Programs > By Location > Eurasia
Programs By Location: Eurasia
ICNL has conducted projects in the following Eurasian countries:
Current Project Highlights
Azerbaijan: In October, ICNL launched a new 5-year program in Azerbaijan. This program is funded by USAID and implemented by a consortium led by Counterpart International. Through this project, ICNL will work to strengthen the NGO legal enabling environment in Azerbaijan by focusing on two primary spheres: 1) legislation governing establishment and registration procedures for NGOs, and 2) legislation affecting NGO sustainability.
Central Asia: ICNL’s program, with the objective to assist in the development of a comprehensive legal and fiscal framework that will support and strengthen the NGO sector, has been active in Central Asia since 1997. The program has several components including:
- a network of practicing attorneys in Central Asian countries actively involved in NGO work, providing organizations with technical and financial support to enable them to effectively provide legal advice to the civil society community in their country;
- regional, cross border, and national level trainings on country-specific and international NGO law issues;
technical assistance with preparing comments, analysis of legislation, and drafting will be performed by network lawyers (national expertise) and ICNL staff experts (international expertise); and - NGO law courses implemented at 10 universities in Central Asia as well as the development of a textbook and a resource book in Kazakhstan and curriculum, training teachers and delivering lectures in Kyrgyzstan.
ICNL is currently working on these initiatives in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. For example, in Kazakhstan, ICNL has provided educational and technical assistance to advocate for a reduction in the state registration fees for all NGOs for the past two years. This assistance has included conferences and workshops targeting government, legislature, and policy makers as well as multiple publications including the popular book On Overview of Legislation Regulating the Freedom of Association in Countries of Central Asia. As a result, the Government of Kazakhstan recently issued a decree that reduced the state registration fees from $146 to $57 for almost all NGOs. In Tajikistan, ICNL is currently working to provide technical assistance on the draft Law on Public Associations, participating in five meetings with the staff of the Ministry of Justice, and providing substantial support in the form of materials and advice to the drafting committee.
Russia: ICNL has been involved in several exciting initiatives in Russia. Most recently, ICNL has been working to substantially improve the NGO Law adopted by the Russian Parliament. While the final law is not as restrictive as the original draft law, several provisions remain that will severely curtail the operation of NGOs. The provisions mainly concern the receipt of foreign funding thus jeopardizing many organizations’ sustainability.
In May, ICNL hosted a delegation of representatives from the Russian Government, Duma, and independent Russian think-tanks for a study tour on taxation issues affecting NGOs. The Russian delegation included policymakers responsible for implementing and designing Russian federal government policies and federal legislation relating to taxation and NGOs. The knowledge gained during the study tour empowered the Russian government officials and think-tank representatives to develop comprehensive legislative proposals on taxation affecting NGOs.
Ukraine: ICNL is working to promote civil society in Ukraine through NGO capacity building and enhanced civic participation, through providing technical support to the NGO’s public campaign focused on improving the regulatory environment for NGOs in Ukraine, specifically:
- improving tax legal framework which would assure fair treatment and appropriate benefits to NGOs, in particular to those of public benefit,
- increasing in-country capacity of NGOs, lawyers, and government officials on legal issues affecting the NGO sector; and
- building sustainable networks of individuals and organizations interested in NGO law not just within one country, but region-wise.
In order to accomplish these goals, ICNL has undertaken the following activities:
- Technical assistance with drafting of fiscal and tax laws affecting the sector, and implementation of tax and framework legislation through distributing comparative materials on laws in various countries, in-person consultations, legislative analysis, and sharing drafting skills;
- Educational and training initiatives to promote capacity of lawyers, government officials at all levels, and NGO leaders throughout the region will include roundtables, seminars, conferences, as well as distribution of information electronically and through publications; and
- Assistance on the preparation of a compact on NGO-government cooperation, including the development of a book titled “European Policies on CSO-Government Cooperation” to enable readers to consider and evaluate different models of CSO-Government cooperation, as well as to understand how such models are drafted and implemented.
Completed Project Highlights
Georgia: ICNL’s Georgia project came to a close in July. ICNL’s final contribution to the project was to finalize and publish a book entitled, Selected Procedures for Granting Charitable, Public Benefit and Tax-exempt Status around the World, which contains comparative materials on a number of countries’ methods for awarding tax-exempt or charitable status. This book will serve as an educational tool for local stakeholders that will continue to be involved in the development of follow-up regulations implementing amendments to the Georgian tax code which introduced the concept of “charitable organization.”