In the questionnaire that the course participants were given, the following question was asked: in what way did those applying to BRNGO “United Way” for the first time, find out about its activity. Allowing for some inaccuracy, the question may be rephrased in the following manner: “From which sources do you get information about the activity of other NGOs?” This question was put to those course participants who had applied to BRNGO “United Way” for the first time.

68.2% answered the question at hand; the remaining 31.8% of the participants of the survey had applied to our NGO in the past. The answers were very different: from traditional information sources  such as friends and acquaintances, to the most modern sources  internet, funds, conferences for NGO representatives etc. These answers were recorded by survey participants as: “other sources of information” and made up 20% of all responses.

Bearing in mind that governmental structures have a large influence over the activity of Belarusian NGOs, an additional answer option to the given question was offered: State managed organisations. 8.4% of survey participants indicated either “government press” (another answer option) or governmental structures, as information sources that were made use of to search for necessary information.

To draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of information centers for NGOs from the results of this survey alone is difficult. Nevertheless, the very ratio of answers to the given question was interesting  again confirming that NGOs in Belarus realize their activities and develop further only if they hold and active position in interacting with their partner organisations. For the current analysis, the ratio describing the relationship between the number of participants who selected the answer option “from other NGOs” and those who selected other answer options (2:3) was especially interesting.