CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NONGOVERNMENTAL SECTOR IN LATVIA

Abstract

Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) have played their role in political processesfor centuries, continuing to expand their activity and engage the public. The NGO sector in Latvia is young in comparison with Western countries. The first organisations emerged in Latvia after the country regainedthe second independence in the 1990s. The NGO sector in Latvia does not differ from that in other countries and has retaining its nature – any organisation is established voluntarily by a group of individuals with similar beliefs to advocate public interests at political level, for non-commercial purposes and with no government influence. Statistical data show the engagement of the public in NGO activities, which is promoted by progress in the world and such opportunities of the digital era as the Internet, mobile applications, social networks or e-platforms that can inform and mobilise the public fast for tackling some problem. As the NGO sector developed and its scope of activity expanded, new problems were identified, e.g. inability to establish a single system for the activity and financial transparency of organisations.
To exist in a long-term, NGOs need to adapt to a system. Organisations that have built up experience and made achievements represent future potential for new public activists in their work with public administration entities and decision-makers to meet the public’s needs and in the interests of the public, thus, in cooperation, making a better and wealthier life for the country’s residents.
The research aim is to analyse the NGO sector in Latvia. The research employed the following methods: monographic, descriptive, analysis and synthesis, as well as logical construction.

Keywords: civil society; history of NGOs; NGO classification.

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.156