P.O. Box 56 - 45
77750 Bucharest, ROMANIA 
Tel/Fax: +40 1 314 39 60
Mobile Phone: +40 (0) 314 379 
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Contact: Anca Elisabeta Ciuca

FDC's Activity in Support of the Stability Pact -- Working Table 1

Immediately after the adoption by the states of the Southeast Europe (Cologne, 10 June 1999), the Foundation for Democratic Change (FDC) initiated a medium term program aiming to support the values of the “Stability Pact” through an active civil society involvement in the region.

With the support of the Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management (July – October, 1999), the FDC started a survey of the existing NGOs in the region and their experience in developing  cross-bordering projects and partnerships.

Survey Results:

·        Civil society is still weak in the region in terms of develop and run cross – boarding projects

·        NGOs from former – Yugoslavian states are more liked among them through several projects and initiatives then with Romanian or Bulgarian NGOs

·        Most of the data about existing NGOs is coming from international rather then national NGOs or institutions, like the Freedom House (former National Foundation Forum), Open Society Institute (OSI), or International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)

·        The situation of NGOs in the region is too dynamic to rely on the above databases, so the more reliable sources are direct contacts and on-going cross-boarding projects

·        Most of the NGOs base their activity on very general declarations and the specialization of their work is not at issue yet

·        NGO capacity to influence Governments’ agenda is very limited, with the exception of Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria

·        Regions like Kosovo, Serbia, Voievodia or Albania are hard to cover with any survey do to the poor existing data and technical problems concerning communication channels.

With the financial support of the Evangelische Zentralestiftung fuer Endwincklungshilfe (EZE), Bonn – Germany, in December, 1999 the Foundation for Democratic Change (FDC) and the Berghof Research Center continued the program to support the Stability Pact’s values through a pilot project aiming to identify the needs and priorities of the identified NGOs as potential partners of the network.

In May 2000 a Conference was organized in Sinaia, Romania with the participation of 25 NGOs’ representatives from the region.

The results of the conference took the form of the document named “Sinaia’ s Recommendations” that was distributed to the Thessaloniki meeting of the Working Table I of the Stability Pact. The “Agenda 2000” of the WTI includes part of the recommendations from the Sinaia Conference. 

In October, 2000 the Berghof Research Center published a report comprising the results of the pilot project that was widely distributed among Western NGOs in order to encourage support for the future network, also among SEE NGOs in order to increase awareness and as an open invitation to join initiators’ efforts.

In July – August 2000 the FDC was part of the Working Group cooperating with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs aiming to draft a Charter in support of the SEE NGOs development.

The final document – “Declaration of partnership with NGOs” – was adopted by the state members of the Stability Pact during the Working Table I meeting in Bucharest, 26^th October 2000.

In February, 2001, the Foundation for Democratic Change (FDC) was invited by the Cycladic Academy for Europe, Athens – Greece to jointly develop a mechanism of settling disputes concerning implementation of the Partnership Declaration adopted by the WTI, Bucharest, 26.10.2000.

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs funds the project entitled “Monitoring & Consulting on the Declaration on NGO – Government Partnership in South Eastern Europe” under the auspices of the European Union.

Its main aim is to inform citizens and NGOs in the Target countries about the Declaration and to provide useful guidelines in a clear and practical manner as to its implementation on the field.

With this aim, the project sets up a modern and valuable tool for bringing the Declaration closer to citizens and NGOs and for implementing it in everyday life: a web site on “NGOs in South Eastern Europe”.

In this web site, the visitors will find detailed comments on the text of the Declaration and guidelines regarding its implementation.

And, what is even more important, they will have an opportunity to participate in an interactive dialogue within a “Forum” which is open to users.

The address of the web site is: www.cyclacadeur.org 

See NGOs networking in support of the Stability Pact project started in May, 2001 by initiating a discussion group to share information among NGOs from the region. The project is support directly by FDC and is based only on voluntary work of the affiliated members of the foundation.

The address of the list is [email protected] and is opened to other interested NGOs, not only from the region, thus to increase visibility over the existing initiatives and potential for partnership.

The project intends to continue with a capacity building activity through several training seminar and regional conferences, thus to help members of the new network to better understand the Stability Pact values and operational way, also to support their own effort to further develop project under the Stability Pact auspices.

Last updated:    May 2001

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