African NGOs decide to form a network to improve communication with the United Nations

To improve dialogue and coordination between non-governmental organizations and the United Nations, several African NGOs decided, in January 2002, to form a regional network. The prime objective os this networkis to interact efficiently with the UN ECOSOC, the principal decision-making power of the UN in relation to economic and social development.

This is the first practical outcome of the Accord of April 2001 in Aracaju (Brazil), where the Informal Regional Network of NGOs decided to set up various regional networks to facilitate the two-way flow of information between the non-governmental world and the United Nations.

One of the most important goals of this new network is to provide NGOs the instruments necessary for acquiring the operational capacity in the headquarters of the ECOSOC so that the non-governmental perspective on the global socio-economic problems is integrated into the work of the UN. As recognized by Patrizio Civili, the representative of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), "we find ourselves at a moment in which a large number of NGOs are subject to problems of logistics and financing which notably limit their capacity to make use of their consultative status with the ECOSOC."

The regional African network will have five sub-networks for each sub-region of the continent: Northern Africa, Western Africa, Central Africa, Eastern Africa and Southern Africa. The Association of Women of Tunisia 21 will be in charge of the first secretariat, which will rotate every two years.

For more information, please contact: mezoui@un.org or karaborni@un.org