CIVILKA 2023: Civil society must not become a project industry

Organized by the Centar za promociju civilnog društva (CPCD), over 70 representatives from civil society organizations, institutions, and media from across Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the second annual conference of the agile civil society in our country, titled “Civilka.” This year’s edition was focused on the theme “Which Organizations, Which Millions?” addressing the unregulated state of the civil sector regarding the categorization of associations and foundations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their funding from the public budget.

Aida Daguda, director of CPCD, emphasized the importance of the chosen theme: “In our country, there are no accurate and complete data on the number and types of associations and foundations. The data are in different forms at various levels and mostly inaccessible to the wider public. In addition to the absence of a functional unified registry, there is no clear categorization of organizations, leading to the inclusion of some business entities among associations where they don’t belong. With the confusing process of allocating funds from public budgets, where different levels of government have different rules and often inadequate oversight systems for funded projects and expenditures, there is a situation where taxpayers’ money is spent with insufficient transparency and accountability, leading to the erosion of the image of both the non-governmental and governmental sectors.”

Civilka was organized in a special format, where participants, along with facilitators of sub-thematic areas, collectively sought answers to questions on how to solve some of the common problems and challenges of the civil sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They provided concrete proposals and guidelines for numerous advocacy campaigns. The discussion also opened up additional topics related to the increasingly problematic environment for the operation of civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Numerous conclusions were reached at Civilka, which will be communicated to relevant state institutions and other associations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite the well-developed networking of organizations in various fields, it is essential to initiate joint efforts by associations and foundations to ensure a conducive environment for the work and development of civil society, a prerequisite for further democratization of our country. It is incorrect to view civil society solely as a “project market,” and such a perspective, often originating from within the sector itself, needs to be overcome. The academic community and civil society must be involved in all significant processes occurring in the country.

Due to networking, collaboration, and transparency, publicly accessible registries of organizations are necessary, and organizations, on the other hand, need to better communicate their results to the public. This will contribute to a sort of separating the “wheat from the chaff” and increasing support for associations and foundations that honorably follow their mission.

A significant problem is corruption and conflicts of interest in the process of allocating money from the public budget, where there is an increasingly visible phenomenon of public officials creating “their” organizations that then receive funds from the budget. There is also a highlighted need for the formation of a centralized unit to support organizations in exchanging information, launching joint campaigns to improve the legal framework for the work of associations and foundations, providing legal and technical support, initiating joint lawsuits, and more. There is also a call for intensified work by associations in budget consultation processes at various levels of government, from local to state level, as well as with the young population and educational institutions.