Dean Donev, MA in Social Ethics

Fundamental ethic values as an inspiration and motive for concrete activities in non-governmental organizations

Non-governmental organizations take active part in the attempts of advancing human life. In accordance with the issues they deal with in taking actions, the objective has to match the idea – they exist to complement what governmental institutions do not have enough time or are not in the mood to do, but at the same time to express citizens’ needs in a civil society, to help people, the representatives of the civil society in their efforts to develop and realize the needs that are necessary for maintaining and advancing today’s life.

In order to realize their goals and functions as organizations through which the citizen expresses and realizes his/her ethical needs, they themselves necessarily have to be led by ethical principles. In their functioning the non-governmental organizations are led by certain ethical values, norms, and their realization and practice becomes the basic concept for their activities in the NGO sector. It is about the noble ideas of humankind, i.e. cooperation, freedom, rights, dignity, peace, welfare, help…- values without whose representation and putting into effect it is not possible to reach life’s goal nowadays, neither in the future nor better living conditions for those who are to come. But not only a good life in terms of an economic result in the development of each of the countries, but in terms of quality of ethical not being in danger, ethical peace and fulfillment, that would eventually be an impracticable dream if all actions and activities of the non-governmental organizations are not based on the real ethical goal – creation of such kind of social civic awareness and culture that shall not be led only by the fact to continue the existence of their own nation at any price, but to create in a way that will undoubtedly lead all towards a universal common ethics as the basis for respecting what we come from – biomass, in order to come to what we all strive for: ethically based use of the whole bio-potential. Pointing out and emphasizing this is due to the fact that no non-governmental organization would have its justification if with its actions does not lead to creation of an overall, all-human, universal bioethics.

Therefore, in the basis of the operating mechanism of the whole non-governmental sector and single within each non-governmental organization, basic postulates are well profiled and chosen ethical values according to which they are led and according to which their activities are evaluated and appropriate results are required. It is because of the fact that the value is a choice of what is considered to be good and represents dissociation from what is known to be evil. It is a mechanism of the value: the one who chooses it, lives and takes actions according to it, plans his procedures according to it, measures his realizations and compares other’s actions. In this context the value is an expression of our awareness of life, relations between people and our actions. Through the real universal, ethical and moral values the whole vision of man is expressed – how it should be consistently lived and acted. This implies to the fact that values, real ethical values are not only an inspiration for the non-governmental organizations, but also their modus vivendi of actions in order to meet their role, goal and function – to be the bridge between the citizen and the society.

Representing these values and even more, the efforts for their promotion, the non-governmental sector shows a strong will and intention to realize them as they best express human goals, interests, desires and aspirations. They are watchdogs in terms of the conditions in the society and their development in interest of all. Through the non-governmental organizations we express and defend moral values, thus choosing, building, representing, recommending and implementing the same universal, real ethical values. Only through their realization can we take actions in accordance with benevolence.

On the other hand, the real ethical value as the most important human internal dimension is at the same time the basic social etalon with which every one of us best measures his/her achievements, own spiritual and material accomplishments and in the community orientation it is evaluated together with the steps and procedures in its frames, thus meeting another task and goal of the non-governmental organizations – to be the corrective to both the society and its institutions. Therefore it is important which value will be accepted and established as the highest, as people’s life and ethical activity will be led by that thus showing, proving and valuing ethical justification and their foundation. It means that the direction and quality of the human living depend on the choice of real values. The more important, primarily chosen values affect the evaluation of the overall ethical taking actions.

But here it is least about only a declarative level of representation of these values. They are an inspiration for creating active concepts in the non-governmental sector and even more, this sector has shown for the past few years that it possesses an intention and efforts for their realization through its own way of taking actions. Their efforts and actions are led in accordance with the acceptance of determined positive, good values and rejecting negative, bad values. Generally, in spite of all varieties between the non-governmental organizations in terms of the method, the subject of taking actions etc., we can still draw some positive real fundamental ethical values in their activities, which are simultaneously the sense of their own existence and that speak in defense of their efforts for taking actions in the name of better today and tomorrow.

Meeting such role, task and objective, it can certainly be said that non-governmental organizations become a social value and as such, they meet another need of each citizen, that is that in the everyday life there are always some practical ethical benchmarks and a field where he can constantly self-check in terms of the chosen ethical values he strives for and which are the reason for his existence and social activities.
 
(the author has an MA in social ethics)