By: Baquer Namazi,

Director of the Iran NGO Initiative

and
Senior Adviser to the Population Council
 Recent Trends
• Focus on People’s participation
• Impact of global policies
• President Khatami’s Policy
• Elections and Local Councils
• Coordinating Council of NGOs
• NGO Law Reform
 NGOs in Iran
• Environmental NGOs 501
• Women NGOs 300
• Youth NGOs 2,500 (1000 registered)
• Scientific 115
• Cultural and Artistic 2181
• Charities Almost 5,000
• Community Funds Almost 10,000
• 50% of NGOs (over 7,000) were set up during the last
four years.
Percent Distribution of Iranian NGOs by Year of Establishment

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1979 1980-89 1990-96 1997-2000
 Challenges facing NGOs
• Structural and legal constraints
• Conflicting policies and bad practices
• Govt’s role as heavy handed control agent
• Serious obstacles to interactive international
cooperation, e.g. to resources; GINGOs
• Role of traditional CBOs neglected
 Internal Problems
1. Insufficient professionalism and participatory
management systems
2. Weak technical and financial capabilities
3. Affinity with the communities weak
4. Scarcity and unreliability of information and data
5. Absence of culture of accountability and
transparency
6. Lack of understanding with respect to role of NGOs
7. Strong Code of ethics needed
 Opportunities
• Demand for democracy and participation
• Role of CSOs increasingly recognized
• Community participation, role of CSOs/NGOs and
expatriate Iranians highlighted in Fourth Plan
• Growing confidence of CSOs/NGOs to challenge
government policies
• Forums for dialogue by all stakeholders
• Several progressive Government voices
 Opportunities (cont’d)-
• New visions linking research and advocacy
to community-based action emerging
• More opportunities for expatriate Iranians
• More involvement of provincial CSOs
• New alliances involving diverse partners,
World Bank, traditional philanthropists,
multinationals
 Cooperation possibilities: Types
• Training and capacity building
• Joint research projects
• Community-based initiatives
• Scientific and CSO exchange
• Information and experience sharing
• Networking
• EXPATRIATE IRANIANS AS BRIDGE
 Cooperation possibilities: Themes

• Good governance, human rights, law, democracy

• Gender mainstreaming
• Children and youth empowerment
• Environmental protection
• Poverty Alleviation; vulnerability reduction
• Health and population
• Popularization of science and technology
 CSO/NGO Empowerment:
INI’s contributions
• Created new alliances with communities, traditional
philanthropists, universities, private sector, World
Bank and multi-nationals
• Promoted virtual networking
• Strengthened international cooperation with UN
bodies, European and US CSOs, including dialogue
with EU
• Supported training and capacity building projects
• Helped highlight role of CSOs in Fourth National
Plan
NGO Empowerment (cont’d)
• Took the dialogue to the provinces
• Initiated five community-based pilot projects,
with one operational (in Ardekan)
• Cooperated with universities and centers of
excellence
• Contributed to development of NGO literature
through studies (Situation Analysis of Iranian
NGOs)
• Cooperated with the Iranian diaspora
 Iran/US NGO joint activities
supported by INI
Partners: Ford, Population Council, Woodrow
Wilson Center, ISAR, SFCG, W.Alton
Jones
Activities covered included:
• Training
• Exchange
• Studies
 Training Activities
• Two proposal writing workshops
• Workshop on lobbying and advocacy
• Workshop on women, children and peace
• Two E-law workshops
• Fellowship to E-law Institute
• Cooperation of E-Law Institute with Tehran
University leading to graduate program
 Seminars and Exchanges
• Meeting of Iranian/US CSOs (DAPIA)
• Visit of 10 ENGO representatives to USA
• Tehran Environment and Urban
Development Seminar
• Meeting of Caspian NGOs in Tehran
 Studies
• Situation Analysis of Iranian NGOs
• Study on perspectives of independent
researchers on scientific exchange
• Study on Traditional Community-Based
Organizations
 Criteria for cooperation
• Focus on people-to-people cooperation
bereft of politics
• Equality and mutual respect
• Transparency
• Priority to community level actions
• New code of ethics for cooperation
 Start-up actions
• Take stock of ongoing cooperative actions
• Set up network of interested partners
• Create data bank
• Set up focal points for cooperation
• Generate joint projects through consultation
with focus on community-based projects
• Focus on ideas and action