What's Being Done On . . . Effective Networking?

Main List of Network Profiles Survey Results Sample Survey Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace, Interview with Mahnaz Afkhami, President and CEO. African Democracy Forum, Interview with Hannah Forster, Chair. Graðansko Organizovanje Za Demokratiju (GROZD)/Citizens' Organization for Democracy, Interview with Milan Mrdja, Program Manager. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Interview with staff. Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, Interview with John Williams, Founder and Current Chair.

GROZD, Graðansko Organizovanje Za Demokratiju (Citizens' Organization for Democracy)

GROZD is a network of Bosnian NGOs devoted to civil society strengthening that grew out of an initiative of the Civil Society Promotion Center. This is a relatively new coalition of about 60 NGOs all over Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Essentially, its purpose is to facilitate cooperation between government leaders (national and local) and NGOs. It is currently working with local governments and local organizations, making it clear that both parties can benefit by interacting with GROZD. It has gained media coverage and has become a recognized and respected group in BiH.

The major achievement of the initiative thus far is the "Civil Platform for 2006 Elections." GROZD created a petition with 12 expectations related to economic, social, health care, and political (foreign and domestic) issues and calls upon political parties to meet these expectations by 2010. Over half a million citizens signed the petition, something unheard of in BiH. GROZD then persuaded different parties to sign and agree to deliver on the expectations. The initiative is currently developing a system to monitor progress towards the expectations, and its reputation depends on its success.

For more information, please go to: www.grozd.ba

Interview:

We would like to thank Milan Mrdja, Program Manager of GROZD, for answering the following interview questions.

Q: Please describe briefly the structure and history of GROZD. Who came up with the concept for the initiative to start a civil society network? Why it is needed in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

The idea of GROZD arose in the beginning of 2005 in answer to the question: How can CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) be involved in the 2006 BiH election process? We had to change the CSOs' approach to the election process because networks previously established during the election process had only limited success - we wanted more. The Center for Civil Society Promotion (Centar za promociju civilnog drusta - CPCD) came up with the concept of GROZD, which was then supplemented with other organizations' suggestions, (first by the Centers of Civic Initiatives (Centrima civilnih inicijativa - CCI)). In order to transfer the focus of politicians to concrete problems, especially during election campaigns, instead of hearing nationalistic rhetoric, we had to have the pressure of authority to make it happen.

The organization responsible for GROZD program activities was the Center for Civil Society Promotion (CPCD), but four organizations (Centers for Civil Initiatives, ALDI, Transparency International, and Centar za promociju civilnog drustva/the Center for the Promotion of Civil Friendship) had meetings on a regular basis and produced an Activity Plan. Beyond these, there are the following partner organizations: trade unions, pensioners associations, farmers associations, and women and youth associations. In the third circle of partners are the organizations and individuals who work in a wider area of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

GROZD - GRadansko Organizovanje Za Demokratiju (Citizens' Organization for Democracy) is needed for Bosnia and Herzegovina, because it works on building democratic culture and citizen engagement. The biggest challenge facing countries in democratic transitions is the lack of citizen awareness of the effect they can have on governmental changes. GROZD arose as an answer to that challenge.

Q: What are the main objectives of GROZD?

To have CSOs cooperate with and pressure legislative and executive authorities elected in the BiH elections in 2006 to fulfill the expectations of citizens as presented in the "Civil Platform for Election 2006," by the year 2010.

Q: How does GROZD address its participants and how do you enable them to transmit their needs to the network?

The main methods and channels are regional consultation meetings and the interactive GROZD Web site. It should be noted that internal communications and structure will be further developed in the process of continuing GROZD's work in between elections.

Q: How often does GROZD hold meetings or conferences with its participants? Has it used information and communications technologies (ICTs) to foster connections?

As a network of CSOs, GROZD was very well structured as the October 1, 2006 elections approached. After the elections, key organizations continued to monitor the activities of the elected politicians (legislative and executive), inform citizens and CSOs on its results via the media, propose corrections to the government when necessary, and ask for public support. We will also work on the construction of an informal network of citizens and organizations at the local level that will demand stronger engagement by elected politicians from their electoral units in resolving identified problems. GROZD activities are divided into two phases. The first one, up to the election period, included a clear plan and the goals we wanted to reach, which is to allow the politicians to take responsibility for fulfilling the citizens' expectations. The second one, which began after the election phase, involves pressuring politicians to fulfill those expectations. We will use various communications technologies for maintaining the connections and meetings.

Q: With the "Civil Platform for 2006 Elections," GROZD seems to have cast a wide net with 12 different expectations, taking on the issues of poverty, unemployment, healthcare, corruption in politics, EU membership status, etc. Why did you choose these issues, and why did you take on so many?

During the early phase (December 2005 - March 2006), while we were holding public meetings in 122 municipalities, the citizens had the opportunity to identify the key problems (by questionnaires) they considered priorities. We were going to summarize ten expectations, but decided to go with 12. To get broad citizen support, we had to encompass the key social problems you mentioned. The expectations by 2010 are:

• To open 150,000 work places;
• To uproot extreme poverty;
• To have minimal pensions of 250.00 KM;
• To have access to basic health and social protection for every citizen;
• To preserve a dignified standard of life in rural areas;
• To have a country of equal opportunity for the young population;
• To decrease administration costs;
• To complete the reform of the education system;
• To decrease the level of corruption in BiH;
• To fulfill the conditions for EU membership and to gain candidate status;
• To have better organized and more effective services delivered by the public institutions; and
• To double investments from abroad.

Two NGOs (ALDI and Transparency International) analyzed the identified problems, and the "Civil Platform for Elections 2006" was based on that analysis. Coalition partners, trade unions, farmers, farmer associations, youth, women, and others gave their proposals and suggestions that were built into the Platform. After that, we again held meetings on the municipal level to give the citizens a chance to confirm that their perspectives were reflected in the "Civil Platform for Elections 2006." The final text of the Platform was adopted at a conference held on May 24, 2006.

Q: How do you measure your success? How do you account for your popularity with organizations and individuals in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

At the very beginning, we set up measurable indicators of success and based upon them we measured success in certain phases. As time passed, and our activities "were progressing," we saw our support growing and that we were going to surpass our own expectations. A justified and well-led media campaign, as well as the realization of planned activities, demonstrated that we were going to surpass all our expectations. We have to point out that the circumstances in our country were inclined to help ensure success. The big problems the citizens faced in their everyday life were "fertile ground" for our activities. In the end, GROZD is the product of circumstances that citizens faced within our country.

Q: While GROZD is still relatively new, has it experienced any setbacks or obstacles to its work? If so, how has it overcome them?

In some parts of the country during certain phases of GROZD's program, political parties and their members were expressing distrust or negative attitudes towards its realization. In one phase, many of them thought that GROZD would itself become a political party. The political parties generally have no understanding of a more active role for civil society in political processes. Many of them had the opinion that GROZD was entering into their "area" of activity. For these reasons, some small problems occurred (prohibition on using certain premises for GROZD meetings; in some cities political party members were aggressive towards GROZD volunteers in the streets; etc.). Some of these problems were resolved through use of the media and by initiating broader and immediate contact with citizens and, when necessary, with political party representatives.

Q: Do you think the approach employed by GROZD is specific to your region, or do you think it can be applied elsewhere? What advice do you have to offer based on your experience with GROZD?

We are of the opinion that our experience can be applied in other countries. GROZD is a specific and new way for civil society to approach election processes in the region. BiH is a very complex country in its constitutional organization and has a large number of political parties. In countries that are less complex and that have fewer political parties, the GROZD methodology could be even more successful than in BiH. The readiness of CSOs to participate is very important.

Q: What are the biggest challenges GROZD faces today as a network, and how do you see it developing in the next few years?

Independent of the goals set up previously, GROZD, like other similar networks, is faced with one big challenge - overseeing the CSOs' joint-action process. Four key organizations of the network agreed to be more focused on the fulfillment of goals than on building a network structure. As the citizens of our country pointed out the twelve expectations, the next view prevailed: after the election, CSOs need to be more active in gathering (networking) among themselves and in focusing their activities. The GROZD network enables each organization greater freedom in the selection of problems to address and activities to resolve them. We believe that GROZD would otherwise spend a huge amount of time on fundraising and creating a structure for network maintenance, and less for the fulfillment of the citizens' goals as they set are out. All organizations interested in working within the GROZD network should work on the fulfillment of the goals with the obligation of using their own names and, if they choose to, the name of GROZD.

As to the next few years, if the politicians don't fulfill their promises, key stakeholders will "raise" the network of all stakeholders who participated in GROZD and will use pressure to demand fulfillment of the expectations of the citizens. CSOs have the freedom to choose which problem they want to work on and at which level they want to address it. We coordinate activities to avoid having all organizations working on the same issues and at the same levels. There is a general agreement among the GROZD coalition stakeholders on joint work and independence. We use meetings to inform each other about goals we want to reach and plans for reaching them.

We appreciate your cooperation on this installment on effective networking, and we wish you the best in your future work.