Russia and Ukraine - Milieukontakt International

o strategic cooperation
civil society in Bulgaria seemed no closer
than they had ten years before. Corruption
was rampant, non-transparency prevailed
and the economy and political life were
becoming linked with the post-communist
mafia. The NGO sector had its own problems:
political in-fighting, lack of information,
particularism and general ineffectiveness.
Information about funding
sources, projects and initiatives was limited.
With the collapse of the socialist government
in 1997, however, the conditions were
created for forming a
modern, democratic
and more transparent
civil society. This, together
with the rapid
influx and development
of new information
technologies and
the Internet, exerted a
distinct evolutionary
influence on the NGO
community.
Cooperation was not
an unknown term in
the fundraising vocabulary
of Bulgarian NGOs, mostly because
of the programmes of the Regional Environmental
Center for Central and Eastern
Europe (REC). How-ever, it was with the arrival
of Milieukontakt in 1997 that collaborative
projects were initiated that led to
real joint work between many organizations.
Continuing to work together is a common
follow-up to many projects – examples
are the ongoing contacts between organizations
from the Yantra River basin and the
formation of the Bulgarian NGO Coalition
for International Voluntary Service (CVS).
Cooperation and linking within the
NGO sector were achieved mostly through
national environmental NGO meetings
organized in 1998 and 1999. The most
important outcome of these meetings,
‘The reformist
democratic Bulgarian
government is fully
devoted to the
development of foreign
investment projects for
industry and
infrastructure. Criticism
and opposition from
NGOs is often accused of
being for political rather
than environmental
reasons.’
according to many of the participants and
official guests, was the feeling that they
had restored the NGO community and
organized practical, joint activities for the
sake of the Bulgarian environment.
A further illustration of this new trend has
been the rapid expansion in the field of
NGO information sharing. The first information
bulletin for NGOs was created,
called Eco-News, with an editorial board
composed of representatives from different
NGOs. Next came the setting up of Blue-
Link, an electronic information
network of
Bulgarian environmental
organizations. The
difference between
BlueLink and some
previous efforts in the
field of electronic information
exchange is
the spirit of openness
and genuine cooperation
between partners,
with everyone treated
as equals. Effective
joint actions utilizing
BlueLink’s capabilities have proven that the
network is exactly the communications tool
the NGOs needed. The discussion lists, web
sites, on-line resources and consultant
services of BlueLink are presently being
used more and more intensively by NGOs.
Partners and allies
A significant change can be observed in the
last two years in the environmental NGO
landscape in Bulgaria. The sector has rid
itself of particularism and mutual distrust.
Access to important information is no
longer a privilege of only some organizations.
There is a common understanding
about the value of joint work and sharing
information resources. Still, there is a long
way to go before all the ailments of the
NGO movement are cured. For example,
many activists do not see a clear reason to
cooperate with other NGOs, viewing them
more as competitors in the struggle for
funds than as partners and allies.
The reformist democratic Bulgarian government
is fully devoted to foreign investment
projects for the development of industry
and infrastructure, and is all too ready to
overlook requirements for environmental
care and protection, as in the case of the
privatization of Pirdop Metallurgical Plant
by the Belgian Union Minierre. Criticism
and opposition from NGOs is often accused
of being for political rather than environmental
reasons. That is why many NGOs
are not willing to deal with some of the
toughest environmental protection problems,
preferring to maintain good relations
with the government. Instead, large
projects are being carried out which have
little or no practical effect on the environment
– only the prosaic purpose of making
money. A tendency for funders to give less
priority to the environmental area can be
noticed in Bulgaria as well – for instance,
REC’s new priorities are govern-ments and
business. This raises concerns about the
continuing existence of small and active
groups that do not have direct access to
international funds.
Although these and other problems persist,
it would be fair to say that at present the
non-governmental environmental protection
sector in Bulgaria is much more
developed and effective than ever before.
This is largely due to the work of Milieukontakt
Oost-Europa, which has made a
direct contribution to the development of
Bulgarian civil society.
Pavel P Antonov
The author is Editor and Project
Coordinator of BlueLink Information
Network
• Milieukontakt Oost-Europa • 17