Confronting the Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century

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How Can NGOs Help Overcome Obstacles and Reduce Human Costs in Difficult Transitions?

• Establish the credibility of NGOs through the dissemination of accurate information.
• Create a large (popular) public movement that is inclusive, but with a parallel hidden structure as a form of protection from the tyranny of non-democratic forces (as in the case of Serbia).
• Organize public media campaigns with innovative slogans, messages, and symbols; be creative, even by using humor.
• Coordinate with political parties whenever possible.
• Focus on increasing membership by organizing citizens at the grassroots, including all ethnic and minority groups; make it an inclusive movement.
• Conduct training and education workshops to teach the nation the concepts and issues of the campaign.
• Be prepared for action and respond to attacks on NGOs and their members using non-violent means; expose the violent behavior to public opinion both internally and externally.
• Use information technology to spread the message, to inform, to report election results, and to take opinion polls.
• Be a watchdog over politicians' actions.
• Create a new generation of politicians through education, training, and contact with NGOs.
• Provide humanitarian relief and assistance; "NGOs can be successful when the government gives up."
• Create a true partnership between civil society/NGOs and the government, which requires transparency, good communication skills, and trust.
• NGOs should train government officials and politicians in "good life skills," which are important to have in public work. Such skills include:
  • good communication
    
  • strategic planning
    
  • goal-oriented planning and action
    
  • conflict resolution
• NGOs should play an important crisis prevention role. Since they work in the field and at the grassroots level, they can feel the pulse of the people and detect problems before they simmer and explode. However, there has to be political will to take action.
• NGOs should play a role in networking to help solve problems across borders, within regions, and internationally.
  
• NGOs should contribute to the policy-making process by providing research reports and by undertaking public opinion polls and analysis.
• NGOs in difficult transition periods can make a difference! They must base their activities on reality to achieve results. To implement a well-developed public campaign, they should use information technology and the media to make their work transparent and credible. The goal is to voice the real needs of the people.