The Effect of Being:Trickle-Up Strategy for

Civil Society Development 1992-2010

Sarah Lindemann-Komarova

“Man has two worlds:One that created him,

The other that ManHas been creating himself

From time immemorial”Nikolay Zabolotsky, Russian poet 1903-1958

Emotional Baseline Voices from University Students 1992

Ira “This summer the salary of a leading scientist was nearly 900 rubles per month. What could he

buy? 4 kilograms of butter for 800 rubles or maybe 3 kilograms of sour cream for 850 rubles. In comparison in 1989 his salary was 445 rubles that was enough for 148 kilograms of butter! This situation really killed a lot of talented scientists who couldn’t stand these humiliating conditions. One department at the Institute buried 3 gifted scientists between the ages of 50-60 in 3 months. “

Nina“Congress made a very strange impression on me. It looks like a bunch of people who are fighting for power and don’t care about the country. They don’t want to work together. All the collisions between Yeltsin and Khasbulatov look ridiculous. We just have political games and not a real process of building democracy.”

Tanya“It has become common to speak about crisis and the possibility of civil war in our country. Perhaps ‘Perestroika’ and everything connected to it improved something in our international relations but it only made the life of the people worse. If you were so stupid that you didn’t buy a car during the happy stagnation period, you have to stand at the bus stop for hours. The cold water in our apartment very often appears at 5 o’clock in the morning, lasts for half an hour and then disappears again. Dear readers from abroad! It is not true that war is going on here. If you come to our country you won’t see tanks in the streets, but, you will have the impression they have just left.”

Masha“It is not pleasant or good when you can say nothing about what is happen to you in the near future. I see that the majority of people are simply tired of everything. They don’t care about politics, they just want to live like ‘normal’ people, they want to have comfortable flats and tasty food.”

Baseline civil society infrastructure

There was: A law that allowed NGOs to exist.

NO (zero):•Mechanisms to support citizen participation in governance (beyond elections);• Mechanisms to provide government funding to support civic initiatives or NGOs; • Organized volunteers or actions, a negative image of being active, “We were all volunteers during the Soviet Union and what good did it do us?”;• No Internet, computers, cell phones, chalk….

Siberian Network

Goal

Improved quality of life for everyone

Primary Assumption

“Wherever democracy has fallen, it was too exclusively political in nature. It had not become part of the bone and blood of the people in daily conduct. Unless

democratic habits of thought are part of the fiber of a people, political

democracy is insecure”.American Philosopher and the father of

democratic education, John Dewey

Trickle Up Strategy

• Create opportunities for democratic practices and policies to flow-up and become part of the structure of democracy, and, outward to become part of a individual social consciousness and the foundation for the fabric of society as a whole.

• Freedom and rights are necessary but NOT sufficient to create a sustainable democracy. CS development requires a focus on responsibilities and obligations of being a citizen, corporation or government representative of the people.

Objectives• #1: Strengthened structures, policies and

procedures that not only allow for, but, mandate citizen participation in all aspects and levels of government.

• #2: People are inspired to believe that they can, should and must assume responsibility for the quality of life in their communities and the country as a whole, and that good governance and improved quality of life is only possible when the people are involved in the process.

Tactics• Partnership: Between people from all sectors, spheres and

strata of society. Does not imply that anyone is going to hand you anything, not

justice, not liberty, not equality. What this strategy suggests is that you may not have to fight for it and that by applying aggressive tactics you may be missing opportunities to avoid a fight and still bring long-term positive change.

• Technology: Equal access to technology is the new key factor in supporting social

and economic equality. Without this access, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has a new dimension.

Phases/Dynamics Civil Society Development

Phase I: 1992-2000

Bottom-Up (NGO to Government)

Phase II: 2001-2005

Top-Down (Government to NGO)

Phase III: 2006-2009

Partnership (Government=NGO)

Phase IV: 2009-Today

Center-Periphery

(Moscow NGOs/Government to Regional NGOs)

SCISC Background

• 1995 First public free access Internet site in Siberia (maybe Russia)

• 1996 First to distribute modems to government officials

• 1997 First NGO data base in Russia on-line

• Distance learning course• 2002, 2009 Campaigns• 2010 Live streaming event

Key Problems1. Civil Society is Weak2. NGOs and the Non-Profit Sector are not well known

among the general population3. Information Technology is under-utilized as a tool for

supporting civil society4. Limited to no contact between the NGO and IT worlds5. NGOs and civil society activists do not have the funding

necessary to exploit the new IT opportunities6. Economic fissures between citizens are being

compounded by those with access to IT and those without

7. In relation to NGO access (participation and funding), the Soviet Union is in the process of being re-created for regional NGOs.

Goal: Improved quality of life for all through a vibrant civil society

Objective #1: Strengthened capacity of regional Civil Society institutions and active citizens

Objective #2: Strengthened partnership between IT and the Non-Profit Sector in the regions

Archangelsk, Nizhni-Novgorod, Samara, Krasnodar, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Altai Krai, Republic of Altai, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Republic of Buryatia, Zabaikalsky Krai

Coalition

Baseline Zero

• Regional Level

• District/Village Level

• Federal Level