The role non-governmental organisations play for social development is rapidly
growing across the world.
Besides traditional fields of non-governmental activity such as welfare, youth,
women, and environmental protection, these organisations are increasingly
extending their efforts to other spheres of public life, including job
generation and structural adjustment programmes, cultural activities, as well as
vocational training and education, just to give some examples.
NGOs
are thus more and more becoming a complementing or even substituting factor
of governmental action and an instrument for balancing out different interests
in human societies.
Non-governmental organisations working on development issues also have to face
more complex challenges:
NGOs from developing and transitional countries play a growing role
and act more self-confident resulting in their increasing involvement in
co-operation programmes with bilateral and multilateral development aid
organisations and donors.
At the same time, non-governmental organisations of Western countries working
in the field of development co-operation are confronted with additional and new
tasks in terms of quality and quantity. Their traditional strongholds such as
poverty alleviation and provision of basic infrastructure facilities have,
recently, been extended to also cover issues like management consulting,
democracy promotion programmes, gender concepts and introduction of new
environmentally sound technologies.
euroCom
euroCom is a German non-governmental organisation founded in Berlin in
1989 with the original aim to arrange social, cultural and ecological
co-operation projects between the West and the East.
Troughout the 1990ies
euroCom’s activities covered a
number of countries of different development levels the world, in particular in
(Eastern)Europe, the Near and Middle East and Africa.
By co-operating with other non-governmental organisations and charities on a
project-to-project basis, euroCom’s work is aimed at pursuing the following
goals:
Establishing and
developing the legal basis for founding, registering and running NGOs;
Introducing modern
methods of managing and administrating NGOs;
Setting up
efficient organisational structures;
Improving the
financial basis, and finance and accounting procedures of NGOs;
Promoting
transition processes towards democratic societies;
Improving the work,
role and acceptance of NGOs by setting up local, regional and international
networks;
Establishing for
NGOs access to modern means of electronic communication and exchange of
information;
Developing and
improving co-operation patterns with governmental organisations and
administrations;
Supporting
co-operation on aid programmes between NGOs and international donors and aid
organisations.
Furthermore, euroCom collaborates with a variety of German and European
organisations working in different sectors and utilises their specific skills
and experience for providing counselling services and professional inputs to
projects in third countries.
Selected Projects:
Jordanian - European Information, Training and
Technical Assistance Office for Non-Governmental Organisations (JETT; 2 phases),
Amman / Jordan
1st Phase (1994 - 1996)
Organisation of a
general workshop on NGO activities in Jordan in order to introduce the NGO
community to the project approach and identify main fields of activity of
Jordanian NGOs.
Publishing of a NGO
handbook,
Preparation of
short studies on specific sectors of NGO activities in preparation of
subsequent workshops,
Organisation of
workshops on NGO activities in the following sectors: income generation, youth,
handicapped and disabled, environment and natural resources protection,
Organisation and
execution of training courses on above fields of NGO activity,
2nd Phase (1997 - 1999)
Support and
strengthening of Jordanian NGOs in management issues, improvement of internal
and external communication, co-ordination and networking, and improvement of
relations between governmental and non-governmental organisations working in
the welfare and social affairs sector,
Provision of
training courses and counselling services for NGOs working on environment and
natural resources protection, youth, handicapped and disabled, women and
family issues, urban and rural development, unemployment and vocational
training, and health.
Individual
counselling of NGOs on project development, bookkeeping and accounting, and
legal matters,
Publishing of a NGO
newsletter,
Set-up of an
internet access facility for NGOs,
Improvement of
regional co-operation between Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs,
Both phases
co-financed by DG VIII of the European Commission.
Ukraine Children’s and Youth Rights Centre,
Kiev / Ukraine (1997 - 1998)
Set-up of
counselling services for children and youth with main emphasis on their basic
rights, psychological advice and street work,
Organisation and
implementation of workshops and training courses for social workers for the
above target groups,
Financed by TACIS
democracy programme.
NGOs Qualified Dialogue, Kiev / Ukraine (1997)
Continuation and
extension of the Information and Consultancy Bureau project,
Publishing of a
periodic newsletter,
Organisation of
discussions between NGOs, business community and local administrations,
Provision of
counselling services for preparation of Ukrainian NGO legislation,
Publishing of a NGO
handbook,
Financed by TACIS
democracy programme.
Grazhdanskiy Kontrol (‘Citizens Assure Their
Security’), St. Petersburg / Russia (1995 - 1996; also scheduled for 1997 -
1998)
Scrutiny of four
areas of law relating to state security, state organs, state secrets, and
military reform,
Organisation of
seminars on these areas of law,
Scrutiny of
fairness of legal proceedings; provision of counselling services,
Preparation of
studies on national and international human rights legislation,
Organisation of
information campaigns in the Russian Parliament in order to facilitate
preparation of legislation in the field of human rights,
Training and
counselling of Russian human rights lawyers, including practical training in
West European countries (Spain, Germany)
Translation and
publishing of information material on human rights,
Planning and
execution of a trilateral youth exchange programme in Berlin (for youth ageing
13 and 16 years),
Internal
meetings of the two guest delegations; common programme with German partner
group (secondary school level),
Visits to Israeli
and Palestinian facilities and organisations in Germany,
Follow-up meetings
in Israel with German participation,
Financed by
Berliner Senat (local government) youth department and euroCom.
Information and Service Centre for Vocational
and Technical Training, Beit Hanina/ Occupied Palestinian Territories (1993 -
1994)
Implementation of a project aimed at setting up
a resource centre for vocational and technical training institutions in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Vocational Training Centre Beit Sahour,
Occupied Palestinian Territories (1993 - 1994)
Implementation of a vocational training project
in fashion design for Palestinian women, including construction of training
facility.
West-East Seminar, Strasbourg / France (1991)
Organisation of a
conference on the subject ‘Initiative for a new East-West dialogue:
alternative social concepts in response to the ecological crisis’,
Client: several
Members of the European Parliament,
Participation of
more than 100 parliament members, researchers and representatives of East and
West European NGOs,
The conference
aimed at promoting the East-West dialogue on strategies and concepts
responding to substantial changes caused by ecological problems throughout
Europe,
Organisation of
panels, plenary sessions and discussions in the European Parliament.
Series of Meetings on European-Angolan
Development Co-operation
Meeting of West
European and Angolan NGOs in Berlin in order to discuss possible ways of
co-operation in the development field,
Organisation of a
seminar in Luanda on transition from state-controlled economy to market
economy (actual situation, prerequisites, problems, and perspectives),
Organisation of
Angola Information Days in ‘Haus der Kulturen der Welt’ (World Culture Centre)
in Berlin,
Financed by ‘Land
Berlin’ (Berlin local government).