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THE FIFTH WHEEL IN A PEASANT CART?

THE ROLE OF PUBLIC ORGANISATIONS IN LAND REFORM IN UKRAINE

Land reform is one of the most complex socio-economic problems seeking resolution in Ukraine for the last decade. Introduction of new forms of land ownership has invoked a mixed reaction from the public and engenders contradicting interests. Relevant structures are created to articulate and protect interests of different social groups, i.e., non-governmental organisations (NGOs). What role do NGOs play in the establishment of new economic relations and land ownership rights?

To answer that question, we review the principles of activities and the role of public organisations in implementing land reform and the formation of an effective and transparent land market, explore the specificity of their relations with the state, and analyse NGOs participation in the formation and pursuance of public policy.

In Ukraine, formation of NGOs engaged in land reform processes started 10 years ago. This process began with land reform, and was determined by the overall pace of democratisation, development of the private sector and the scope of donors' support.

As a result of land denationalisation, new social groups have emerged, which established NGOs to protect their interests. For instance, farmers established the Ukrainian Farmer Association, executives and members of collective farms - the All-Ukrainian Council of Agricultural Enterprises, small landowners - the Union of Landowners, large landowners and tenant farmers - the Association of Tenants and Landowners.

The years of 1995-1996 witnessed the expansion of international technical assistance projects in the agrarian sector, mainly oriented towards the establishment of business structures.(1) At the same time, institutionalisation of international projects brought about the establishment of a number of NGOs.

New NGOs are also established on the initiative of political parties, professional and business unions (the Union of Agrarian Youth of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Public Committee in Support for Land Reform, etc.).

Social and legal protection. (3) This line of activities became crucial and acquired special significance after the beginning of land reform because of the urgent need to deal with the social and legal problems associated with that reform. International donor organisations also stimulated the development of public human rights organisations and relevant projects of other NGOs. Protection of professional interests. (4) There is a wide circle of NGOs that provide professional support for their members and upgrading their professional skills (for instance, through seminars with attestation of participants by the League of Land Appraisers). Given the variety of professions and the emergence of new kinds of professional activities that follow the land market development, it is reasonable to assume that the process of creation of new NGOs on a professional basis will continue. (5)

Information and analytical support. (6) This sector was featured by support from donor organisations for the establishment of NGOs providing information and analytical services: the Centre for Agrarian Reform was backed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Land Reform Centre - by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Centre for Land Reform Policy in Ukraine - by Open Society Institute - Budapest. These organisations are characterised by, first of all, limited staff, and, secondly, clear targets and complementary actions. Each organisation occupies its certain niche and co-ordinates its activities with relevant state institutions. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine constantly invites the Director of the Centre for Agrarian Reform to take part in the development of strategic documents, the Land Reform Centre employs the scientific potential of the Land Surveying Institute under the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences, Centre for Land Policy Reform in Ukraine works in co-operation with the State Committee of Ukraine for Land Resources (Centre's experts take part in the elaboration of issues of information support for the land reform projects).

The above-mentioned fields of NGOs activities working with land and agrarian reform issues could be the principal but not the only ones on their agenda. There are many examples of combining different kinds of activities. For example, the Ukrainian Farmer Association renders social, legal and information and analytical support for its members, lobbies their economic interests and assists in farmers' economic activities (purchase of fuels and lubricants at discount prices, agricultural marketing, etc.).

Apart from organisations professionally dealing with the issues of the agrarian sector, one should also mention organisations that pursue other objectives but are still engaged in some projects in the land sector because of extreme importance of these issues. A good example of such projects was the public hearings on the draft of the new Land Code and other topical issues of land reform in Ukraine organised by the Regional Initiative Found. This group also includes organisations and analytical centres performing studies on the land reform issues and disseminating that information among the public and officials. As a rule, they deal with broader issues of establishing a market economy and democratisation of Ukrainian society (for instance, the studies of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, whose activities are aimed at the formation of public opinion and indirect analytical services for governmental institutions).

A special group is represented by organisations protecting the interests of national minorities and gender organisations. Organisations of this type often address land problems when the rights of their members are needed to be protected. For instance, public and political organisations of Crimean Tatars resolutely advocated the interests of their ethnic group during land sharing on the Crimean peninsula. A gender public organisation - the Council of Women-Farmers of Ukraine - has established a network of information centres, holds seminars for its members and publishes specialised educational literature with the purpose of raising the status of women in Ukraine's rural areas.(7)

The scope of activities of different NGOs in Ukraine varies. National NGOs are active throughout Ukraine's territory. They represent the interests of broad social groups they managed to mobilise and involve into intense public activities.

Regional NGOs are active in one or several regions. To be sure, not all NGOs need to be nation-wide (for instance, the problem of Crimean Tatars is confined to the boundaries of the Crimean peninsula). Regional NGOs are less powerful but rather effective within the limits of their regions due to their knowledge of the regional conditions. This can be well illustrated by the activities of NGOs in some western regions (Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts), where the regional specificity of land reform requires adaptation of their activities to the local situation that may not coincide with the national trends.

Local NGOs are normally active in large cities (Kyiv, Simferopol). Organisations operating in the capital may be very influential due to their geographic proximity to the institutions that make decisions on the national level.

Official data of the State Statistic Committee of Ukraine show that in 1999, the total budget of NGOs in Ukraine was about $60 million. (8)

As a rule, NGOs are financed from domestic sources. Charitable assistance from Ukrainian commercial structures almost twice exceeds state assistance and, according to the Innovation and Development Centre, makes up almost 65% of all funds. Sometimes NGOs succeed in receiving grants from international donor organisations or take part in international technical assistance and business co-operation projects (23% of them get international assistance, 12% - assistance from joint ventures).(9)

The reliance of the majority of NGOs on domestic sources of funds often makes them vulnerable, since business structures that fund NGOs can be easily destroyed by state institutions in case of a conflict between such organisation or its representatives and influential officials. This observation relates to NGOs that were unable to mobilise broad social (and, correspondingly, financial) support from its potential "client" group or were established to service a certain leader or idea and rely on a limited funding sources. This primarily refers to organisations attempting to represent the interests of business circles. In agriculture (as well as in other sectors in Ukraine), business is closely connected with commercial interests of officials and greatly depends on them. Furthermore, the process of businessmen's perception of their own interests different from those of the authorities and bureaucrats goes on too slowly, which does not contribute to their supporting viable NGOs.

It is rather difficult to provide a comprehensive description of relations between NGOs and state institutions, since the processes of separation of business from the state and definition of social groups and interests specific of market environment are far from being completed.

The first, and rather frequent, type of relations between NGOs and state institutions both on the national and local levels is characterised by certain mutual interests: NGOs provide public support for some actions of the state in exchange for privileges for their members. State decisions taken in defiance of interests of such organisations may meet open resistance on their part. A showy example is presented by the activities of Crimean Tatar organisations.

The second type of relations is based on a model widely used in the post-Soviet space for the establishment of "official", "constructive" political parties, movements and trade unions by the authorities using so-called administrative resources. Specific of those is their controllability by the authorities and subordination of their activities to the needs of state institutions and public policy.

The third type that is gradually gaining ground is presented by so-called "civilised" relations between NGOs and state institutions. Cooperation or opposition, consultations or even confrontation are to take place publicly, solely within the limits of Ukraine's legislation.

It would be more accurate to term the relations between NGOs and the state as "interrelations", since state institutions and their separate representatives also pay much attention to NGOs active in the field of land reform. Pragmatic or democratically oriented officials realise that cooperation with NGOs can make reform more effective and transparent. Use of such organisations helps at least partially exercise those functions that the state cannot perform because of the lack of political will, financial or human resources. To a certain extent, this refers to informating of peasants about the land reform, analysis of the course and results of the reform, legal protection of peasants, etc.

Co-operation with NGOs makes it possible to master innovative mechanisms of interaction between the state and the public and new forms of state information support for agrarian reform. Successful examples of innovations supported by state institutions are presented by public hearings on the issues of land reform held jointly with the Regional Initiative Centre and promotion of "My Land" web-site of Centre for Land Reform Policy in Ukraine. Another example of effective use of high tech for database creation is presented by the development of the National Farm Restructuring Programme (NFRP). The Programme was worked out with assistance of the Agricultural Land Sharing Project (RONCO Consulting Corporation^ USAJD) to be used by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine. The Programme provides detailed up-to-date information about the restructuring process in each of 14 thousand Ukrainian farms. The possibility of attracting non-governmental, either foreign or domestic, funds for implementation of certain projects is used to maintain co-operation between the state and NGOs.

NGOs may and do take part at all stages of development, implementation and assessment of the state land reform policy both on the national and local levels. Such participation may take the shape of public or covert lobbying, public discussions, consultations through advisory, analytical or representative institutions (for instance, the Commission for Agrarian Policy under the President of Ukraine, the National Council of Entrepreneurs and Investors under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine). To be sure, the degree of influence and the results of participation depend on the stage, problems and the level of state institutions responsible for taking relevant decisions.

NGOs active in the field of land relations have their specific problems, too. First of all, their influence is too low. Only a few organisations could really influence governmental decisions. Those include, for example, the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Ukraine and the Association of Real Estate Experts (Realtors) of Ukraine.

Another specific problem is the lack of specialists of relevant background. In the Soviet times, legal and economic aspects of the land use were out of focus. As a result, there are no enough specialists who could be hired by NGOs, and the services of the available experts are very expensive.

There is a deficit of information on land reform issues in Ukraine. Hence, the information component should become one of the priorities for NGOs activities.

In Ukraine, NGOs are on the road of becoming one of the most effective channels of state-society interaction and an important instrument of stabilising the processes of transformation taking place in land reform. However, to be able to assure the appropriate place for the third sector in society, Ukrainian NGOs require support from the state and the international community.

State institutions should more actively involve NGOs in co-operation or even delegate them some functions, such as social and legal protection of the most vulnerable (during land reform) strata of the population. It seems expedient to draw attention of international donor organisations to support NGOs in general and their specific projects.

NGOs themselves should more actively participate in the process of state policy-making, take part in the legislative activities and concentrate on the most important function - public control over the implementation of land policy jointly elaborated by state and public structures.

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