NGOs in Moldova are vulnerable because of their dependence on donors

The number of non-governmental organisations has doubled in the last 6 years. A study shows that currently there are 7 thousand NGOs registered in Moldova. The study was presented on Thursday, December 6, at the National Conference entitled “Financial sustainable development of civil society in Moldova: facts and prospects”. At present, the number of NGOs that operate at local level is basically the same as the number of NGOs that work at national level. In a similar study dating 2001, the local NGOs constituted 35%, while the national ones – 65%. This fact proves that the development of community programmes have influenced the associative life at local level, thorough encouraging the citizen participation in various activities, experts say. According to Tatiana Tarelunga, the representative of the Center for Organisational Consultancy and Training, the last 5 years have seen an increase in the number of organisations dealing in the social sector, especially those working with communities. Meanwhile, the share among of organisations dealing in areas like human rights, health and sports has diminished. The study shows the vulnerability of NGOs and their dependence on donor institutions. Various grants constitute about a half and sometimes even more than a half of the income sources of non-governmental organisations, says Tatiana Tarelunga. Funds from governmental sources constitute 5.1% of the income, while those from economic activity – 3.2%. According to Deputy Minister of Justice Elena Mocanu, the study proves the need for improving the laws governing the activity of non-profit organisations, so that these can be able to benefit from the support of both central and local authorities, as well as from the private sector. According to the vice minister, the analysis of the functioning methods of the associative sector shows positive tendencies, but also the gaps in the legislation. The national legislation doesn’t manage to tackle a series of problems in this field. The Ministry of Justice together with PNUD formulated a draft law regulating the ways of supporting NGOs by central and local authorities, said Elena Mocanu. She also said that this is the first step towards covering the gaps in the legislation. When asked to comment on the cooperation with state structures, the president of “Promo Lex” Association, Ion Manole, said that an interest for non-governmental organisations is noticed, however, the civil society expects more from authorities because the NGOs are the propeller of development. As concerns local public authorities, these are more open-minded, but don’t always manage to understand the role of NGOs and their contribution to the development of the society, said Ion Manole. He also said that one of the main problems of non-governmental organisations in Moldova is the lack of human potential, due to the fact that there are not enough human resources capable of involving themselves in this field. The study on the development of NGOs in Moldova was conducted on a sample of 446 non-governmental organisations, within the framework of a PNUD project, with the support of SOROS Foundation Moldova.