Interfax: Russian NGOs have many issues with transparency – Transparency International

(Interfax – February 11, 2014) The Russian branch of Transparency International has started studying the transparency of Russian non-governmental organizations (NGO) receiving EU grants, head of Transparency International office in Russia, Yelena Panfilova, said.

“Due to the fact that Russia has many organizations receiving not just Russian budget funds but also EU budget funds, which are distributed by the European Commission to support NGOs in other countries, we have decided to look at what the transparency standards are,” Panfilova told Interfax on Tuesday.

The Russian branch of Transparency International will hold studies in three groups – NGOs receiving presidential grants, socially oriented NGOs receiving grants from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, and NGOs receiving budget funds from the European Union, Panfilova said.

When holding such analysis, a comparison of which NGO is more transparent is not raised, Panfilova said. “We found this interesting not in terms of comparison but rather in terms of correlation,” she said.

Certain conclusions, based on the analysis of transparency of NGOs using domestic grants, exist, Panfilova said.

“We wanted to see how transparent and accountable this entire system is and what society can see. Having looked, we have found out that very many issues exist. We have realized that it is necessary to continue the research on the information transparency levels, and for now we analyze it alone – in other words, having a website, contact information, management structure – we have found out the most organizations do not have even this,” Panfilova said.