Tajik Activists Stress Coalition Building

by Yuri Skochilov Fall 1996

The rapid increase in NGOs in Tajikistan reflects both the emergence of a civil society that has endured a civil war and the activities of American foundations and donor agencies supporting civic initiatives and democratic transformation in Tajikistan.

The national government is principally occupied with solving problems connected with the civil war and its continuing conflict with opposition military groups. As a result, in contrast to other post-Soviet areas, the government has not emphasized monitoring or limiting the development and legalization of social groups and NGOs. Therefore, the possibility for NGOs to register, develop and accomplish their goals is significantly more encouraging in Tajikistan, than in, for example, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan.

According to Tajik Ministry of Justice data, there are currently 278 registered nonprofit nongovernmental organizations in the country. According to my organization, the Foundation to Support Civic Initiatives, roughly 60 more groups are preparing to register and approximately 70 additional groups have registered at the local level and thus are not yet included in the Ministry's list.

While one year ago the third sector was fairly disorganized and random, it now exhibits elements of stability, in part due to the appearance of organizations providing information and technical assistance to the NGO sector. There have been instances of NGOs successfully affecting public opinion and lobbying governmental agencies. With increasing frequency, projects are appearing that are effective and truly represent grassroots needs. Recognizing the strength of NGOs, a number of large NGO support organizations have formed to protect NGO interests and join forces for lobbying.

The formation of NGO coalitions in Tajikistan illustrates tendencies typical in Central Asia's NGO sector. For instance, Tajik NGOs are polarized into two distinct camps, one representing top-down groups and the other, grassroots organizations. This polarization has led to attempts to restrict the activities of "disobedient" NGOs. One visible manifestation of this development is the recent Agreement of Social Harmony concluded between the president of Tajikistan and NGOs of mostly the top-down variety. These NGOs were, for the most part, formed by the government itself, so the agreement is little more than the formalization of a coalition of "court" NGOs. Real grassroots organizations, comprising roughly 50 percent of active NGOs in Tajikistan, remain outside this agreement.

Other differences between NGOs also present complications to forming coalitions. It is extremely difficult for organizations working in different fields and among diverse social groups to arrive at a common understanding of issues. Within certain sectors successful coalitions have formed. This March, a Council of Environmental NGOs, consisting of representatives of more than a dozen of the most established ecological organizations, was organized. The principle goals of the council are to lobby governmental agencies for better nature protection efforts and to lobby Parliament for the implementation of better socio-ecological programs. This effort has already yielded several victories, such as the government's recent decision to increase the area of the Tigrovaya Balka nature reserve, the publication of an environmental newspaper and magazine and a lobbying effort that is likely to achieve passage of a new law on environmental education. Successful coalition building could simply not have taken place without the moral and financial support of US assistance efforts.

There are also efforts to build coalitions of NGOs working on women's issues and the problems of the disabled. Two new local organizations, the Komilla Association and the Nosira Association, financed by Counterpart Consortium, are leading these attempts.

Coalition building has mostly taken place within sectors. However, a cross-sectoral expansion of coalitions of Tajikistan NGOs will probably take place in the future, with the socio-ecological groups playing a crucial role. Their experience in coalition building could help increase ties throughout sectors of the NGO movement in order to increase the effectiveness of all NGOs.

Yuri Skochilov is the director of the School for Ecological Enlightenment in Dushanbe. Translated by Eric Sievers. A version of this article appeared in the July 4, 1996 issue of Ecostan News.