ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to strengthen non-profit organizations and enhance their effective and sustainable development, thus enabling them to mobilize citizens and fulfil their significant societal roles in Hungary and in Central and Eastern Europe. It explores the transition process in Eastern Europe through Hungarian eyes. The chapter presents an overview of the education and research fields looking at NGO development in Hungary. Hungary had been more open to economic development and private enterprises from the early 1980s, and the former Yugoslavia was also relatively Westernized. The chapter always questionable how much the experience from Eastern Europe is relevant to a country like China. The entire population of these countries is often less than the population of even one district of Beijing. The NGO sector in Hungary and Eastern Europe has largely contributed to the political, economic and social development of the region.
