NGOs meet grant-givers in Petrozavodsk
Moscow 21 May 2015
NGOs meet up with grant administrators at the Community Forum in Petrozavodsk
At the federal public chamber’s third Forum on Community, which was due to be held in the Republic of Karelia on 29-30 May representatives of NGOs and civil activists were to be discussing the commoner mistakes made when compiling applications for presidential grants with grant administrators.
The preceding two forums had come to the conclusion that NGOs had communication difficulties. The chamber had earlier announced its intention to develop a system of reciprocal communication between NGOs and grant administrators, which would help to overcome the problem. At the third forum a dialogue was to take place between NGOs, civil activists and grant administrators according to the chamber’s secretary, Alexander Brechalov.
The administrators will talk about the more common reasons for refusal of grant and explain to the NGOs how to avoid them. The dialogue will deal with the financing of NGOs‘ projects, municipal, regional and presidential grants, and subsidies from the ministries. Chamber member Elena Topoleva will moderate the discussion.
In addition there will be a civil rights defence section at the forum dedicated to the work of communal oversight bodies. A report on the state of the NGO sector in the north-west region would be presented on the eve of the forum. Mr Brechalov said that according to the statistics for 2012-2015 the number of officially registered NGOs had fallen by 35%. In particular, in the Nenets Autonomous Region the number of NGOs had fallen by 90%. ‘This requires further analysis. We need to understand how this has happened’, he stressed.
The secretary of the chamber drew attention to the fact that the executive would be interested in taking part in the forum. ‘This the first time that our forum has been a totally open event because anyone may participate by completing the registration form on the official site. This is the way governor of Karelia registered’, said Mr Brechalov.
Similar forums have already taken place in Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk. The next one would take place in Petrozavodsk on 29/30 May.
Author: Georgy Ivanushkin
