Executive Summary

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) has provided environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) with grants, management training, information, fellowships, internships and other initiatives since 1990. In order to further serve CEE NGOs, the REC conducted this research study to determine their specific needs and problems.

This study is a powerful background document for over 100 international funding organizations that serve environmental NGOs in CEE, organizations that need information on the current status and priority problems of the approximately 3000 NGOs that operate in CEE. This information is also valuable to Central and Eastern European ministries of environment, members of parliament, businesses, local governments, the media, and the NGO community.

The results of this study will assist the REC to identify future funding sources and priority environmental projects in Central and Eastern Europe. All REC teams can benefit from the results, particularly Local Office and Outreach, Earmarked Grants, Information Exchange, and Programs. This information helps the REC and other donor organizations to assist in the further development of CEE NGOs, as well as to assess the success of their own missions.

This research study has four main goals: first, to determine the current status and organizational characteristics of CEE NGOs; second, to uncover the major needs and problems these organizations face; third, to highlight the experiences CEE NGOs have had with the REC; and, finally, to figure out how donors can better serve CEE NGOs.

According to REC Local Office mailing lists, there are approximately 3020 environmental NGOs in the 15 CEE countries that were surveyed. Of this number, 62 percent (1872) responded to a REC mail questionnaire. In scientific and statistical terms such a high response rate means that the data collected in this research study is extremely representative of all CEE NGOs. Additionally, 71 personal interviews were conducted with leaders of environmental NGOs in nine CEE countries in order to gain a qualitative understanding of the needs and problems of NGOs, as well as to better understand their experiences with the REC. A REC Internal Advisory Committee made up of management and staff provided the project coordinator with comments and suggestions throughout this study.

The research was organized into the following major categories:

A summary of the major results and conclusions is provided below.

Organizational Characteristics

The vast majority of NGOs in CEE (about 2000) are located in the Visegrad countries1. Over half of all CEE NGOs are located in small towns, while the remainder are distributed almost equally between capital cities and other large urban centers. While the potential exists to assist more NGOs in the Visegrad countries by focusing donor attention and resources there, NGOs in other CEE countries expressed a greater need for assistance. The original hypothesis that there are four distinct subregions proved to be incorrect. It seems more likely that greater differences exist between NGOs in the Visegrad countries and Romania, and every other country in CEE. The vast majority of CEE NGOs do not have any paid employees, and the consequent lack of qualified staff remains one of the biggest problems faced by CEE NGOs. To make matters worse, over half of all CEE NGOs have less than 25 active members. These factors highlight the importance of increasing volunteer membership and assisting NGOs to train new recruits. Most CEE NGOs are very young: the overwhelming majority were registered in the 1990s. The results of this study indicate that the rate of NGO growth during the 1990s has remained consistently at about 180 new groups per year. These data suggest that most NGOs are young and in need of significant and varied forms of assistance.

Activities

Almost without exception, the three most common activities performed by CEE NGOs are environmental fieldwork, education and training, and the dissemination of environmental information. This fact makes it is easy to understand why most NGOs believe that in order to have a real impact on the quality of the environment, environmental projects should include an educational component.

Success

Although many CEE NGOs have significant needs and problems, about two-thirds rate themselves as either partially successful (47 percent) or fully successful (16 percent). However, most feel they are not making a measurable impact on the quality of the environment, or have yet to measure it. Less than 10 percent of NGOs label themselves as partially unsuccessful (6.6 percent) or unsuccessful (2.1 percent). The exact criteria by which CEE NGOs measure their own success is unknown, and the idea of what constitutes success can vary widely among NGOs, making it difficult to understand the level of success with any certainty. However, certain generalizations can be made: the more successful NGOs typically have larger budgets, more members, and a greater level of cooperation.

Financial Status

The bulk of CEE NGOs (approximately 75 percent) consider their financial situation to be either unstable, poor or very poor. Roughly half of CEE NGOs operate on annual budgets of less than USD 1,000, and about two-thirds operate on annual budgets of less than USD 5,000. The majority of this funding comes from external sources. Almost half of all CEE NGOs believe that "external support is of critical importance to the very existence of our organization," while an additional 55 percent maintain that "external support is somewhat important for some of the organization's activities." The overwhelming majority of CEE NGOs state a need for external financial support, with the REC being one of the main funding sources. About one-fifth of NGOs maintain that more than 25 percent of their funding comes from REC grants. The REC's support is both highly desired and critically necessary for the survival of many of the region's environmental NGOs.

Needs and Problems

The problems mentioned most frequently by CEE NGOs are insufficient funding, limited access to means of communication, an acute lack of volunteers, and the general weakness of the environmental movement. CEE NGOs identified the following types of support as most important: first, support for the implementation of a particular environmental project; and second, assistance in the building of an NGO's capacity. Training, in all areas, is viewed as very useful by many CEE NGOs. In any case, the data suggest that many NGOs have significant needs and problems.

Cooperation

CEE NGOs that cooperate generally do so at the local level, with a declining amount of cooperation present at the regional (within the country), national and international levels. The reality is, however, that there is little cooperation among NGOs or between NGOs and government. Where cooperation does exist between environmental groups and governmental bodies, it is more frequently with local authorities than national ones. Any type of cooperation is much more common within a given country than with international and Western organizations or NGOs from neighboring countries. Many NGOs believe that cooperation is integral to solving environmental problems, and most see cooperation with national governments as one of the most important steps to improving the state of the environment. This indicates that the potential for further cooperation among NGOs, and especially between NGOs and national governments, is enormous.

Experience with the Regional Environmental Center

About half of CEE NGOs consider themselves to be one of the REC's traditional partners, or have occasional contact with the REC. On the other hand, about half have never used REC resources, programs or activities, or have never heard of the REC. REC Local Offices enjoy about twice as much communication with CEE NGOs than does REC Head Office in Szentendre. Overall, there is a high demand for grants, information, fellowships and other programs administered by the REC. For example, regarding participation in various REC programs, a significant number of CEE NGOs (approximately 75 percent) said they are "definitely planning on it" or "perhaps shall do so if there is an appropriate occasion." According to the mail questionnaires, the REC is the most frequently utilized international service organization that currently operates in all CEE countries in the areas of grant giving, technical assistance, campaigning, information dissemination, training and networking. Additionally, the existence of REC Local Offices makes a significant difference in the ability of NGOs to learn about, cooperate with, and participate in REC programs and activities. Many NGOs depend on and expect future assistance from REC.

Experience with Other International Funding Organizations

The REC is one of the major international environmental NGO support organizations in CEE. The REC was mentioned as very helpful more frequently than any other organization in the categories of grant giving, technical assistance, environmental campaigning, information dissemination, training and networking. However, many other international support organizations were mentioned frequently as well, including Environmental Partnership for Central Europe, World Wildlife Fund, MilieuKontakt Oost-Europa, SOROS, GreenPeace, PHARE, Friends of the Earth and World Learning. These major environmental assistance organizations should consider the results of this study in their plans to assist environmental NGOs in the future.

1. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia are often collectively referred to as the Visegrad countries because of their common historical background and similar states of political and economic development, generally held to be well ahead of the rest of other countries in CEE.

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