SDNP in Partnership: Strengthens NGOs in Bulgaria The very idea of civil society organisations, or NGOs, is a new concept in Bulgaria, requiring careful nurturing and support. Awareness of the need to promote networking and access to information among Bulgarian NGOs is so strong that no fewer than three partner agencies joined together in 1997 to establish an SDNP type project in Bulgaria. The mandate was to make NGOs the focal point of its activities. "Each of these organisations was interested in attracting people from NGOs to use the Internet in their work," says Bulgaria On-Line National Co-ordinator Nikolay Badinski. UNDP contributed US $120,000 to the project, the Open Society Fund donated US $100,000, and a Bulgarian foundation, the Applied Research and Communication Fund (ARC) gave about US $350,000.
In addition to NGOs, target groups include the private sector (also an innovation in Bulgaria) and local municipalities, which in the past had been controlled by the central government. "These people haven't had the possibility to use information technology because it is very expensive for Bulgarians to pay the normal price for such services," says Mr. Badinski. "Ours is a pioneer role. If small businesses can use information and communication technologies they will have more possibilities to develop their businesses, and this will help people in Bulgaria."
Promoting networking
The fully searchable database of 62 NGOs hosted on Bulgaria On-Line's web site indicates the range of civil society organisations SDNPB supports. One of their client/partner organisations, for example, is the Centre for the Study of Democracy, one of the largest think tanks in Bulgaria, which was established in the early 1990s. There are also small NGOs, commercial associations, legal institutions, research, environmental and trade organisations, agencies that promote fair elections and civil rights, business, finance and management associations, organisations that protect copyrights and intellectual property, organisations that promote energy efficiency, human rights groups, and organisations seeking to combat international organised crime, to name just a few.For all these groups, training has been crucial. "This technology is terra incognita for these people," says Mr. Badinski. "We work hard to train people from NGOs, first to explain that the Internet is a very useful tool for their everyday work, which is very difficult, and second to train them to use the Internet, including how to use a browser." In 1998, for example, SDNPB trained some 450 people in 22 one- or two-day seminars, mostly from NGOs but also from the private sector and local governments. Fifteen additional seminars are scheduled for 1999. All the training seminars are free, including the educational materials.
Part of the training process involves downloading web pages from organisations around the world that work in similar areas to the Bulgarian NGOs, to show them the kind of information that is available on the web. "And we showed the NGOs that have their own home page on our server how often people outside Bulgaria such as potential partners or donors read these pages and search for information about these NGOs," says Mr. Badinski.
Partners' mutual support
SDNPB's partnerships with its donor institutions have proved particularly fruitful in the training process. For example, seminars are held not only in Sofia but in all the major cities in the country including at the local centres of the OSF. Local newspapers and radio stations are used to advertise the seminars, and similar information is distributed through the UNDP and ARC offices as well. Likewise, the OSF also helps SDNPB distribute information about its activities. As for those NGOs who do not have their own computers, SDNPB hooks them up with a special programme of the OSF that makes computers available to them.It is these special services, such as training and ongoing technical support, that sets SDNPB apart from the many commercial ISPs that already existed in Bulgaria before the project started. "The policy of many providers here is to get a big amount of money by giving not so good services," says Mr. Badinski. SDNPB's users pay 30 to 50 percent less than the rates charged by commercial ISPs, while key organisations, called "partners," including a number of NGOs, the local UNDP office, national libraries and the Capacity 21 office, pay nothing at all. In addition to providing email and Internet access, SDNPB develops the web pages of these organisations and hosts them on its web site free of charge.
Although IT is still very new in Bulgaria, the country has one of the highest rates of telephone access in Eastern Europe: 306 people per 1,000 have telephone lines as compared with 131 per 1,000 in Romania or 269 per 1,000 in Croatia. With such infrastructure in place, Mr. Badinski is optimistic that his message will continue to catch on, and that the power conferred by access to information and communication will continue to strengthen and transform civil society in his country. "Our mission is to explain to people in Bulgaria that the Internet is a very useful tool for all purposes," he says. "This is a tool without any limitation."
For more info:info@sdnp.undp.org
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