Organizing work
Diana LGBT organization Labrys, Bishkek
Bella Children Help Centre, Karakol
“We have a hierarchy, and it is important for me. This is not a matter of respect, fear of someone, but rather it is a matter of who will eventually go to jail if someone in this organization messes up. If an outreach worker does something during his or her work, then the director will be legally responsible for this. I observed in some organizations a horizontal system. And it seemed quite chaotic to me, I thought it was scary. We fairly openly discuss issues in the organization, but when it comes to responsibility and who will bear it eventually, who will be held accountable, then you realize the other side of this system. For example, during large events like March 8, there are things that can go wrong, and people who might be jailed for it, so it is then up to a responsible person to bear the weight of it all.”
“We are sponsored by Karakol City Hall. This is probably all thanks to the efforts of the Child Rights Defenders League. There was great resistance at first, but nonetheless, we succeeded. We are now registered as an institution. We’re considered to be an NGO, but our property is municipal. It is good that we are sitting on the local budget, and there are some guarantees, at the same time we have some freedoms, wider than state ones. We can ask for help somewhere, and develop projects. I think this is a very good example of symbiosis.”
33
