State may buy social services from NGOs

The civil society organizations can and should be financed by the state. In exchange, they could provide social services that the state cannot offer because it does not have sufficient capacities, Antonita Fonari, secretary general of the National Council of NGOs, stated for Info-Prim Neo after an international conference centering on state financing for civil society organizations. According to her, the NGOs now receive financing, but the money from abroad or other sources can stop coming and the ordinary people who are the end-users will suffer the consequences. During two days, the civil society organizations of Moldova alongside colleagues from abroad discussed mechanisms for financing the NGOs. Antonita Fonari said the conference was important as they analyzed aspects of the legislation and practices that somehow affect the civil society organizations. “We wanted to study the experience and standards of organizations from countries that are similar to Moldova by the level of development. The NGOs now receive financing and are able to provide such social services as meals for needy persons and care for persons in difficulty, but the money can stop coming and the beneficiaries will be thus affected. Given that the authorities should anyway provide these services, they could buy them from NGOs that already have offices and personnel,” said Antonita Fonari. The participants in the conference familiarized themselves with governmental models of providing grants presented by colleagues from Georgia, Hungary, Romania, the UK and examined possibilities of implementing them in Moldova. There was also discussed a special mechanism for supporting the institutional development of civil society organizations through a Civil Fund and methods of supporting civil society through funds and state foundations, especially as regards the transparency of financing mechanisms, the responsibility before the Government and independence from it. The International Conference on the Financing of Civil Society Organizations by the State: New Opportunities for Developing the Civil Society Sector of Moldova was held in Chisinau on September 26-27. It involved experts of the International Center for Noncommercial Law. The event was organized within the FHI 360 Moldova Civil Society Strengthening Program that is supported by USAID. The opening of the event was attended by Prime Minister Vlad Filat, U.S. Ambassador to Moldova William H. Moser and other officials.