Transnistrian non-governmental sector is poorly developed, say experts

The major problem of the civil society in Transnistria is the financing, the executive director of “Contact” centre Serghei Neicovcen said at the summing up conference “Participation of Transnistrian NGOs in Moldova’s Civil Life”, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. Serghei Neicovcen said that compared with the Moldovan nongovernmental sector, the NGO sector in Transnistria is poorly developed. There are about 700 nongovernmental organizations working in different areas in Transnistria at present. The social sphere is the most effective and economically stable segment of the civil society in the Transnistrian region, while the human rights segment is the least developed, Neicovcen said. According to the president of the Tighina-based Debates Club “Istina” Iulia Coleva, the law that banned the financing of NGOs from abroad, which was cancelled in 2007, was a hindrance to attracting financial resources until not long ago. Iulia Coleva says that the Transnistrian NGOs do not always make their activity known because they are closely followed by the law enforcement and security agencies of Transnistria. The magazine for youth published by the Debates Club “Istina” includes only materials written by children (poems, stories and others), avoiding any political insinuations forbidden by the existent censorship, Coleva said. The Club has organised debates on different social and political topics for the seventh-twelfth graders for seven years. After assessing the activities carried out in 2007, the centre “Contact” is launching a new stage of the internship program for Transnistrian NGOs as part of the project “Participation of Transnistrian NGOs in Moldova’s Civil Life”. The project is designed to strengthen the capacities of the Transnistrian NGO leaders by familiarising them with the practices and knowledge of the Moldovan NGOs and by connecting the Transnistrian NGOs to the informational system of the nongovernmental sector of Moldova. As part of the project, “Contact” offers the representatives of Transnistrian NGOs the possibility of doing internships at one of the experienced NGOs working in Transnistria, of gaining experience, practical knowledge and new capacities for administering and developing the organisation, of establishing business and partnership relations; provides access to information. According to the project coordinator Daria Mandziuc-Dedcova, the main beneficiaries of the project in 2007 were 29 representatives of the Transnistrian NGO sector that did the internships at 17 nongovernmental organisations from the right bank of the Nistru.