Since the signing of the Dayton Agreement, the European Community has begun to establish all segments of society, including the civil sector. Twenty-five years after the beginning of that process, everyone should ask the question of the expediency of this type of investment. Approximately 27,000 NGOs are registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), but the society still faces a number of problems, especially the problem of young people leaving the country. The non-governmental sector must acknowledge the mistakes and responsibility for the situation in which BiH society finds itself today. The key question is how much the NGO sector is ready to face and how much it is ready to step out of the comfort zone. For example, social activism, within which some NGOs focus their work, is to make a video about social activism. Such approach is wrong and suggests that the members of these types of organizations must themselves be socially active and as such be an example to others.
Aleksandar Trifunović
The non-governmental sector itself must enter into a legally permitted direct conflict with the devastating system in which the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina live. The damage to the image of the non-governmental sector was caused by people who switched from civil society sector to political parties, thus creating a huge public distrust towards the non-governmental sector. On the one hand, there are very high quality and useful projects implemented by NGOs, project funds are brought into the state and spent, among other things, on employing citizens. However, the overall performance is insufficient considering the existence of more than 27,000 NGOs.
The non-governmental sector should stop dealing with itself and project proposals, but should deal with society and the connection between society and the system, i.e., the problems that society has with the system. The ultimate goal is a better system, not to tear it down. The key is to change the methodology of the non-governmental sector. Looking at the situation in the society for the last twenty-five years, the strengthening and not the weakening of nationalism is evident, conflict rhetoric is constantly present, and one gets the impression that the war is not over, but only continued by other means. The non-governmental sector should devote all its resources to these problems, to deconstruct, for example, nationalist policies that hold all citizens of this society hostage to a political mud in which the control and distribution of conflict are the essence of political action until election victory. It is important to win elections and cover up one’s own incompetence with permanent conflict. The biggest uprisings of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have nothing to do with the non-governmental sector, which is good. NGOs need to carry out a kind of revolt, and revolt is a daily necessity in BiH society. In such situations, organizations should approach without any call, provide support to those who do not have the organizational capacity and certain knowledge.
It is necessary to “live” social activism, and non-governmental organizations must go to the field where certain problem exists. Representatives of the non-governmental sector should come to these places in person and contribute to solving specific problems, more visibly and independently. In this way, it is only possible to achieve synergy of the non-governmental sector. I do not see synergy in the coalitions of the non-governmental sector, whose members are hundreds of non-governmental organizations that should work together. I believe only in individual initiatives and work and I recognize only those NGOs that face the problem through their work, everything else will keep the NGO sector in hibernation that lasts a very long time and which citizens recognize very well.
