Part I
The Czech Republic
VERONICA Ecological Center and Eco-Counselling (CSOP-branch Brno)
Brno, 16 February 1996
- Panská 9
- 602 00 Brno
- PO Box 91
- 601 91 Brno 1
- Czech Republic
- Phone: 42 5 4221 8350 or 42 5 4221 8351 or 42 5 4221 8352
- Fax: 42 5 4221 0561
The person and his function in the NGO
- Mr. Miroslav Kundrata - Vice-chairman of Veronica and director
of the Environmental Partnership for Central Europe for the Czech
Republic.
The NGO itself
Veronica started as an ecological magazine in 1986 directly under
the head office of the Czech Union for Nature Conservation (CSOP).
In 1990 Veronica became a branch of CSOP and registered as a NGO.
A group of scientists, including Mr. Kundrata, connected with
nature and art established Veronica magazine. The main reason
for publishing an ecological magazine was to connect socially
engaged people who were interested in both culture and nature.
The combination of art, science and environmental issues has proved
to be a success. This year, 1996, Veronica magazine celebrates
its 10th anniversary.
Structure
Veronica is a local branch, for Brno, of the CSOP. The members
elect a chairman and a vice-chairman. Each CSOP branch is quite
free to develop their own strategy, raise their own funds and
employ people when necessary and possible. The eco-counselling
and most nature conservation projects are predominately local
activities, but Veronica magazine is published for the national
level.
Objective(s) / Goal(s)
Veronica's objectives can be divided in three groups:
- to edit the Veronica magazine 4 times per year, (excluding at least 4 special issues edited per year) with the goal to offer space for analytical information about and as an opinion platform on the Czech environment and the activities of several related NGOs.
- under the framework of the eco-counselling project, provide the (local) public with information and advice on ecological alternatives for consumer behavior
- under the auspices of the Ecological Center, to run environmental projects in the field of nature conservation, environmental education, landscape protection and transboundary issues.
Main areas of activity of Hnuti Duha
Collection and dissemination of information, together with environmental
education and training and nature protection actions are the main
activities of Veronica. The magazine, published books and leaflets
and the organization of 'round table conferences', workshops and
seminars on different topics are examples of the activities of
Veronica. In the field of nature and landscape protection, a model
project on a nature conservation alternatives is currently being
taught. Sporadic environmental monitoring is done by the organization,
which is primarily connected to workshops or seminars, where
water quality monitoring activities may be part of the seminar.
Social and political activities are a secondary field of interest
for Veronica. Additionally, Veronica magazine contains commentary of cultural events: amateur theater, concerts and exhibitions.
Resources
- Human
- There are 7,5 employees and three part-time students in the Veronica
office. One Peace Corps volunteer is part-time and concentrates
on fundraising activities for the organizational development
of the Veronica NGO. About 12 to 15 volunteers are regularly employed,
and they also have a lot of 'friends' who will always help when asked. The Veronica magazine has approximately 1500 subscribers and an additional 100 issues are sold on the stands.
- Money
- The budget for 1995 was approximately 3.5 million Czech Crowns,
about 135,000 USD. The money for Veronica magazine comes from
the CSOP head office, the subscribers, the Ministry of Environment
(15% of the total Veronica budget) and from the local authorities
of Brno. The magazine is not funded by any funding organization,
but the projects of Veronica are almost all funded by organizations
like the Rockefeller Brothers, the REC and Partnership. The amount
of money that comes from funding organizations is about 50% of
the total budget.
- Expertise
- Spoken languages in the office are Czech, English, German and
French. The expertise on environmental issues is considered high.
Many scientists are connected with Veronica. They often write
for the magazine or give lectures and of course the eco-counselling
project was especially established to answer questions on daily
life environmental issues. Promotional strategy is always a challenge
as an environmentally sound life-style is difficult to 'sell'.
On the organizational and strategical level a lot could be improved,
but in comparison with other NGOs, Veronica is well organized
and has at least a clear idea on how the public should be informed.
- Access to information
- Phone, fax and computer(s) with e-mail connection are available
in the office. The access to information on political level is
quite good, since many of CSOP members are involved in national
and/or local policymaking. And of course because of the publishing
of Veronica magazine, contacts with journalists and scientists
are regular. Veronica is a respected NGO for policymakers, also
on national level, all the vice ministers are personally known.
External Relations and intensity of the contact
The general attitude of Veronica towards external relations, is
cooperative. Cooperation exists with both the local and the national
governmental bodies, with environmental businesses and many national
and international environmental NGOs. Sometimes conflict ensues
with governmental bodies, like the Ministry of the Environment,
but this is usually connected to a certain policy, not to the
relation as a whole. Businesses have to be environmentally friendly,
otherwise conflict arises easily; however the contact with ecological
farmers is always very good. Topic oriented cooperation with most
Czech environmental NGOs exist, mainly on the level of information
exchange. There is some competition with Hnuti Duha, because
of a bad experience with information exchange with them in the
past. Cooperation with Western NGOs exists with WWF, die Umweltberatung
Österreich, das Ekoinstitut Österreich, Global 2000,
Euronatur and groups in Luxembourg, France and the USA. East-East
cooperation was established for historical reasons with Slovakia,
but contact has also been established within the CEEWEB.
East-East Cooperation
Common projects in border areas exist with the Slovakian groups
STUZ, DAPHNE and the Slovak Rivers Network. Veronica initiated
the Union for the Morava River, which is an cooperative project
with the Slovaks. Within the framework of CEEWEB and on several
international meetings Veronica exchanges information and experiences
with other NGOs from CEE.
Advantages / Motivation
The best motivation for cooperation is a solution to a mutual
problem. This is most often achieved at border areas. Sharing
information, exchange of experiences and learning from each other
are additional benefits of East-East cooperation. A special advantage
of East-East contacts is that most of these contacts have existed
for a long time. Personal connections are very common and additionally,
the common heritage that exists between Eastern countries will
bring people together.
Problems / Obstacles
An obstacle to East-East development is that the Czech government
does not like the idea of building a civil society, including
a well developed NGO community. The government is completely focused
on establishing a market economy with a multiparty system. NGOs
held in popular esteem by the government or the public. The community
is averse to experiments or alternatives. The communist experiment
was not successful, so why should they try something else other
than the Western example? The governments in CEE do not cooperate
at all; this makes it more difficult to convince people of the
advantages of cooperation on NGO level. Practical problems are
the lack of both money and active people with enough time to keep
the contacts. For many NGOs East-West cooperation is still more
beneficial than East-East cooperation. Therefore there is very
little time and energy left for cooperation with other Eastern
NGOs. Finally many groups are focused on local problems and on
their own organizational survival. They simply don't think on
a bigger scale than their own local level.
Surplus Value / Results of East-East cooperation
One example of East-East cooperation, are the well organized
Union for the Morava River, the common border projects with Slovakian
NGOs and the useful contacts with the other NGOs within the Danube
Environmental Forum. Of course the existence and functioning of
CEEWEB is another positive result of East-East cooperation. This
network is a perfect tool for meeting people, especially from
the southern part of CEE.
Necessary features of a NGO for East-East cooperation
Besides being enthusiastic about cooperation, a well-developed,
settled organization is needed with enough sources from both financial
and human point of view. Enthusiasm will come when the need for
East-East cooperation is felt and when an organization has enough
personal capacity for establishing and maintaining personal contact.
Personal contact, which means knowing the people with whom you
are dealing is very important as well.
Possible reasons for others not to start East-East cooperation
For local and specific actions, NGOs will not be very likely to
be interested in East-East cooperation. Furthermore, groups don't
expect to learn from Eastern countries; they think they can learn
more from Western experiences and mistakes. Finally the direction
of the politics in Czech is towards the European Union, so cooperation
with Western countries is more likely because of the mainstream
direction in cooperation behavior of the Czech society.
Future of East-East cooperative behavior of the NGO
Veronica will continue to develop East-East cooperation that
has previously been established. Two special areas of interest
for development are cooperation on water issues and landscape
preservation. The first pertains to both transboundary rivers
and experience sharing on anti-eutrofication actions. The second
is in the field of landscape preservation for which potential
cooperative contacts exist within the CEEWEB and where a new concept
will be implemented in the future, namely landscape stewardship.
Concept training will be given to mixed groups of CEE people
going to the USA. On a more general level East-East cooperation
will gain more and more attention of NGOs. NGOs are already willing
to cooperate right now, they only need help, self-confidence and
enough capacity to start.
REC and East-East cooperation
The REC and the Earmarked Grants Project are known, but Veronica
did not apply for an Earmarked Grant. The REC should promote East-East
cooperation, because it is needed for further development of the
environmental NGO movement in CEE. For the Partnership Foundation
East-East cooperation is already the first priority. The main
point is that people meet each other and that they can cooperate
on a concrete topic. The REC can organize and pay for the needed
meetings to bring these people together. The already established
East-East cooperation in CEEWEB and the Danube program has to
be supported longer than for one project. The follow up of East-East
cooperative projects are very important if the cooperation is
to continue. The planned senior internship for NGO people in one
country going to a host-NGO in another country will also help
to establish the necessary personal contacts throughout CEE. Finally
NGOs should be more aware of the fact that the social and environmental
situation in West is very different from the situation in CEE.
This means that internal cooperation within CEE can bring more
adequate and efficient solutions than continuously looking to
West for support.
REC * PUBLICATIONS * BEYOND BORDERS - SIDE REPORT * THE CZECH REPUBLIC
