs will be aided in obtaining their basic communication skills and tools necessary for systematic activities in their relations with the public and, thus, be able to more clearly convey their messages to clients, media, governmental and international institutions and general public.
In 1999, the PR project for NGOs, within the Center for the Development of Non-Profit sector, included the following activities:
Apart from being a major resource center for NGOs in Yugoslavia, the CDNPS has been recognized as such by the international community. During the last year, the Center participated in some very important international activities. The Center's representatives participated in some important conferences, on the one hand, and many international organizations addressed the Center for help in obtaining information and advise for their work with NGOs in the FRY, on the other.
The Center is a member of the ORPHEUS network for the development of civil society which acts on the European level and within the European Foundation Center.
Since December 1, 1999, the CDNPS has become an executive partner of the European Commission for small grant projects for NGOs in the FR Yugoslavia.
Within the International Cooperation Program of the Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector, Milan Vukomanovic, associate for international cooperation of CDNPS, participated, during 1999, in several conferences organized in Europe:
Besides the Chech Forum - a specific NGO conference, organized within the national campaign "30 Days of the Civil Sector" - other three conferences were, to a greater extent, dedicated to the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and democratization of the FRY in the context of expected changes of this entire region. The role of NGOs in the process of democratization occupies a significant place in these changes. The presence and participation of the CDNPS representative in these events has had a twofold significance: first, the Center has been recognized, in international context, as an organization in the FRY actively participating, at least within its domain (third sector), in the process of this country's democratization; second, the CDNPS is a leading Yugoslav NGO that will be accounted for in the regional association of the civil society organizations in South Eastern Europe.
This second aspect of cooperation was particularly ephasized at the meeting in the Embassy of Finland in Belgrade, on November 25, 1999. Besides the representatives of EU host country, Finland (including its Belgrade Ambassador), the meeting was attended by the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Stability Pact, Ambassador Alpo Rusi and his Italian associate, Mr. Pontekorvo. On the Yugoslav side, besides several Serbian mayors and representatives of the G17 group, independent media and NGOs, the meeting was attended by M. Vukomanovic from the CDNPS. Some of the most recent initiatives of the EU were welcomed, while two levels of participation of the civil society organizations within the Stability Pact was emphasized: 1) the local level, where the cooperation of NGOs with local authorities in Serbia contributed to the formation of new organizations; 2) the regional level - both within the Stability Pact and other initiatives leading to the cooperation with other, similar centers in Croatia, Bosnia, Macedionia and Montenegro.
Among the initiatives contributing to the regional cooperation, one should emphasize international contacts that take place within the Yugoslav Forum of NGOs, as well as the Orpheus Network - Civil Society Project. The CDNPS has been a member of Orpheus for two years now. In 1999, during the Second Forum of Yugoslav NGOs, an Orpheus meeting of regional centers for the development of non-profit sector was organized in Subotica. This meeting was initiated by Ms. Katarina Kostalova, coordinator of this project from Bratislava, while the CDNPS was the host organization. On this occasion, a number of activities, planned within the Orpheus network, was announced for the year 2000. Finally, at all these conferences and meetings in the country and abroad, many important contacts were made with the representatives of the civil society and various international organizations and foundations.
From 16-19 September 1999, the Second Regional Technological Workshop, dedicated to the potential enhancement of the centers for the development of non-governmental organizations through the Internet, was held in Sophia. Mr. Milan Milosevic, M.A., the Center's consultant for information technologies, attended this workshop. The members of the Orpheus Network also attended the conference. The major goal of the workshop was the development of the conceptual design for the Orpheus Network. During this workshop, special attention was given to the projects of engaging network members in the project of the civil society development within the European Foundation Center (ORPHEUS Civil Society Project). Within this workshop, the levels of membership in the Orpheus network were defined as follows: the Orpheus CSP Centers and Orpheus CSP Information Points. Each of these membership levels has its own defined standards. On the level of the country that has a member in the Orpheus CSP, one center is identified as the Orpheus CSP center, and several others as information points. This structure is flexible and enables the realization of various projects in the sphere of the civil society development.
Through the realization of projects within the information-documentation program, many non-governmental, non-profit organizations obtained quality information (contained in the directories of NGOs and the media, information published in the newsletter "Non-Profit Sector", presented at the Internet site, or provided directly). This contributed to better information and communication among NGOs. Moreover, many citizens are interested in the work of NGOs in FRY, so that they obtain information on them through the Center's web site. Thus far, over 60,000 documents were downloaded from this site.
The education and training program was realized within the project "NGO - Sector of the Future" of the Forum of Yugoslav NGOs, in cooperation with the Center for Democracy Foundation and Open University, Subotica. In 1999, this program included 56 representatives of NGOs who completed the seminars "Successful NGO Programs" and were trained in basic issues of administering, planning, fundraising, proposal writing, working with the media, running campaigns and lobbying. Through the seminars "Volunteer Management", 75 NGO representatives learned how to work with volunteers.
Furthermore, 46 representatives completed the English language courses for NGOs, while 2000 copies of the Johns Hopkins booklets ("Money, Money, Everywhere", "Proposal Writing" and "Volunteers - A Valuable Resource") were delivered.
The influence of this program was very significant, as noted through an increased interest in including new people to work for NGOs. On the other hand, the extant NGOs are interested in realizing new projects and searching for sponsors.
The program of advocacy and direct aid to NGOs is a Center's program that includes most of the already employed people. In 1999, the Center provided aid to 12,000 citizens who sought help within this program. This relates both to those who were included in the work of NGOs and those who were only interested in this. They either visited the Center, or contacted it by phone, mail, fax or e-mail.
Furthermore, the Second Forum of the Yugoslav NGOs was realized very successfully, in cooperation with the Center for Democracy Foundation and Open University. It contributes to the protection, promotion and advancement of common NGO interests.
The Volunteer Center has received a great number of NGO requests for volunteers, which manifests a significant breakthrough in their attitude, because they were somewhat skeptical when the Center started its work.
In one year of its functioning, the Volunteer Center has entirely complied with the plan of the activities recommended by the consultants of this project. During the last year, the Volunteer Center was promoted among many NGOs: all the organizations included in the Directory of the CDNPS were informed on the existence of the Center, while 300 organizations were educated for work with volunteers.
The labor exchange includes the data on 75 volunteers interested in working with various NGOs, whereas 50 different organizations have become the Center's partner organizations. Therefore, the plan of this year's activities should emphasize the animation of a great number of users.
The scope of the Legal Counseling Program activities related to direct legal aid (approximately 30 clients a month - notwithstanding the wartime period) indicate that there is a need for the continuation of this type of the Center's activity, i.e., an interest of citizens for establishing non-governmental organizations and receiving the corresponding legal counseling. In most of these cases, they are not able to obtain such help by paying lawyers and other professional expenses while preparing the establishment and registration of their organizations. This is also indicated by an additional number of citizens who, instead of obtaining direct legal aid, use directions provided by the Center's Internet presentation or the manual "How to Establish and Register a Non-Governmental Organization" (before the publication of this manual's second edition, many photocopies of the first edition had been delivered).
The work of the Legal Counseling Service is, furthermore, important for its monitoring of the government activities in the legislation area, as well as for its application of the regulations and information of NGOs about the novelties in the domestic legislation (e.g. through the Center's newsletter).
Based on the experience with clients who obtained legal aid from the Center, as well as on the monitoring of the domestic legislation, one may contend that the most frequent problems that citizens encounter during the establishment of, and work in NGOs are associated with the outdated legislature (in particular, the Serbian law), an imbalanced practice of the official republican bodies and non-transparent legislature in the domain of financial and other activities of NGOs, contained in many different and changing regulations. Special problem is the lack of regulation on the activity of international NGOs in Yugoslavia. This is why many foreign organizations refrain from cooperation with, or help to the domestic NGOs and other subjects. Therefore, the Center plans the continuation of its work on the Draft Law on Non-Governmental Organizations and Non-Governmental Foundations, and organization of the campaign for improvement of the legislature in this area.
With the activities of the Legal Counseling Service, the participation of the Center in other areas has increased. This includes the cooperation with other organizations dealing with legal status of NGOs and other legal problems. Special importance is to be assigned to the possibility of participation in international expert conferences (such as the participation in the preparation of the model law for Central and Eastern Europe). Accordingly, there is a possibility to extend knowledge about the legislation in other states (especially those under the transition), as well as the experiences and effects of legislative changes in the development of the third sector.
Based upon the previous experience of the Public Relations Program in work with non-governmental organizations, one may contend that there is a more differentiated approach of NGOs towards the public. Some organizations are more oriented towards the political pole of the civil society (primarily, the organizations for protection of human rights, professional associations, student organizations, etc.) and, therefore, have more developed relations with the media. On the other hand, the organizations dealing with educational or humanitarian issues, are not so much interested in advancing their public relations. The non-governmental organizations usually do not have any specific media plan for the realization of their projects; they are turned "inwards", toward the sponsors, donors, or immediate users.
The media, on the other hand - due to an overall situation in the society (poverty, low level of journalism, the repressive Law on Information, the war and post-war conditions…) - do not have a favorable view of non-governmental organizations. The prejudices and stereotypes are also present among editors and journalists. Very frequently, journalists are not aware of some basic concepts regarding the civil society and, thus, are subject to the regime propaganda.
In this situation, there is a need for working in two directions:
Education - It is necessary to train non-governmental organizations, through a series of seminars, in the basic communication with public. It is also necessary to train journalists in the specifics and role of NGOs. Finally, one needs to intensify the lobbying in the media for greater visibility of the non-profit sector.
Alternative information - Since the communication channels through the mass media are inaccessible to NGOs, it is necessary to seek for the alternative ways of information. In our situation, this means a direct communication with citizens (public actions, media campaigns, public addresses…), as well as printing leaflets and posters, publishing brochures, bulletins, newsletters, and, very importantly, entering the communication via Internet.
The major goal of the Center (set during the third year of its work) has been to raise, through public campaigning and lobbying, the awareness of common interests of NGOs and their necessity to relate and associate in various forms of regional alliances, coordinations and movements. This goal was realized through various projects of the Center and its counseling services, as well as through the partner project - Forum of the Yugoslav NGOs.