Transcript Slide 1

Institutional framework for
supporting
civil society development in Croatia
A PLAN C FOR EUROPE: CITIZENSHIP,
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, CIVIL DIALOGUE
17 September 2010
Igor Vidačak
Government of the Republic of Croatia
Office for Cooperation with NGOs
Towards a more enabling environment
for civil society development
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Strategy and policy documents
Structures for supporting civil dialogue
Standards of consultation in policy making
Sustainable funding of CSO programmes
National Strategy as common platform
• National Strategy for Creating an Enabling
Environment for Civil Society Development and
Operational Plan for Strategy Implementation
• Broad consensus among civil society and
government representatives about the strategic
priorities in the period 2007-11
• More than 30 institutions involved in the
implementation of measures
• Annual reports on the Strategy implementation
adopted by the Government
National Strategy - content
• Citizen’s participation in the creation of public policy
• Education for democratic citizenship and human
rights
• Legal, institutional and financial framework for the
activities and development of CSOs
• Regional development
• Development of volunteerism, philantropy and
foundations
• International context (EU accession, regional
cooperation, development aid, social diplomacy)
Structures for supporting civil dialogue
• Government Office for Cooperation with
NGOs - 1998
• Council for Civil Society Development –
2002
• National Foundation for Civil Society
Development – 2003
Government Office for Cooperation
with NGOs
• Coordinating the work of public administration
bodies on developing cooperation with NGOs
• Improving standards of consultation with NGOs in
public policy making processes
• Monitoring the compliance with standards for the
financing of NGOs from the state budget
• EU project implementation unit – pre-accession
funds to civil society
• Contact Point for Europe for Citizens Community
Programme in Croatia
Council for Civil Society Development
• Consultative body of Croatian Government
• Composition – 27 members
12 representatives of NGOs
12 representatives of State institutions
1 representative of trade unions
1 representative of employers association
1 representative of foundations
Council for Civil Society Development
12 elected
representatives
of NGOs
1. Protection & promotion of human rights
2. Health protection & improvement of
quality of life
3. Disabled persons care
4. Child care
5. Environmental protection & sustainable
development
6. Social welfare
7. Youth
8. Democratization & social development
9. Culture
10. Homeland war-veterans care
11. Sports
12. Technical culture
1 Trade Unions
1 Employers
1 Foundations
1. Union
2. Employers
Association
3. Foundation
12 appointees
from state
administrative
bodies
1 Ministry of Science, Education and
Sports
2. Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
3. Ministry of Culture
4. Ministry of Family, War Veterans and
Intergenerational Solidarity
5. Ministry of Finance
6. Ministry of Environmental Protection,
Physical Planning and Construction
7. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European
Integration
8. Ministry if Administration
9. Ministry of Economy, Labour and
Entrepreneurship
10. Office of Prime Minister of Croatia
11. Government Office for Human Rights
12. Government Office for Cooperation with
NGOs
Council members – procedure of
selection of NGO representatives
12 areas of activities:
1.
Protection and promotion of human rights
2.
Health protection and improvement of quality of life
3.
Disabled persons care
4.
Child care
5.
Environmental protection and sustainable development
6.
Social welfare
7.
Youth
8.
Democratization and social development
9.
Culture
10. Homeland war-veterans care
11. Sports
12. Technical culture
Council members – procedure of
selection of NGO representatives
Two stage procedure
- public call for nominations of candidates for
members of the Council
- public call for voting for eligible candidates
Council members – procedure of
selection of NGO representatives
public call for nominations
- each NGO nominating only one candidate (for its
particular sub-sector/ area of activity)
- nominations sent by post using a standard
nomination form with a set of required supporting
documents
- independent Commission checks the eligibility of
candidates
- list of candidates with valid nominations published
on the Internet
Council members – procedure of
selection of NGO representatives
public call for voting
- NGOs voting for eligible candidates – submitting a
standard voting form available on the Internet (1
organisation - 1 vote) by regular post
- Independent commission counting votes
- Candidates with the biggest number of votes
proposed to be appointed members of the Council
- Detailed information on all valid and not valid votes
by candidates available on the Internet
How the Council works?
• Monthly meetings
• Own initiative opinions and statements on draft
laws, national programmes and plans regarding
civil society development in the widest sense
• President elected from among Council members
(from NGO representatives)
• Three Standing Working groups
• Administrative and expert support provided by the
Office for cooperation with NGOs
Increasing number of structures for
civil dialogue
• more than 100 Government advisory bodies
involving around 800 representatives of
CSOs
• 25 Parliament working committees involving
more than 100 representatives of CSOs
• Increasing number of local charters of
cooperation between CSOs and local
governments
The National Foundation for Civil Society
Development
• Public foundation established by the
Parliament
• Operational grants, CSO capacity
building, training, research, awarenessraising
• Regional foundations – local community
building
• Regional CSO support networks
Institutional framework supporting civil society
development in Croatia
Government
Of Croatia
National
programmes
and
strategies
National
Foundation
Support
&
education
Regional
Foundations
Council for
Civil Society
Development
Office for
Cooperation
with NGOs
CSOs
Regional
Networks
Citizens
participation
Local and
Regional Selfgovernment
Standards of Consultation in Policy
Making
- Code of Practice on Consultation with the
Interested Public in Procedures of
Adopting Laws, Other Regulations and
Acts
- adopted by the Government on
21
November 2009
- Guidelines for the implementation of the
Code developed
Putting the consultation standards
into practice
- to ensure the harmonized application of the
Code, consultation coordinators appointed in
central state administration bodies and in the
Government offices
- first
training
session
for
nominated
coordinators on the implementation of the
Code held in July 2010 in the Civil Service
Training Centre
Sustainable funding of CSOs
programmes and projects
• Decentralised system of public funding - 20
public bodies providing funding for CSOs
• Law on games of chance (2002) – 50%
revenues from lottery for CSOs
• Code of Good Practice, Standards and
Benchmarks for the Allocation of Funding to
Programs and Projects of CSOs – 2007
• Transparency of funding – all data on grants
awarded accessible through internet
EU support to civil dialogue
• IPA 2008 Developing Capacities of CSOs for Systematic
Monitoring and Advocacy of Sustainable Development Policies
and Integrated Approaches to Waste and Water Management,
Transport, Energy Efficiency, Regional Development, Sustainable
Use of Natural Resources (<1 MEUR)
• IPA 2008 Enhancing the Participation of the CSOs in Monitoring
of the Implementation of the EU Acquis in the Field of Fight
Against Corruption and the Overall Transparency, Openness and
Accountability of Public Administration Bodies (<1 MEUR)
• IPA 2008 Enhancing the Capacities/Roles of the CSOs in
Monitoring of the Implementation of the EU Acquis in Field of the
Comprehensive Anti-discrimination Strategy (<1 MEUR)
EU support to civil dialogue
• PHARE 2006 Enabling the Civil Society Sector for Active
Contribution in the Pre-accession Process - Grant Scheme in
the area of: Democratization and Human Rights,
Environmental Protection and Sustainable development, Youth
Participation: overall 36 Actions in the sub-sectors
of
democratisation and human rights, environmental
protection and sustainable development, and youth
participation contracted (<3 MEUR)
• CARDS 2003/2004 Good Governance and Rule of Law grant
scheme (1,2 MEUR);
• several projects under CARDS 2004 Grants to Civil Society
Organizations Active in Environment and Sustainable
Development and Social Services Delivery (2,7 MEUR)
Key challenges
• Strategy - need for a strong policy coordination
• Structures - Institionalisation of civil dialogue - an
incentive and not an obstacle for genuine,
spontaneous civic engagement (structures are not
substitute for real dialogue)
• Standards – need for systematic capacity building of
civil servants and promoting good practice examples
• Sustainable funding: strict criteria for EU and national
public funding of CSOs –danger of shifting focus
from people/beneficiaries to papers)
Contacts:
Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs
www.uzuvrh.hr
[email protected]