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NGO participation in legislation. The Romanian case. An overview.

NGO participation in legislation. The Romanian case. An overview. Mihai Lisetchi, Agency for Informatıon and Development of NGOs (AID-ONG) International seminar: “ Strategies and agreements between the public sector and the nonprofit sector” Tallin, March 3-5, 2005.

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NGO participation in legislation. The Romanian case. An overview.

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  1. NGO participation in legislation. The Romanian case. An overview. Mihai Lisetchi,Agency for Informatıon and Development of NGOs (AID-ONG) International seminar: “Strategies and agreements between the public sector and the nonprofit sector” Tallin, March 3-5, 2005

  2. Defining the context: • This is a presentation about a country in Eastern Europe, more precisely, Romania! • due to the need to adjust to market economy and participatory democracy, the volume of regulations to be adopted is a challenge for the all societal actors! • There is a weak culture of civic participation! Public participation is mostly about NGOs involvement! • When referring to NGO participation in legislation their involvement in drafting legislation is to be considered in this presentation! Monitoring and evaluation of the laws impact are not approached! • This is a description of facts, not concepts!

  3. Short history of the NGO participation in legislation in Romania Most relevant examples: • 1991, Association of Handicapped People: the principle of non-discrimination of the handicapped people inserted in the Constitution • 2004, Pro Democracy Association: change in the Constitution – reduction of the number of citizens to sign an legislative initiative (from 250,000 to 100,000)

  4. Short history of the NGO participation in legislation in Romania Other relevant examples: • Association for the Promotion of the Women: adoption of the law on domestic violence; • A consortium of NGOs: elaboration of the methodological norms for the implementation of the law on social services. Some conclusions. As resulted from the above mentioned examples, the history of the NGO participation in legislation in Romania: • covers the history of the voluntary sector itself; • approaches very different issues.

  5. Types of NGO participation in the Romanian legislation Performance criterion - the success in introducing new regulations concerning the voluntary sector, either by: • changing an old one or • introducing a new one.

  6. Types of NGO participation… Successful cases: • the law on transparency in the public decision: - Every time when an public authority wants to adopt a new regulation of public interest, it must announce it with at least 30 days before the adoption. Based on the request of any NGO, the authority must organize a public debate on the issue before adopting the law! • the law on free access to public information: • Any citizen is allowed to ask a public institution for an information of public interest! The authority is obliged to answer within 30 days! • Effectiveness of the NGO promoted regulations.

  7. Types of NGO participation… Partially successful cases: The governmental ordinances on constitution and functioning of NGOs (GO 26/2000 and GO 37/2003) • GO 26/2000: the draft was elaborated by a large group of NGO representatives, lawyers and MPs, and was adopted by the Ministry of Justice and promoted as an governmental ordinance in 2000.

  8. Types of NGO participation… Partially successful cases: • GO 37/2003 was elaborated by the Ministry of Justice and was promoted as an governmental ordinance in 2003 without any consultation with the NGO sector! It: - imposes the requirement to get the approval of the ministry in charge when setting up an NGO; - restricts the use of “official” words in the name of an organization!

  9. Types of NGO participation… Failures: • the law on volunteering: - Was promoted by the Ministry of Labor based on simulated consultations with a small group of NGO representatives despite the resolutions of two consecutive National NGO Forums rejecting such law! • the law on funding of the political parties: - Despite the large campaign involving hundreds of NGOs sanctioning the possibility of the political parties to receive donations from NGOs, neither the president, prime minister of MPs stopped the bill from being adopted! (“official” reason of the provision: to strengthen the relation between NGOs and political parties!)

  10. Success or failure. The reasons behind… Factors to influence the result of the NGO participation in drafting the legislation: • Organizational capacity: • Skills; • Available resources; • Attitude of the government; • Public visibility of the issue (its political capital); • International pressure; • Cooperation with experts: bringing a professional expertise in the process; • Cooperation with the political opposion.

  11. Why would be NGOs interested in participating in legislation? Reasons forNGO participation in legislation.Theoretical approach… • there is a need in the society for the regulation of a certain issue; • some more regulations should be added to an existing one; • an existing regulation is not valid anymore.

  12. Why would be NGOs interested in participating in legislation? Reasons forNGO participation in legislation. Practical approach… • The intervention is a mission-driven action. This is the case of the “watch dogs” organizations. There is a very small number of such NGOs; • The organization is directly affected.This is rather a secondary type of operation for the organization! (while the main ones are mission-driven) Considering the number of NGOs in Romania and the period covered, there are very rare cases to be reported!

  13. Theory vs. reality. Conclusions The theory says: • Nonprofit organizations are one of the main channels for people to get involved in drafting legislation! The reality is: • There are a huge number of opportunities for NGOs to get involved in influencing legislation! • A very small number of Romanian NGOs is able and willing to take advantage of these opportunities!

  14. Looking forward (or just wishful thinking)… Recommended solutions for strengthening the NGO involvement in drafting legislation: • Adopting an explicit set of good practice principles in the legislative process; • Imposing compulsory consultation of the potential stake holders of any law; • Developing of consultation mechanisms in the legislative process (ex.: extended parliamentary commissions); • Training on consultation procedures for the legislators; • Developing specific capacity-building programs for NGOs (training on lobby and advocacy, funding for such activities, etc.).

  15. END…! Sorry! BEGINNING OF THE STORY! Thank you!

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