Foreign Donors and Russian Activists: Who's to Blame for Russia's Weak NGO Sector?

In a political context where the national government is less and less tolerant of independent NGOs, and autonomous NGOs find themselves with fewer and fewer routes of dialogue in federal government policy processes, it has become essential for NGOs to be able to work in ways that attract Russian citizens based on their real problems and concerns. Literature on foreign assistance to NGOs has frequently argued that foreign assistance removes any incentive for NGOs to work with their constituencies in society, but instead encourages them to answer only to foreign donors. With few exceptions, NGOs remain largely unknown and unsuccessful in their efforts to build public support. This paper, based on interview-based field research spanning the years 1998-2005, weighs several types of explanations for the extraordinary weakness of Russian NGOs: (1) failures on the part of donors in their techniques and strategies; (2) enduring characteristics of Russian economic conditions and social attitudes that constrain NGOs' development; and (3) new trends under the Putin regime, which take advantage of such enduring characteristics. While foreign donors can be blamed in part for the weak NGO sector, domestic factors play a much larger role and the two spheres interact with one another to exacerbate each other's weaknesses. The paper makes several suggestions of ways in which foreign donors can improve their NGO development programs. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]