CAUCASIA - International Coalition of Gender
Journalists
International Information-Analytical Electronic
Magazine
November 2005
GENDER & CIVIL SOCIETY
ARTICLES from Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Denmark, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan
Excerpt from First Article: WHOM DOES THE THIRD
SECTOR SCARE?
"The non-governmental sector is only part of society - but an
exemplary part. There are a lot of women leaders in our region. The number of
women's NGO's is perhaps higher than that of men's NGO's.
Why is the number of women in the third sector higher
than in politics or business? Because in the third sector, everything or almost
everything is being decided on the basis of competition; there is nobody in the
sector who would remove you from working because of your gender and you do not
need to have a starting capital there. The third sector also values the quality
of a proposed idea and the level of performance. A sponsoring organization,
generally prefers working with those partners who write accurate applications
and precise reports. This sector works at solving the problems that might look
non-magisterial for the state; the state is who hands over these problems to the
non-governmental sector..................................
But in our reality, the civil sector is likely to become the
main defender of civil rights and freedoms. Civil society is exactly who points
attention to the problems like trafficking, domestic violence, election
violations, environmental problems, and others. We work at those issues we were
never asked to work at: conflict resolution, election legislation,
institutional development of the authority......................
In some countries of our region, like in Uzbekistan and in
Russia, there can be already witnessed certain attacks on the NGO sector. New
registrations, financial checks, new forms of reporting, new
laws..........Someone definitely needs all this. Maybe someone is jealous about
those modest funds we achieve? Or, perhaps, we scared someone?"
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