Jasarat Huseynzadeh, chairman of the Public Union "Support to Information Initiatives", told Editor.az that the President has always had initiatives to support NGOs and develop their activities:

"These initiatives are welcomed and appreciated by NGO members and chairmen. The announcement of grant competitions for NGOs last year, a special decree signed by the President when certain problems arose in connection with financial issues, gave some exclusive rights to the State Support Agency for NGOs for a certain period of time.

About 4 million were allocated to NGOs at the direct initiative of the President. This should be especially appreciated. However, I think that despite the strict control, there are still some problems with NGOs and public councils. Although the Law on Public Participation came into force on June 1, 2014, its implementation came too late. During those years, very few public councils began to function. According to statistics, in 2021, there were 12 public councils under the central executive authorities. But last year, public councils were established under 8 central executive authorities. During 2014-2021, a total of 12 public councils functioned. But we can not say what form of activity we are talking about. In the past, there were some gaps in public participation.

 In his speech on the formation of a new parliament in 2020, Mr. President noted the weakness of public control. After this statement, it was in 2021 that the activities of public councils expanded. However, everyone complains about the low level of public participation. What is interesting is what criteria are used to measure public participation? As the Public Union "Support to Information Initiatives", we are working on criteria for evaluating the activities of public councils in 2021-2022. We believe that once these criteria are defined, the activities of public councils can be assessed more broadly. But in general, the weak performance of public councils is a real factor. Because almost no public council reports on its activities. This is one of the main problems.

With the exception of some public councils, the activities of others are not felt. Of course, their weak performance here is due to the fact that those represented are NGO representatives. Weak knowledge and skills of NGO representatives and limited resources have a negative impact on the overall trend. The public council is a representative format of certain institutions. Therefore, the responsibility is not only on them. "

According to Huseynzade, the central executive authorities do not create opportunities for the activities of public councils:

"They are not provided with certain resources, rooms and support for events. When criticizing public councils, it is necessary to take into account the activities of government agencies. Creating a public council does not mean ensuring public participation. Public discussions, hearings should be held, public opinions should be studied, opinion polls should be conducted.

All this leads to a deepening of common problems. There are certain gaps in the law on public participation. However, the biggest gap is the lack of any control mechanism over the implementation of existing legislation to ensure public participation. Which institution can we criticize for not participating in public participation and achieve a certain result? Government agencies do not have a report in this regard.

 The NGO sector should also increase its efforts in this area. Because the state body may not be interested in ensuring public participation. NGOs should raise this issue. As an organization, we have monitored and enlightened the elections to the public councils in 2021. Last year, we achieved 12 changes in 8 central executive bodies.

We have achieved change by criticizing certain processes and involving public opinion. There were times when the organization had some difficulties with the implementation of the law. Therefore, a body that provides general support to the activities of public councils is needed. The body to which the council belongs holds elections to public councils. This is not true. There is no control mechanism for this. The State Support Agency for NGOs also has no legal function. No organization can interfere in this. "

Gulnara Abasova, Editor.az