Analysis from Siberia: A New Paradigm for Democracy and Civil

Society Development in Russia

Sarah Lindemann-KomarovaApril 2012

What is democracy?

The first association that comes to mind is……

I have been asking that question in Siberia since 1992 and the first answer is always…

FREEDOM. This is usually followed by a list of specifc

freedoms (speech, religion etc.).

Only occasionally, after I have resorted to begging people to think of other associations,

does someone suggest “responsibility” in relation to democracy…

freedom without responsibility may not be anarchy but it certainly isn’t democracy.

What is civil society? T

между государство, работой и домом, в котором люди выражать

себя через следование личным интересам, которые могут быть

какими угодно, от спорта до общественного блага.

THE SPACE

between government, work and home, where people can act collectively and realize their

individual potential by pursuing interests that can be anything from

organizing a sports club to participating in a community clean-

up.

This understanding provides us with two parameters for measuring civil

society:• The size of the space: Is

it being limited? If yes, how, why and by whom (is there a reasonable justification for this)?

• Activities taking place in the space: Number and type of people, range of activities and issues being addressed (are they increasing or decreasing and why)?

1992: Fundamental baseline observation

The appearance of democracy

corresponded to a catastrophic decrease in

the quality of life for most people. This meant

that the people promoting the case for

democracy, had to demonstrate it’s

connection to improved quality of life with

concrete, practical, measurable results.

Ira, student, Novosibirsk State University, 1992:

“Time was running out and our country was literally shaking from all the events. The August coup was the origin of the complete impoverishment of the whole nation. I’d like to tell you one really impressive fact. During this summer (1992) the salary of the leading science researcher from the Institute of Thermophysics was nearly 900 rubles (per month). What could he buy? 4 kilograms of butter for 800 rubles or maybe 3 kilograms of good sour cream for 850 rubles?

In comparison, in 1989, his salary was 445 rubles per month and he could buy nearly 148 kilograms of butter. We can only admire his devotion to research. this situation really killed a lot of

talented scientists who couldn’t stand these humiliating conditions. For example, one department of the Institute of Thermophysics buried 3 gifted scientists between the ages of 50-60 in three months.” •  

Poverty level Russia:

1993 30,9% 2005 13.5%

1994 23,1% 2008 13.4%

1998 24,6% 2010 12.6%

1999 34,1% 2011 12.8%

2004 17.6% 2012 13.5%**

The strategy we developed to support civil society in this challenging environment involved “mobilization through the

development of partnerships” and looks like this:

There are 2 primary objectives

• Objective №1: Strengthened infrastructure of mechanisms, policies and procedures that not only allow for, but, require citizen participation in all aspects and level of governance.

• Objective №2: Increased understanding and belief by people that they can, should and must take responsibility for the quality of life in their communities and the country as a whole and that good governance and improved quality of life are only possible when all people are involved in this process.

This approach was applied by the Siberian Civic Initiatives Support Center in Novosibirsk

and other NGOs in the Russian regions that serve as centers for civil society development. The following are an example of key results:

1995: No government competitions to support civic initiatives, NGOs or social projects.

2013: In Novosibirsk Oblast alone 70, 000, 000 rubles ($2,333,333) will be disseminated in competitions to support

civic initiatives.

1995: No mechanisms to support civic initiatives and citizen participation in governance

Today: More than 323 mechanisms in 11 Siberian Regions

(picture from NGO Fair in Novosibirsk below)

The following chart shows the development dynamics for these mechanisms in the regions. There are 2 positive indicators: the increase in number of mechanisms and the increase in the number of mechanisms established on the basis of a citizen/government partnership.

Red = Government initiativeBlue = Partnership initiative (government/citizen, NGOGreen = Mayoral initiativeYellow = Citizen, NGO initiativePurple = Partnership initiative (Business/NGO, citizen

Another interesting element in the chart – the increase of mechanisms in 2003 and 2007. This could be a demonstration of resonance from federal level initiatives (Civic Forum in 2001 and Law #131 on Local-Self Governance in 2006), that made it easier for activists to promote citizen participation and partnership with regional and local government who had gotten the signal from Moscow this was now expected of them.

Until last year the only strategic target that had not yielded a result was the meaningful participation of

regional representatives on the federal level decision making process in relation to the

development and support of civil society in the regions. Then….

2012 Federal Level – Representatives from regional NGOs that support civil society were

included as experts by the Ministry of Regional Economic Development

Lessons learned by generating these positive results yielded a new paradigm for democracy and civil society development.

Elements of this paradigm are presented here in comparison to the “transitional” or “traditional”

paradigm for democratic development that is often associated with western

development efforts. However, the work that yielded the “new”

paradigm was also primarily funded by western donors.

Strategic FocusTransitional

ParadigmNew/Siberian

ParadigmFreedom Свобода

Responsibility Ответственность

Human rights Права человека

Quality of life Качество жизни

NGO development Развитие

общественных организаций

Community social and economic development

Социально-экономическое развитие сообщества

Elections Выборы

Other forms of participationДругие формы участия

Transitional Paradigm New/Siberian Paradigm

Tactical ApproachТактический подход

Strategic ApproachСтратегический подход

Civil society is equated with human rights and NGOs

Гражданское общество = права человека + НКО

Civil society is equated with anyone who chooses to use the space

Гражданское общество = любой, кто решает этим заняться

PR Пиар

One on one organizing Мобилизация каждого

индивидуально

Transitional Paradigm New/Siberian ParadigmSpeaking Говорить

Listening and hearingСлушать

Criticism /demands Критика и требования

Partnership/ offering what you have to giveПартнерство и предложение

поддержки

Being against something Быть против

Being for something Быть за

A problem….The “transitional”

paradigm has generated unintended negative results for Russian NGOs and an often inaccurate assessment of the status, weaknesses and sources of those weaknesses of civil society in Russia and, thus, understanding of how to positively impact on the situation.

A possible explanation…Hans Rosling, expert on economic,

agriculture and health development and a founder of the statistical program «Gapminder», provided an analysis of development in its broadest sense. The following chart provides a possible explanation why the “transitional” paradigm generates unintended negative results, it confuses the goals of development with the means for development.

Hans Rosling ‘s “Dimensions of Development” identifies human rights, culture and environment as the goals and the path to achieve them is through economic development, good governance and education.

Средства для развитияMeans

ЦельGoal

Права человекаHuman Rights + +++Окружающая средаEnvironment + ++УправлениеGovernance ++ 0Экономический ростEconomic Development +++ 0ОбразованиеEducation ++ +ЗдоровьеHealth + ++КультураCulture + +++

That means everything is okay based on the results that have

been achieved? ….NO!

For example, of the 323 mechanisms mentioned, the number of those

operating effectively are……ZERO….

Effective Community Governance Model we have been promoting since 2006

• The four “Advanced Governance Practices” are represented by the overlapping areas in the figure, which represent alignment of “core community skills” as follows:

• Community Problems Solving: Aligns “Engaging Citizens” and “Getting Things Done.”• Organizations Managing for Results: Aligns “Measuring Results” and “Getting Things

Done.”• Citizens Reaching for Results: Aligns “Engaging Citizens” and “Measuring Results.”• Communities Governing for Results: Aligns all three core skills.• Copyright Paul Epstein 2005

EngagingCitizens

GettingThingsDone

(Public & Private)

334MeasuringResults

1

2

In the small cities, towns and villages using the model the results have been: more things are happening and more community members are included in the process,

BUT, the measuring results component is not developing.

Our approach also recognizes and promotes 5 roles of citizen engagement: the level of citizen participating in all roles is increasing EXCEPT for citizens as evaluators.

RoleCitizens as….

Description

Stakeholders Anyone who cares about an issue and can be mobilized to address it.

Advocates Help to create a platform with a long term strategy to address an issue

Issue framers Identify problems, priorities, solutions and acceptable compromises

Evaluators Provide objective fact based assessments of community development, projects and programs

Collaborators Those engaged in mutually beneficial relationships targeted at improving quality of life in the community

Overall status of civil society?What’s happening in the space?

There is an increased number of people, organizations and institutions active in the civil society space and an increase in the types of activities and range of issues they are addressing.

Still, quantity and effort does not equal quality and results.

Overall status of civil society?The size of the space?

The shape of the space is in the process of being adjusted primarily through legislation generated by government.

The debate is whether these initiatives are appropriate in relation to the need to balance other interests such as transparency in the case of financial reporting for NGOs so public trust and support (currently very low) will increase or authorized places and times for protests so non protesters are minimally inconvenienced.

The key constraint to addressing this effectively….

There is often a politicized, rather than practical, result driven approach from the government and response from NGOs who present themselves as representatives of civil society without any legitimate claim to doing so.

So, sub-optimum results for everyone.

Arguments need to be knowledge and fact based even if they are emotion driven. Therefore….

The next strategic focus must be promoting evaluation as an essential element in all forms of activity (NGOs, government departments, programs,

projects, councils, the processes that are shaping civil society etc.)

…and continue to promote an increased understanding of the responsibility of every citizen, business and

government bureaucrat to establish a just democracy in Russia, because….

“Wherever democracy has fallen, it was too exclusively political in nature. It had not become part of the bone and blood of people in daily conduct. Unless democratic habits of thought are part of the fiber of a people, political democracy is insecure.”

John Dewey, American philosopher and father of “democratic” education

THEREFORE

The process continues….

as we dream and work towards an improved quality of life for everyone. Thank You.

ECHOSiberia@gmail.com