Nonprofit organizations as contracted local social service providers in eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Today nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are an important provider of social services in some countries in the eastern Europe‐CIS region. Based on field reports from seven countries in the region, we find that the pattern is highly variable, however; and only in central Europe and Croatia are local governments contracting with NPOs to deliver services. More commonly, local governments give grants to NPOs for this purpose. But in some countries local governments provide essentially no support to NPOs for social service delivery. This article outlines the case for NPOs being contracted as service providers, and inventories the current situation in the region with respect to local governments. It concludes with a discussion of the possible reasons for the low incidence of contracting by local governments with NPOs as service providers. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.