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PART IV

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A review of the work of the Committee on NGOs overthe last decade reveals that a great deal of effort wasdedicated to the re-organization and simplification ofwork procedures in order to keep abreast of increas-ing demands from NGOs for consultative status. Thedue diligence of the Committee is evidenced by thenumerous initiatives taken to address core issues thathindered the work of the Committee, most of which re-lated to delayed implementation of actions or cumber-some processes that were less than responsive to thegrowing needs of the NGO community. As a result ofthe dedication and persistence of all the chairmen, theperiod is also characterized by significant improve-ments in the workflow, evidenced by the exponentialincrease in the number of NGOs that were able toachieve consultative status with ECOSOC, from 322in 1998-1999 to 3,187 in 2008.

One of the main areas of focus was the strengtheningof the NGO Section of UNDESA. As the mainstay andsupport for the work of the NGO Committee, the struc-ture and functioning of this office was an imperativethat required the attention of each successive Chair-man. The driving force for this reform effort has almostexclusively been due to an ever-increasing workloadof the Section in response to an increase in NGO par-ticipation in ECOSOC, as well as the need for high-quality contribution to the inter-governmental process.

The demand for expediting the accreditation processfor NGOs had a significant impact on the pace of workfor the NGO Section and the work of the Committee,leading to numerous initiatives that proved to be bothinnovative and ground-breaking. Procedural changeswere instituted, leading to the organization of informaland preparatory meetings that helped to reduce thebacklog in reviewing applications. Such sweepingchanges resulted in a record number of NGOs beingrecommended for consultative status, and clearingpending issues for a significant number of organiza-tions in Roster status.

Furthermore, innovations such as the Paperless Com-mittee had a multi-faceted impact in the work of theNGO Committee. The efficacious use of technologyhelped in: streamlining the work of the Committee bycutting down on the elaborate and time-consumingprocess for processing applications; drastic cost re-ductions by trimming staff time, the use of stationaryand mailing charges; and promoting environmental

sustainability by conserving paper. By 2008, the Pa-perless Committee had not only managed to gener-ate $1.5 million in savings per year in staff costs, butalso made communications with NGO representativesmore effective. The system evolved from a record re-trieval system to a full-scale record management andmeeting system which now manages the coreprocesses of the NGO Section and facilitates coordi-nation of information not only among Committee mem-bers, but also between the Secretariat and theapplicants.

This ten-year period was also distinguished by the es-tablishment and launch of the UN NGO Informal Re-gional Networks (NGO-IRENE), which further helpedto reduce the gap between the northern and southernNGOs and focusing more on a consensus-building ap-proach. More recently, complementary activities, suchas an emphasis on the MDGs Outreach Programme,greater focus on research and training on the MDGs,and a proposal for the establishment of MDG Centresof Excellence renewed the focus on communicationand information dissemination initiatives for the NGOsto reinvigorate the community with a sense of urgencyabout meeting the goals by 2015. It has become asmuch about sharing of information as about the needto work in concert with each other to explore innova-tive solutions to persistent problems as well as newcrises.

Challenges and constraints

Notwithstanding the achievements, the challengesfaced by the NGO Committee and the NGO Section atDESA have also been significant. The sharp increasein requests for accreditation since 2001 necessitateda strategic review of the support that the NGO Sec-tion was set up to provide to the Committee. Insuffi-cient staff and resources meant inordinate delays inprocessing the volume of paperwork for accreditation.Additionally, with the increase in the number of NGOsfrom developing countries seeking consultative statuswith ECOSOC, the application procedures were like-wise under scrutiny since they were not sufficiently at-tuned to the needs and technological shortcomings ofapplicants from developing countries.

Methods of enforcement to fulfill the requirements forobtaining and maintaining consultative status were

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also seriously hampered. For NGOs in Roster statusawaiting accreditation, few, if any, enforcement mech-anisms were in place to receive timely feedback onquestions and queries posed by Committee membersto the NGOs whose accreditation was pending. As aresult, it was not unusual to have NGOs on Roster sta-tus for an indefinite period. Another area of concernwas the enforcement of the submission of Quadren-nial Reports from NGOs that were already in consul-tative status. As the only mechanism for verifying theNGOsʼ continued commitment and work towardsachieving the MDGs, the importance of the reports aredeemed to be paramount in determining the credibil-ity and effectiveness of the partnership.

One of the most serious challenges that continues toconcern the Committee is that of raising awareness ofthe importance of MDGs among civil society. With in-sufficient or incomplete information about the applica-tion of the MDGs towards the achievement of nationaldevelopment goals, there is as yet little momentum ongarnering support for improved coordination and co-herence on the development agenda for most NGOs.Such a stance may be counter-productive to improv-ing partnership with the wider UN system where theneed is greater than ever before to focus on substan-tive issues in the global development agenda that areof mutual interest, benefit and accountability to boththe UN and its partners.

The way forward

As the most visible body working in the vanguard ofUN-NGO relations, the ECOSOC Committee onNGOs is the only intergovernmental body to deal withthe relationship between the NGO community and theECOSOC. As such, partly due to pragmatic consider-ations and partly motivated by creative thinking, anumber of Committee chairmen have undertaken torefine the role of the NGO Committee and thereby in-fluence the nature of this unique relationship.

A selective process for vetting NGOs for accreditationconfers the organizations with responsibility and a setof expectations that are intended to help them engagein the UNʼs intergovernmental processes. However,consultative status per se, does not necessarily leadto greater substantive engagement between UN agen-cies and the NGOs. The reasons for that are many.

Going beyond procedural issues to substantive en-gagement is a leap that many organizations are eitherunfamiliar with or do not have sufficient informationabout. Educating NGOs about the work of the UN, fa-cilitating the dissemination of information and commu-nicating the UNʼs messages down to the field levelmeans that much thought has to be expended on thechannels for outreach and communication. Althoughinformation and communication technologies (ICTs)

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can be one of the most effective means for that pur-pose, ICTs may not be the most cost effective or eas-ily accessible to audiences in developing countries.Existing partnerships, such as with UNDPI, CONGO,UNITAR, the Global Compact, AICESIS, WFUNA andNGLS, among others, should be explored as poten-tial vehicles for broadening the outreach capabilitiesof the NGO Section.

Facilitating this level of outreach will also require coor-dination within the UN system and the funds andagencies that have the resources, infrastructure andworking knowledge of NGOs in the respective coun-tries of operation. Such an initiative presupposes a li-aison function within the NGO Section that would befully devoted to interacting with other agencies on aregular basis, and keeping abreast of information andupdates on NGOs that have prior, established rela-tions with those agencies. A shared database ofNGOs within the UN system would not only createmore transparency in the process, but prove equallybeneficial to the NGOs by potentially providing thementry and access to the wider UN system.

Systematic feedback from the community of users isanother critical element in addressing concerns, shar-ing information and promoting collaborative initiativesthat will enrich and energize the NGOs in consultativestatus. It will also enable them to act as a think-tank ongrassroots development issues. Such a level of en-gagement will require the effective management anduse of the UN NGO-IRENE network, complementedby thematic workshops on selected topics that couldbe designed to articulate issues of priority, as well asof concern to the NGO community. The recentlyadopted resolution 2008/5 provides just such an op-portunity for the NGO Section to provide advisoryservices to the NGOs. Consultations among NGOsand coalitions of NGOs could be facilitated by theNGO Section and the Regional Coordinators to en-able the community of practitioners to set a clearly de-fined agenda for themselves.

To put things in perspective, it is increasingly neces-sary to consider the potential participation of NGOs inconsultative status at UN global forums and eventswhere critical discussions are helping to determine thefuture of development cooperation. With a number ofglobal crises that are competing for attention at thistime, engagement in global debates of this kind maynot remain a matter for hypothetical discussion butrather of necessity.

In recent months, one of the newer initiatives of theECOSOC was the High Level Development Coopera-tion Forum (DCF). Launched in 2007, it is now thefocal point in the UN system for discussions and delib-erations on mutual accountability and aid effective-ness. In vigorously promoting an inclusive agenda, theDCF made remarkable progress in bringing a largenumber of NGOs into partnership with the Forum, witha view to engaging them in substantive discussionson the effectiveness of aid. Given the potential impactand repercussions of this type of engagement at theglobal and regional level, the work of the Committeeon NGOs takes on a new relevance and meaning thatwas not envisaged heretofore. It brings attention to thefuture involvement of the NGOs in consultative statusat the 2010 DCF and their potential for engagementwith other stakeholders in development cooperation,including donor agencies, member countries, parlia-mentarians, local governments and the private sector,as equal partners.

In moving the work of the NGO Committee forward,and in meeting the growing demand for greater repre-sentation of NGOs at ECOSOC, management of in-formation will be key to the growth of UN-NGOrelations. To accomplish this objective, a comprehen-sive database on NGOs in consultative status shouldbe established as a necessary tool for just such afunction. Efforts would have to focus on restructuringand updating the existing database to allow betterclassification and data collection on the organizationsʼspecific areas of work and focus, country-specific andregional experience, size, composition and resourcesof the NGO, and achievements on national and inter-nationally agreed development goals, among others.The database would serve as an information manage-ment tool, linked to the NGO-IRENE. It would alsoserve as a quick reference guide for facilitating accessand information to both the participating NGOs as wellas to agencies within the UN system.

And last, but not least, the resources of the DESANGO Section would have to be commensurate with itsresponsibilities to enable it to effectively carry out itsmandate. The foundation has been laid to strengthenthe relationship between the UN and civil society byintegrating analytical capacity with technical coopera-tion activities. But much is yet to be done. The relianceon qualitative support and strategic vision from theNGO Section is both implicit and explicit, and will havea direct bearing on the commitment and ability of theoffice to build on its past performance.

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