Part IV
Slovakia
Slovensky Zväz Ochrancov Prírody a Krajiny (SZOPK) - Slovak Union of Nature and Landscape Protectors
Bratislava, 1 February 1996
- Gorkeho 6
- 811 01 Bratislava
- Slovakia
- Phone: 42 7 364 665
- Fax: 42 7 364 665
Slovak Rivers Network
- Gorkeho 6
- 811 01 Bratislava
- Poland
- Phone: 42 7 5361 342
- Fax: 42 7 5361 342
The person and his function in the NGOs
- Mr. Jaromir Sibl - Member and former member of the Central Comity
of SZOPK (1990 - 1993), founder and board member of the Slovak
Rivers Network.
The NGOs themselves
SZOPK is the oldest NGO in Slovakia, developed in Czechoslovakia
in 1969, under the former communist regime. SZOPK was controlled
by communist politicians and was very successful in apolitical
nature protection activities and in attracting members and volunteers.
By the end of the 80's SZOPK became more and more a forum for
political opposition against the communist regime. The Bratislava
branch of SZOPK was a leading force in the Slovakian opposition.
After the changes at the end of 1989 SZOPK lost, in addition
to members and their state subsidies, their main leaders to the
political sphere. SZOPK tried to reconstruct the organization
and to stop the deterioration of the NGO, but until now they didn't
really succeed, although the branches of SZOPK are quite independent
and still active in their own way. The Slovak Rivers Network was
developed from a former SZOPK branch in Bratislava. The Network
is registered as an independent NGO.
Structure
The structure of SZOPK belongs to the former political system
and is still more or less unchanged. A general assembly elects
the Central Committee which elects a chairman. In different districts
and local branches, district committees and presidents are elected.
SZOPK had a national main office and formerly at least 300 local
branches on the county and the community level. Now only about
50 local branches are active. Additionally, a network of environmental
education centers is part of the SZOPK umbrella. The Slovak Rivers
Network has the organizational structure of a SZOPK branch and
has some member groups throughout the country as well.
Objective(s) / Goal(s)
The main objective of SZOPK is nature conservation, but all branches
have, since 1990, on their areas of activity and particular, mostly
local, goals. The Slovak Rivers Network has three goals: prevention
of the deterioration of Slovak's rivers and wetlands by water-work
engineers and pollution, restoration of already damaged rivers
and wetlands and filling the gaps in nature conservation and biodiversity
policies.
Main areas of activity of SZOPK
and the Slovak Rivers Network
The SZOPK on national level deals with collection and dissemination
of information, nature protection actions and environmental education.
The latter is done through the network of environmental education
centers. Environmental monitoring and social and political activities
are done by some branches, but these activities are not very regular.
Protest actions are held, but are usually very mild and usually
don't pertain to actual and vital political interests. The Slovak
Rivers Network has a tougher and more political approach in their
protest actions against dams and other river destroying plans.
Resources
- Human
- In the SZOPK head office in Bratislava, there is one paid secretary
and one civil servant. Throughout the country there are about
five employees and between 500 - 1000 volunteers working under
SZOPK. The branches are free to employ people if they have funds
for it, or to get Peace Corps volunteers or civil servants. The
estimated number of members is between 1000 and 2000.
- Money
- An estimation of the 1995 budget of SZOPK is 20,000 USD, this
is just enough to pay the employees. In the past the budget was
much higher because of governmental support, in the past, for
example educational centers had their own paid staff. Currently,
the Ministry of the Environment only supports the SZOPK head office.
Additional small grants are received from funding organizations
for specific projects. The branches organize with their own fund
raising. Membership fees are very small and not paid regularly.
- Expertise
- In the head office of SZOPK Slovak, German and Hungarian are spoken.
It is a problem that English is not spoken on the national level.
The expertise on nature conservation issues is quite high, but
on the organizational and the strategical level the expertise
is nearly void.
- Access to information
- Available tools are phone, fax and computer(s). E-mail is not
available in the head offices, but maybe some branches have an
e-mail connection within the Slovak environmental computer network.
SZOPK has good contacts within the Ministry of the Environment,
and also the press and the universities.
External Relations and intensity of the contact
Contacts with the Ministry of the Environment are usually cooperative
on a medium intensive level, lately, in the case of a campaign
against the Slovak nomination for the Olympic Games of 2002 SZOPK
has there been a conflict with the government. Normally the SZOPK
stays far away from politically sensitive issues. Contacts with
environmental businesses are rare, although some branches work
in the field of environmentally sound technology and have contacts
with these businesses for that purpose. SZOPK usually cooperates
on the level of information exchange with other Slovak NGOs. If
there are no personal conflicts, activist don't care which organization
they work for, so cooperation is pretty high. Traditionally the
SZOPK is not active on international level, but the local branches
go their own way. There are some contacts with the Austrian NGO
Global 2000, the Dutch Milieukontakt Oost-Europa and the Czech
sister organization CSOP on the national level.
The Slovak Rivers Network has a lot of international contacts;
with above mentioned groups and Hungarian and Ukrainian NGOs.
More high intensive contacts exist within the CEEWEB.
East-East Cooperation
East-East cooperation of the SZOPK on national level is almost
non-existent. Whereas for the Slovak Rivers Network, East-East
cooperation is very important. In this part of the interview,
the Slovak Rivers Network activities, experiences and plans are
mentioned.
The Slovak Rivers Network has good bilateral contacts with almost
all 'river NGOs' in the surrounding countries, like the Hungarian
groups Danube Circle Reflex and Tisza Club, the Hungarian-Slovak
Ipolyriver group, some Czech NGOs and lately Ukrainian NGOs in
the Uzgorod region. The Slovak Rivers Network is an active member
of the CEEWEB and has good contacts through this working group
in Albania and Bulgaria.
Advantages / Motivation
Rivers and migrating animals don't stop at the border and pollution
doesn't either, NGOs that deal with these transboundary problems
have to cooperate. There is a mutual interest in working together.
The impact of the Slovak Rivers Network for clean rivers and
sound wetlands is stronger when they cooperate, as they do with
Ukraine. The result is a healthy, preserved wetlands between
the two countries. On the downside, Ukrainian oil leaks influence
Slovakia's environment, so there need to be cooperation between
the 2 countries so that a solution can be implemented. Currently,
the political and economical situation in Ukraine is very uncertain
and difficult, Ukrainian NGOs desperately need the help of more
developed Central European NGOs for information and experience
exchange. Furthermore, it is a fact that East-East cooperation
gives you better access to the European Union and PHARE money.
The political motivation being that organizations are able to
show the governments in Central and Eastern Europe that cooperation
is possible and can solve mutual problems. In order to establish
a civil society, international cooperation on every level of the
society is needed. Unfortunately, the current Slovak government
is not in favor of cooperation with neighboring countries.
An advantage of East-East cooperation over East-West cooperation
is the fact that the environmental, social and political situation
in West is very different from that in East. We believe that
the transfer of experiences and/or know-how from East to East
may be more suitable.
A personal motivation is the challenge of meeting other cultures
and the pleasure of making international friends.
Problems / Obstacles
The biggest problem inhibiting development, is that most people
don't see the advantages of or have interest in East-East cooperation.
The more developed environmental NGOs in Poland, Czech, Slovakia
and Hungary have no interest in weaker groups in Eastern Europe,
they still look to the West for support. A specific Slovakian
problem is the political threatening of NGOs by a new law coming
for the so called third sector. This law will make the survival
of NGOs, especially the political active and critical ones very
difficult if not impossible. Another political raised problem
is the use of nationalistic feelings by the government to make
people think of eastern neighbors as second class people.
The lack of capacity is a problem, especially towards the east.
For Central European NGOs this problem doesn't have to count so
much. This is the same for the language barrier which of course
exists if people don't speak English, but happily most young people
speak English, so this problem will be solved in the future.
Finally don't forget that cooperation is a process, it takes time
to get to know each other personally, to find friends and to get
trust in possible partner groups in other CEE countries.
Surplus Value / Results of East-East cooperation
The main results are the joint projects which show the possibilities
and successes of East-East cooperation, for example the Ipoly
river projects. The joint Danube projects were successful for
the NGOs, but because of the political pressure on this topic
the international NGO community didn't succeed in reaching the
goals.
A big surplus value of cooperation within CEE can be: 'East-East
cooperation for western money'.
Necessary features of a NGO for East-East cooperation
Absolutely necessary is the will to East-East cooperate. Then
you will find time, money and partners in other countries as well.
It is depending on the persons and within the persons on their
approach. Travelers and people who consider the whole of Europe
as their homeland will always cooperate with similar others in
other countries.
Possible reasons for others not to start East-East cooperation
The lack of capable and willing people to establish this cooperation.
Future of East-East cooperative behavior of the NGO
The Slovak Rivers Network will for sure go on with all their East-East
cooperation projects. Special attention is paid to keep the good
contacts with the Czech Republic, Albania and Bulgaria. Countries
to start East-East cooperation with in future maybe Serbia and
Macedonia. The contacts with Ukraine have to be strengthened in
the near future.
REC and East-East cooperation
The Slovak Rivers Network, just as some branches of SZOPK, applied
for and received an Earmarked Grant, so the REC and the REC procedures
are well known. In the future the REC should continue to promote
East-East cooperation, as it is needed to improve all transboundary
situations. Cooperation is beneficial for less developed countries
as well as for more developed NGO communities, since helping
others gives you more self-confidence and often strengthens your
organization. NGOs have to be pushed very hard, they have to be
taken by the hand and showed all advantages of East-East cooperation.
REC programs like the junior and senior fellowships are very helpful,
although the senior fellowship program should be improved; people
need to have a free choice of their host NGO.
Further the PR of the REC must become much better. Advertising
and promoting the REC activities and grant programs in normal
ways is not enough. REC should be much more aware of the importance
of the face-to-face approach.
And finally, East-East cooperation is only possible on very specific
topics, not on general issues, REC has to be aware of that as
well.
REC * PUBLICATIONS * BEYOND BORDERS - SIDE REPORT * SLOVAKIA
