The government should adequately define the percentage of the budget that will be allocated to the civil sector, as well as the way priority areas will be defined, it was said at the public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
Zorana Marković, the representative of the working group for the drafting of the draft law from the Center for NGO Development, said that the proposal of the representatives of the civil sector was to allocate at least one percent from the budget of Montenegro on an annual basis.
"We are of the opinion that if the minimum budget-related amount of one percent were determined, it would largely ensure security, especially in a period when from year to year we have a decrease in the amount allocated to NGOs," Marković said. .
She said that this proposal should be supported by state authorities, because, as she explained, money is not spent on the civil sector in that way, but is directed to the implementation of public policies through NGOs.
The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ivan Šikmanović, speaking about the reasons for adopting amendments to the Law on NGOs, said that the current law from 2011 has not been implemented in the part related to the financing of projects and programs.
"The reasons for this are related to the failure to pass a by-law that would regulate the procedures for financing NGO projects and programs, but they are more related to the change in policy in this area, which occurred during the preparation of the NGO Development Strategy, when, at the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, a new financing system was established," he explained.
Šikmanović specified that the strategic determination of financing is a kind of combined model of establishment, according to which the programming of financial support from the budget of NGO projects and programs would be centralized by the Government, while the distribution of funds would be the responsibility of line ministries.
The executive director of the NGO Association of Disabled Youth of Montenegro, Marina Vujačić, said that for her the most debatable issue is the priority areas, in relation to the total budget that will be determined by the NGO.
"Until the Government takes the position that they should allocate a certain percentage from the budget, as requested by the Coalition of NGOs - Cooperation to the Goal and other NGOs, it remains uncertain how NGOs will be financed, because this is about financing projects that aim to implement of public policies", she stated.
The Executive Director of the NGO Network for Education and Support Service for Persons with Disabilities, Miluša Žugić, assessed that the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on NGOs provides much better solutions compared to the previous act.
"I think that the Draft Law will introduce changes that will improve the work of NGOs and make it easier for them to operate," she said.
Žugić believes that the important novelty of the Draft Law is the independent evaluators, who will be experts and who will evaluate the projects.
"It is important for us that experts review NGO projects and give their opinion on them in order to avoid any influence on the members of the commission, because very often we have a situation where the NGO representative does not think much about the quality of the project, but rather the applicant of that project", she said. is she.
Žugić said that it is a good solution that the ministries will decide on the financing of NGO projects.
"It is good that we have our own representatives in front of the NGO sector, but the ministry is responsible for the implementation of public policies because the finances are with them," she added.
The public debate on amendments to the law on NGOs was organized by the TACSO office in Montenegro in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
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