National Civil Society Fund Model Development (LT0011)

Several versions of the model for the National Civil Society Fund have been designed. They have been discussed with social partners and the selected version has been presented at the Government Strategic Committee.

Commitment 5. National Civil Society Fund Model Development

Commitment Text:

Initiative 2: public participation in public governance

Area: raising civic awareness

Action: To develop a model for the National Civil Society Fund.

Expected outcome:

Several versions of the model for the National Civil Society Fund have been designed. They have been discussed with social partners and the selected version has been presented at the Government Strategic Committee.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Social Security and Labour

Supporting institutions: Not specified

Start date: not specified.........   End date: 2014

Commitment aim:

This commitment aims to develop a model for the National Civil Society Fund to distribute government funding to Lithuanian NGOs.

Lithuania does not have a centralised fund to distribute government funding to NGOs. As revealed by experts interviewed,^{[Note 23: Interview with Martinas Zaltauskas, 1 September 2016.]} officials have been debating the usefulness of such a mechanism for many years. However, the government has not taken any specific action on the matter since 1990. Currently, NGO financial sustainability largely depends on smaller-scale, project-based funding for organisations, and that funding comes mainly from international foundations, the European Commission, foreign embassies, and corporate donors. This commitment aims to supplement NGO financing with established public-funding mechanisms.

Status

Midterm: Limited

Prior to the development of the OGP action plan in 2014, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour conducted an exploratory study on relevant experiences from a number of countries and developed an initial concept for the funding mechanism for NGOs.^{[Note 24: The document can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/1Sp4Bax.]}

During the first year of action plan implementation, the ministry conducted a thorough analysis of best practices from Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland and developed two alternatives of the fund model: centralised and specialised. Because the government did not discuss the alternative models with social partners or present them to the Government Strategic Committee, the IRM researcher noted the commitment had limited completion.

Refer to midterm report for the full analysis.

End of term: Substantial

The interview with the representative of the NGO Council^{[Note 25: Interview with Martinas Zaltauskas, 1 September 2016.]} (a body, representing NGO interests in the government, see midterm report) revealed that during 2016, the government presented two fund alternatives to the NGO Council. The NGO Council rejected both alternatives as not feasible and suggested a third model option for further considerations. Implementing the NGO fund will not happen before 2018 (see below). The government developed several models and discussed them with social partners. However, because the government did not present the final model to the Strategic Committee, the commitment was substantially implemented. 

Did it open government?

Civic participation: Did not change

This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of civic participation as it is intended to strengthen the enabling environment for civil society through NGO and public-sector support by establishing a sustainable funding mechanism. However, the potential impact of the commitment lies with further implementation of the funding model. The development of the fund model itself is only a prerequisite to achieving its objectives. In particular, substantial work needs to be done to ensure transparency of the funding mechanism and objectivity and impartiality in its further functioning.

Carried forward?

The third national action plan takes this commitment further and promises to establish the NGO fund before the end of 2018. As worded in the action plan, the purpose of the fund is to:

1. Finance the strengthening of institutional capacities of NGOs required for participation in the public decision-making process;

2. Draft proposals by NGOs on decisions of public governance and presentation to the interested institutions and the public; and

3. Strengthen capacities of NGO representatives required for the drafting and presentation of such proposals.