Civil society ready to hinder the government in its mistakes

Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie, manager of Partnership for Development Center, says the civil society organizations in Moldova struggled a lot, lacking chances to make themselves heard. However, she thinks that after a period of stagnation the situation has changed and NGOs should help the government perform its duties when it benefits the people, but shouldn’t be afraid to hinder the government in its mistakes. She told Info-Prim Neo that 2010 marked the beginning of this change, but there were still a lot of things to do. NGOs are learning continuously as the building of democracy in Moldova is a unique process. “We lacked the political tradition and had no models that could have worked in our situation. That’s why we have a lot to work, which is not necessarily something bad. I can’t see any way the ordinary citizen could be involved in the political life without an active civil society. There is a huge gap between politicians’ communication and simple folk, and NGOs can fill in this gap”, Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie said. In 2010, NGOs realized and re-thinked their role in a democratic society, according to the head of Partnership for Development Center. “We benefited from the change of power. We worked in a certain way during communists’ 8 years in charge, but since 2009 it has been a different story. We had more clear initiatives to intensify the collaboration between political leaders and civil society”, Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie said. She admitted sometimes this collaboration was awkward, but there were successful cases when the civil society engaged in the decision-making process and some initiatives were either stopped, if inappropriate, or on the contrary, encouraged and adopted. “I’m sure people have understood the civil society has the right to influence political decisions, because we have citizens whom we want to represent, whose interests matter for us. If we, NGO members, realize this and this will be the foundation for our daily work, it will be a great progress”, she said. The NGO leader is happy that in 2011 donors are open to support the strengthening of civil society capacities. Moreover, their goal is increasing the visibility and credibility of NGOs among citizens. “We do have a problem here. There is a widespread opinion that NGO members are well-paid, obtain undeserved grants and are involved in activities known only to them and other similar myths. I say our NGOs passed the selection and now we could elaborate excellent tops of NGOs in various areas”. Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie hopes that in 2011 the democratic exercise of NGOs influencing political decision will intensify and the collaboration will become more efficient. She also wishes people engaged more.