This section is included in the CSD Annual Report
for the first time as a brief overview of the institutional
development of the Center over the past eight years, and the
factors which have had an impact on its capacity and
objectives.
Pioneer NGO
CSD was among the first non-profit organizations to
emerge in Bulgaria shortly after the political changes in November
1989. It was founded by a group of academics who came from a
variety of disciplines including economics, law, social science and
international affairs. Initially, the Center's profile was rather
broadly defined and included a range of projects in the field of
political and economic research, East European studies, ethnic
conflicts and book publishing. This thematic diversity was
important to maintain a broad spectrum of research orientations in
order to strengthen the overall institutional capacity of the
Center. The diversification of interests was the first step in the
process of an identity search which later turned out to provide
longer term benefits.
By 1992 CSD had assumed a prominent position among
the Bulgarian NGO community. The growing opportunities for a closer
and more focused professional involvement of NGOs in the reform
process in Bulgaria made it necessary to pursue greater
concentration if CSD was to stay at the forefront of independent
public policy research. As a result, the activities of the Center
were restructured into three programs - Economic, Law Reform and
Sociological Program - which allowed for greater specialization and
still preserved a cer-tain level of flexibility. This structure has
remained fairly constant to date except for the establishment of an
Information and Documentation Centre on the Council of Europe which
CSD has hosted since December 1993 and a greater interest and
concentration on European policy studies since late 1994.
"Democracy in a state is dependent
on the quality of society. That points to the significance of CSD
and of civil society in Bulgaria in general. Their role is to build
this quality. For only society that is independent of the political
society guarantees the liberty to express oneself freely. The work
of CSD and other NGOs in Bulgaria is to be highly appreciated. Let
me congratulate you with the great pioneer work you are doing."
Dr. Arie M. Oostlander,
Member of the European Parliament
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Being one of the first NGOs in the country CSD has
had a strong impact on the development of the voluntary sector as a
whole. Many of the founding members of CSD have subsequently
established their own organizations, among which the Access
Association, Center for Social Practices, and the Center for
Economic Development figure prominently. As most pathways in the
NGO sector had been unexplored, at the time the institutional
development of CSD served as an example and provided know-how to
many NGOs. Sharing its own experience and expertise has since been
CSD's main contribution to the development of the NGO sector in
Bulgaria. This is especially true for the field of financial
management and transparency where CSD has offered specialized
training courses to NGO professionals and financial managers for a
succession of years.
Nonpartisan organization
Professional performance and nonpartisanship have in
combination contributed to the solid reputation of CSD both
domestically and internationally. These have become key assets of
CSD as a think tank allowing it to make a continuing and consistent
impact on the reform process in the country. Nonpartisanship is
also the main factor for the credibility of the research and policy
recommendations produced by CSD. The persistent maintenance of this
position has contributed to the image of CSD as a competent and
trustworthy source of information and expertise as well as one of
the major proponents of the democratic transition and economic
reform process in the country.
CSD's financial independence has backed
nonpartisanship in an environment where the very notion of a
politically and financially autonomous NGO has been regarded with
mistrust and suspicion. Although the last couple of years have
witnessed improved interest of the public administration in
cooperating with the non-profit sector, NGOs are still rarely
perceived as serious partners and major vehicles of democratic
development.
Diversification of the funding sources - both US and
West European - has been a major factor for the stable growth and
sustainable development of CSD. In the first years of transition
the majority of the funding came from US private and governmental
institutions. On a broader scale, this was true for the whole NGO
community in Bulgaria and in Eastern Europe and has affected the
organizational model adopted by many NGOs. The US was quicker to
respond to the changes in civil society in Eastern Europe and it
was instrumental for the establishment of many think tanks in the
region. Since 1995 CSD has expanded the geographical scope of its
partners and sponsoring institutions. Along with the support of US
organizations it now receives a substantial amount of funding from
the European Union programs. This shift of balance comes at a time
when Bulgaria strongly emphasizes the high priority of its
accession to the European Union. It is also the result of
increasing EU attention and funding devoted to the associated
states in Central and Eastern Europe.
The value of nonpartisanship is evident not only
against the background of the volatile political environment of
recent years but also in view of the impact which a nongovernmental
policy institute aims to achieve. Despite having to operate under
the constraints of available funding, CSD's independent, and
diverse, research and advocacy agenda allowed it to grow into a
full-service Bulgarian think tank.
"The Center for the Study of
Democracy has been at the forefront of economic research and
advocacy in Bulgaria in the past seven years. Its studies and
policy recommendations have provided valuable assistance to the
governments in office, to parliamentarians, policy and decision
makers. The series of outreach activities held at CSD have
contributed to an informed public debate on democracy and market
reform issues. Few organizations in the country could equal this
expertise, as well as CSD's public standing and democratic
credentials of a leading independent policy institute."
Mr. Stefan Sofianski,
Mayor of Sofia
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On the whole, diversified funding has enabled CSD to
utilize experience and credentials accumulated through the years,
bypassing the need to constantly remodel priorities parallel to the
strategies of donor organizations. Stable organizational identity
has on the other hand made it possible for the organization to
build long-term career oriented relationships with its permanent
and part-time staff.
Full-service think tank
Following the logic of sustainable organizational
development with a long-term commitment focused on the advancement
of democratic transition and market-oriented reforms in Bulgaria,
the Center has gradually accumulated an extended set of
institutional capacities. This is probably the main reason why CSD
has recently been termed "one of the few full service thinks tanks
in Eastern Europe".
The long-term commitments of CSD are reflected in
its current organizational structure: it includes four core
programs - Economic, Law Reform, European and Sociological.
Each of these programs is a research unit in its own right but it
is also a source of support and valuable input for the operation of
the others. In this way CSD is able to collect primary data through
survey research, examine policy options and implications, construct
policy recommendations in legal format, and carry out targeted
advocacy.
Areas of achievement
CSD has been one of the most active participants in
the effort to reform the legal and regulatory environment for
privatization and private sector development in Bulgaria since
1991. The scope of activities of its Economic Program
are broad and cover all major aspects of economic transition - mass
and market-based privatization, municipal privatization, foreign
investment, debt conversion and migration of laborers. The main
task is to influence economic policy and legislation and to perform
a watchdog function with respect to the reform process. These
objectives are pursued through a range of research and advocacy
activities, practical assistance to institutional development and
relevant legislative reform, dissemination and training.
In its eight-year history, the Program boasts a long
list of achievements, among which include a program for Regional
Development and Municipal Privatization in the region of Bansko in
Southwestern Bulgaria, a National Mutual Fund, adopted by the
Council of Ministers, an Agriculture Development and Assistance
Fund, adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture, and policy
recommendations for expanded Bulgarian-US trade and economic
relation, presented at the US-Bulgaria summit in Washington, D.C.
in February 1995.
"In a difficult year of economic
decline, political transformation, and renewed commitment to
democratic and economic reform, the Center for the Study of
Democracy, has been an active participant in Bulgaria's
transformation to an open market-based democratic society. Through
its research and advocacy campaign, the CSD has provided the forces
of reform with clear and independent guidance in creating the
instruments of a market economy which will help speed Bulgaria's
reform process, while ensuring best practices are adopted. The
Center for International Private Enterprise is pleased to support
CSD in its invaluable work and contribution to Bulgaria's growth
and transformation."
Dr. John D. Sullivan,
Executive Director,
Center for International Private
Enterprise (CIPE), Washington, DC
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The Economic Program's achievements since 1991
include:
- preparation of policy recommendation papers on the
regulatory reform of privatization and foreign investment;
- organization of policy-oriented seminars and
workshops on municipal privatization, investment funds, mass
privatization, foreign investment, debt management and the
efficiency of consulting firms;
- preparation of Reform Round Table papers exploring
some of the most pressing issues of the economic reform in
Bulgaria: tax reform, inflation and pricing policy, agrarian
reform, social security and the labor market.
In 1994-1995 the Program developed a fully-fledged
Debt Conversion Program to assist Bulgarian authorities in drafting
the arrangements for Debt - Equity Swaps by combining the existing
legal framework for privatization with the new regulatory
framework, institutional setup and swap mechanisms.
The Privatization and Foreign Investment
Monitor published by the Economic Program of CSD is a digest of
publications about privatization and economic reforms in Bulgarian
mass media.
The CSD Law Reform Program was
established in the early spring of 1991. Initially its efforts were
directed primarily to establishing and supporting the contacts
between the Bulgarian government and foreign assistance groups,
such as the American Bar Association Central and East European Law
Initiative, the International Development Law Institute in Rome,
the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation and
others. The initial focus of the Program was constitutional law
reform. With the enactment of the new Constitution in the spring of
1991, the emphasis in the activities shifted towards commercial law
reform. During the past six years, the Program gradually developed
into a legal reform agent with a considerable law drafting
record.
Among the major achievements of the Program is the
development of a Law on Registered Pledges, passed by the National
Assembly in November 1996, and Draft Law on Non-Profit
Organizations. In a more recent development, the Program has
embarked on the elaboration of the tax legal framework for
non-profit organizations and has started a strategic long term
effort in the area of approximation of Bulgarian law to EU
legislation.
The Law Program has provided the government with
expert comments on more than thirty draft laws and with a series of
concept papers introducing leading international concepts on the
legal framework for investment funds, foreign trade regulation,
government procurement, securities regulation and fighting money
laundering. Aiming to facilitate the transfer of advanced legal
expertise the Program also organizes educational seminars for the
Bulgarian legal community.
Issues in Bulgarian Law, the Law Program's
publication series have so far covered diverse areas such as
foreign investment law, in-kind contributions in commercial
companies, privatization, government structure and operations and
bankruptcy.
The CSD Sociological Program has been
at the forefront of social research in Bulgaria since its inception
as a research unit in the late autumn of 1989. In 1990, it
conducted the first ever independent pre- and post-election surveys
in the country. The Program's track record includes over 95,000
face-to-face interviews, 14,000 telephone interviews, 300 in-depth
interviews and 80 focus groups nation-wide.
The Program was transformed into Vitosha Research,
an independent survey research unit, at the end of 1994 to give new
direction to its work and to deepen its concentration in the field
of market research. Vitosha Research now specializes in ad-hoc
social and marketing research and consultancy services covering a
broad range of activities - monitoring privatization and economic
behavior, gauging political attitudes, determining value
orientations, conducting media and audience research, advertising
studies and others. It is among the founding members of the
Bulgarian Association of Market Researchers.
Today, Vitosha Research makes use of a national
interviewer net of about 350 professional interviewers which is
regionally based and consists of 28 teams. It has established
working relations and research cooperation with institutions
including the BBC World Service, USIA Office of Research,
InterMedia (USA), the World Bank, United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) and Democracy Network Program, to name but a few.
With Bulgaria's EU association status, the need
emerged for expertise and policy analysis facility to support the
inauguration of a long term accession strategy. In view of its
institutional capacity as a leading think tank and its expert
network established under a diversity of previous public policy and
legislative projects, CSD's assistance was solicited by the
government to carry out a pioneering assessment of Bulgaria's
readiness for integration.
CSD's efforts in the field of European integration
began with the launch of its project Europe 2000: Bulgaria and
the European Union in late 1994. This project started as a
pioneer analysis of issues related to the implementation of
Bulgaria's EU Association Agreement under a Service Contract with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later evolved into a
comprehensive long-term effort aimed at facilitating Bulgaria's
accession to the EU.
Following a succession of policy and outreach
projects, in the period 1996-1997 it developed into a
European Program of CSD. Focusing on the policy and
approximation of law aspects of accession, for a relatively short
period of time CSD managed to make a significant contribution to an
enhanced institutional and policy capacity in Bulgaria for a
successful European integration process. CSD has produced public
policy analysis and recommendations in over 20 sectors of
integration based on the EU White Paper on the integration of
Central and East European countries. The White Paper, which is the
key approximation of law document for accession preparation, was
itself translated by the Center shortly after its publication by
the European Commission in 1995.
Since 1993, CSD has also hosted the
Information and Documentation Centre on the Council of Europe
in Sofia. Established jointly with the Council of Europe
and the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was inaugurated
on December 13, 1993 in the presence of Ms. Catherine Lalumiere,
Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Dr. Zhelyu Zhelev,
President of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The purpose of the Information Centre is to assist
the Council of Europe's activities in Bulgaria, aimed at promoting
democratic values, human rights pluralist democracy and the rule of
law. It maintains a rich documentary collection and online link
with the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Its activities cover a
broad range of issues, including human rights, social issues,
education, culture, sports, youth, mass media, and local
self-government.
The Information Centre has published a number of
translations and publications of Council of Europe documents,
including the European Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and other major documents.
In addition to its activities in the field of policy
and legislative reform, CSD has invested considerable effort into
its book donation initiative as the Bulgarian partner
to the U.S. Sabre Foundation since November 1990. The Sabre
Foundation collects university level textbooks and other
specialized books published in the United States within the
previous three to four years, and ships them to Bulgaria for free
distribution. For its part, CSD is responsible for selecting the
most useful and relevant titles for Bulgaria.
Since 1990, CSD has donated over 180,000 books and
textbooks worth more than million to a total of 420 institutions
and 7,600 individual recipients. The books are processed and
distributed to universities, research institutes, secondary
schools, public libraries, hospitals and health centers, and to
thousands of individual recipients. The Open Society Foundation,
Sofia contributes to the cost of book processing and
distribution.
* * *
The rich experience of the Center for the Study of
Democracy through the years since 1990 has formed its institutional
personality today - a truly interdisciplinary public policy
institute with a sound reputation for its reliable research data
and independent professional analyses of the major aspects of
Bulgaria's transition to democracy and market economy. The contact
we have maintained with our partners and friends through the Annual
Reports has been a major factor in this process.
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