DUSHANBE, February 17, 2010, Asia-Plus — One of the most acute problems facing public associations in the country is shortage of finance, Shamsiddin Karimov, head of the National Association of NGOs of Tajikistan, said.
He attributes finance shortages to lack of necessary resource base and governmental support.
“Not all difficulties facing local NGOs are objective, some of them are subjective,” said Karimov, “NGOs are being faced with problems already during preparation of registration documents; however, development of NGOs is impeded, first all, by economic problems and undeveloped legal foundation of their activities.”
He noted that there were no internal sources for financing of NGOs in Tajikistan. “Governmental support is one of main keys to tackling material problems facing NGOs” Karimov noted.
He added that due to imperfection of the legal foundation the NGO status could be used by organization set up for money laundry or some other unfair goals.
“Some NGOs limit themselves only to public campaigns and do not seek compromise and dialogue with the government,” said Karimov, “Many NGOs do not have well-defined task programs, and therefore, they are considered as perpetual grant cadgers”
It is to be noted that informal NGO coalitions were established in the hope that they would ease access to grants and improve NGOs’ image with the government and international community. The first National NGO Forum was held in Tajikistan in May 2008. Delegates from NGOs across the country discussed and adopted two important documents, the Tajikistan National NGO Development Program and the Code of Conduct. The national program is based on an NGO sector situational analysis and sets goals for future development. After the National NGO Forum and a series of regional meetings, ten local NGOs founded the National Association of NGOs of Tajikistan, which was registered in November 2008.
