CyprusAid, the Development Cooperation Service of the Republic of Cyprus, which is currently engaged in an ambitious EUR 4.4 mln overseas aid programme, will engage local non-governmental development organisations in future projects.
Dr. Andreas Moleskis, the energetic Permanent Secretary of the Planning Bureau who has been appointed to head the Cyprus EU Presidency office in preparation of when Nicosia will take over the EU Presidency in July 2012, told the Financial Mirror in an interview that “it is our intention to engage Cyprus NGOs that will have the ability to participate, design and implement development projects in the future.”
Dr. Moleskis said CyprusAid cooperates with NGOs for small-scale projects using “microgrants”, a special ad-hoc finance facility for funding small projects not exceeding EUR 10,000 each, under the sole discretion of the Foreign Minister.
These include various projects implemented by the Greek Orthodox Church in Africa, the installation of water wells and reservoirs and support for a nutrition programme for orphans in Kenya, the creation of a foundation and the completion of a school for technical education in Zimbabwe, providing funds to NGOs like “Volunteer Doctors” for a small agricultural project in Zimbabwe as well as support for their missions and other projects of the same scale.
“Recently we have also supported, on an ad-hoc basis some ‘Global Education’ awareness activities by the ‘Future World Centre’ NGO, as well as some capacity building and development cooperation awareness seminars for NGO members organised by the NGO Support Centre.”
Reforming NGO framework
Dr. Moleskis said that “the involvement of Cypriot civil society in development cooperation is vital, as it will serve our long-term vision of implementing development projects abroad without necessarily depending on cooperating with a foreign partner.”
This is why CyprusAid has initiated a process to reform the legal framework for the establishment and operation of civil society organisations in Cyprus, so as to create a process by which to enable the funding of NGOs by government sources for development cooperation activities of a large scale.
“In a nutshell, we have, with the cooperation and support of the UNDP-ACT programme, employed the services of a legal expert in the non-profit sector who reviewed the legal framework in Cyprus and provided specific recommendations for reforms. The relevant government services have responded positively to this process and actions are being taken to effect the reform. The goal is to create a special NGO status, the “Public Benefit Organisation”, which will provide an accreditation for NGOs satisfying certain criteria (accountability, sound financial processes and status, track record, operations, etc.) through which the NGOs that receive this status will be able to compete for government funding,” said Dr. Moleskis.
