Membership bodies are an increasing necessity in today’s world. As governments get larger, they grow detached from their citizens, making it more difficult for officials to remain responsive to citizens’ needs. Individual citizens often find it difficult and daunting to navigate immense government structures to effectively lobby for change by themselves. NGOs and special interest groups provide the manpower and expertise needed to make the government more receptive to their citizens. Civil society fills this gap by mobilizing citizens into large groups led by professional representatives. These individuals have the know-how to traverse layers of government more effectively than a single person could. They provide officials with constituent requests in a comprehensive, coherent format, and act as a go between for citizens and government. Moreover, as government issues become more complex, they often need policy experts to advise them on the best course of action in a particular situation.
These organizations are full of individuals with expert knowledge in their fields, who can counsel leaders on the impacts of certain policy decisions. For individuals wishing to form membership groups it is important to investigate what makes particular organizations more successful than others in seeking change. This critical analysis can help when deciding what methods to adopt and which to discard to achieve success in a new organization. With that in mind the paper presents several membership groups in different environments and an analysis of what has made each prosperous.
Unfortunately, there is no culture of membership in Kosovo civil society, while special interests of small and well organized groups are able to override the public interest. As a result, Democracy for Development Institute (D4D), supported by Olof Palme International Center (OPIC,) is implementing a new initiative with the aim of encouraging MBOs creation and their involvement in decision making processes. The main project goal is to help membership associations become more competitive against narrow interests and become more influential in policy-making. They are being encouraged to develop pithy agendas and clear platforms to better convey their interests to political representatives.
Based on developed democracies’ best practices, the first part of the paper elaborates the role of the interest goups, what makes them powerful and successful, as well as their impact. Please note that occasionally, there may be some shortened versions in order not to have repetitions.
The second part consists of three case studies from Kosovo. The first case is that of the Association of Informative Technology (STIKK), and their way toward successful advocating. The case of The Beekeepers Association ‘Poleni’ from Mitrovica follows, which demonstrats how they managed to increase productivity and sale of their products. And the third example, shows how Anti-Tobacco Campaign (ATC), through an intensive lobbying campaign with the Ministry of Health and members of Assembly of Kosovo, managed to ban smoking of tobacco in public places and tobacco product display.
Case studies in the third part, even though from foreign countries, share similar interests as Kosovars, and they mainly focus either on affecting legal change, buttressing passed laws, or against inaction by government bodies when those bodies already had the legal power to make change.
The case of Developing Communities Project is an example of effecting change without massive membership. Conradh na Gaeilge, provides an example of a national organization lobbying at the national level and the supranational level of the EU, and last but not least, the case of th European Women’s Lobby, which is the largest umbrella organization for women’s rights at the EU level making it well-recognized and well-respected.
