Global Best Practices for CSO, NGO, and Other Nonprofit Boards

CHAPTER 5Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Marilyn Wyatt

HISTORICAL CONTEXT FOR GOVERNANCE

Much of the impetus behind the development of global civil society in the past 30 years can be traced to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).¹ Fueled by dormant community traditions from the precommunist period, a new sense of social solidarity, the desire to exercise fundamental freedoms of expression and association, and generous funding from Western donors, the region's citizens' groups and self-help efforts coalesced into CSOs during the early to mid-1990s. As part of the wholesale reform of legal frameworks, efforts were made to introduce laws that could shape and guide civil society—efforts that were sometimes criticized as too hasty or too slow, poorly conceived, incompletely implemented, or undercut by entrenched resistance or misunderstanding of democratic processes. Nevertheless, civil society in CEE flourished with astonishing speed, and its model soon spread to the new states of Eurasia, where, more slowly and with many fewer resources, CSOs managed to take root in very different political and cultural environments. Today, to varying degrees, and with a need for constant vigilance, it seems safe to say that CSOs have become an established feature of the regional landscape.

During the early development of civil society in CEE, the internal governance of organizations took a back seat to issues of immediate survival, such as the search for funding and demonstrable project ...