Recent years have revealed the true power of citizens: in the most difficult moments for the state, it was civil initiatives that were able to gather and surprise the whole world with their solidarity and help both during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the face of the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine.
State defense and crisis management are not only the responsibility and vital interest of state institutions, armed forces and security services, but of all of us. Therefore, the involvement of citizens in this process is an extremely important condition for public safety.
Non-governmental organizations are one of the most effective mediators of the state’s dialogue with citizens. Therefore, the National NGO Coalition seeks to involve NGOs in the preparation and implementation of state defense, civil resistance and other crisis plans.
What have we done?
30 November 2023 we hosted our second Civil Resistance Forum, a roundtable discussion on „Towards Total Defense: State of the Art and Next Steps”, more information and post here.
November 2023 representatives of the National NGO Coalition and other NGOs were included in the Total Defense Coordination Council.
19 May 2023 the first Civil Resistance Forum was organized together with the National Security and Defense Committee of the Seimas, the purpose of which is to initiate citizens’ preparation for state defense as quickly and efficiently as possible, involving the public and non-governmental organizations operating in the country: press release and forum record.
The forum was accompanied by a joint appeal of NGOs to the Prime Minister, inviting active citizens to use them in the preparation and implementation of resistance strategies.
We educate and strengthen our members and other NGOs in this area: 30 June 2023 we organized the training „Preparation for Day X: what is the role of NGOs in state defense?”
The role of NGOs in the defense of the country together with historians, representatives of the army and other organizations was discussed in July 2023 at the event „War after war. The beginning of the Lithuanian Freedom Struggle in 1944. Resistance to the second Soviet occupation” : more details and a record of the event.
On the eve of the NATO summit on 11 July 2023 together with the representatives of the Education NGO Network and the European Movement, we met with the experts of the Ukrainian analytical center „Ukrainian Prism” visiting Vilnius and discussed the lessons of Ukrainian civil resistance, the resilience of civil society, the role of NGOs during the war and ways to strengthen the support of European citizens for Ukraine.
In order to partner and act together, in August 2023, we met with the commander of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Association.
At the discussion festival „Būtent!” in September 2023, we invited to a discussion about the involvement of citizens and the importance of partnership between state institutions and NGOs „Preparation for Day X: The Power of Citizens in Defense of Freedom”: record.
11-14 September 2023 we participated in the „Resilience and Global Defense” courses organized by the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania and partners.
22 September 2023 Gaja Šavelė, head of the National NGO Coalition, presented her position to the LRT.lt portal regarding the implementation plan for the strategy of training Lithuanian citizens for civil resistance approved by the Government.
