UNHCR focuses on ties with national NGOs at annual meet

News Stories, 29 June 2010

© UNHCR/P.Bertschmann
UNHCR's annual consultations with NGO partners get under way in Geneva.

GENEVA, June 29 (UNHCR) – Annual consultations between UNHCR and its non-governmental organization (NGO) partners began in Geneva on Monday with the focus on the refugee agency's national NGO partners.

More than 380 participants from 206 organizations are taking part in this year's gathering, which over the next three days will discuss issues of mutual concern during regional and thematic sessions. Topics to be discussed this year include statelessness, urban refugees, preventing sexual abuse and exploitation, internally displaced people, xenophobia and much more.

The theme this year is, "National Partners: Providers of First Resort." UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees T. Alexander Aleinikoff, attending his first annual meeting with the NGOs, stressed how important the relationship was for UNHCR.

"I've been here long enough to know the important work that you do and that we do together, and that we couldn't do the work we do without you," said Aleinikoff, who joined UNHCR in February.

"National partners are the frontline of any operation," said Bernie Doyle, head of UNHCR's inter-agency unit. "We're trying to enhance our partnership, but not in the sense of them as implementing partners and us as the controlling element, but more to help them do what they are already doing, which is helping their friends and neighbours whenever a disaster strikes," he added.

Aleinikoff also noted the support UNHCR had received from its NGO partners in recent internal reforms and in the three areas where it has placed particular emphasis over the past decade: internally displaced people, refugees living in urban environments and protracted refugee situations.

Meanwhile, Daisy Dell, director of UNHCR's Division of External Relations, said the turnout at the annual gathering showed how important national NGOs were to the agency. "This year, 50 per cent of the organizations attending these consultations are national partners. Indeed, out 206 organizations that have registered for the 2010 consultations, 104 are national partners," she noted.

Dell said she hoped the consultations would lead to concrete proposals on how to strengthen the role of national partners under the various topics that will be discussed during this three-day event, including from a programme management and capacity-strengthening perspective.

For the past two decades, the annual consultations have brought together NGOs and UNHCR managers to examine all aspects of their partnership on behalf of the world's uprooted people.

NGOs are vital partners for UNHCR, implementing programmes for refugees and internally displaced people in some of the world's most remote and difficult places. The UN refugee agency works with more than 600 NGOs worldwide.

• DONATE NOW •

 

• GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

Related Stories

more documents

Annual Consultations with NGOs

An important yearly forum.

2015 Annual Consultations with NGOs

The 2015 Annual Consultations with NGOs will take place from 01 to 03 July at the International Conference Centre Geneva (ICCG). For further information, visit our website:

Partnership: An Operations Management Handbook for UNHCR's Partners (Revised Edition)

A practical guide for those working with UNHCR in protecting and assisting refugees.

Non-Governmental Organizations

A priority for us is to strengthen partnerships with non-governmental organizations.

Arriving in Europe, refugees find chaos as well as kindness

Each day, thousands of refugees and migrants are risking everything to make the perilous journey to Europe. The majority - who come from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - are passing through Greece and then making their way to Germany. Transit countries have been overwhelmed by the influx, but volunteers and NGOs are stepping in to provide support along the route. In Hungary, where there is a large bottleneck of people trying to make their way onwards to places like Germany, UNHCR is mobilizing relief items, including tents, plastic sheets and thermal blankets. The refugee agency is also calling on officials there to streamline the registration process and allow humanitarian organizations to provide swift assistance to those in greatest need. UNHCR is also calling on EU Member States to work together to strengthen emergency reception, assistance and registration efforts in the countries most impacted by arrivals, particularly Greece, Hungary and Italy. UNHCR photographers have been on hand documenting the arduous journey.

Arriving in Europe, refugees find chaos as well as kindness

Iraq Crisis: Finding a Place to Stay

Tens of thousands of people have fled to Erbil and Duhok governorates in Iraq's Kurdistan region over the past week, sheltering in schools, mosques, churches and temporary camps following a surge of violence in parts of central and northern Iraq. UNHCR and its partners have been working to meet the urgent shelter needs. The refugee agency has delivered close to 1,000 tents to a transit camp being built by the authorities and NGOs at Garmawa, near Duhok.

Many of the people arriving from Mosul at checkpoints between Ninewa and governorate and Iraq's Kurdistan region have limited resources and cannot afford to pay for shelter. Some people stay with family, while others are staying in hotels and using up their meagre funds.

In the village of Alqosh, some 150 people from 20 families, with little more than the clothes on their back, have been living in several overcrowded classrooms in a primary school for the past week. One member of the group said they had lived in a rented apartment in Mosul and led a normal family life. But in Alqosh, they feared for the welfare and education of their children and the presence of snakes and scorpions.

Iraq Crisis: Finding a Place to Stay

South Sudan: Preparing for Long-Awaited Returns

The signing of a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the army of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement on 9 January, 2005, ended 21 years of civil war and signaled a new era for southern Sudan. For some 4.5 million uprooted Sudanese – 500,000 refugees and 4 million internally displaced people – it means a chance to finally return home.

In preparation, UNHCR and partner agencies have undertaken, in various areas of South Sudan, the enormous task of starting to build some basic infrastructure and services which either were destroyed during the war or simply had never existed. Alongside other UN agencies and NGOs, UNHCR is also putting into place a wide range of programmes to help returnees re-establish their lives.

These programs include road construction, the building of schools and health facilities, as well as developing small income generation programmes to promote self-reliance.

South Sudan: Preparing for Long-Awaited Returns

Greece: Ramping up refugee receptionPlay video

Greece: Ramping up refugee reception

UNHCR staff are working with Government authorities, NGOs and volunteers on the beaches of the Greek island of Lesvos to receive cold, wet and fearful asylum seekers making landfall around the clock. They wrap them in thermal blankets and take them to warm, safe emergency accommodation at transit sites, with power and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Greece: Refugee Crisis in EuropePlay video

Greece: Refugee Crisis in Europe

Over 100,000 refugees have arrived to Greece by sea this year. UNHCR is mobilizing emergency teams, resources and delivering basic humanitarian assistance in order to address the most urgent gaps and support government efforts. Volunteers, local communities and NGOs are providing invaluable assistance but they need support.

Lebanon: Rush to ArsalPlay video

Lebanon: Rush to Arsal

The bombardment of the Syrian city of Yabroud has driven thousands of refugees across the mountains into the Lebanese town of Arsal. UNHCR and its partners, including Lebanese NGOs, are working to find shelter for the newly arrived.