2023 UNHCR Online Consultations with NGOs
© UNHCR
UNHCR Partnership and Coordination Service (UNHCR/PCS) will co-organize a series of Online Consultations with NGOs in 2023, together with International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) and other NGO co-organizers.
This is a follow-up on the model of online NGO Consultations held since the onset of COVID in March 2020, and will complement the UNHCR-NGO Global Consultations held every two years (next edition will be in 2024).
Objectives and approach
The overall objective of those quarterly Consultations is to support an enabling environment for NGOs and UNHCR to exchange on operational, policy and advocacy priorities in a safe space.
Going beyond the information-sharing focus and the usual panel and Q&A format, the perspectives provided by participants aim to:
- strengthen policymaking processes at the stages of conception, drafting, impact assessment, decision-making;
- improve monitoring and evaluation of policy implementation, when appropriate;
- create prioritized and manageable follow-up action points.
The aim of the Consultations is to:
- lead to concrete and lively exchanges between UNHCR and NGOs, sometimes inclusive of other actors;
- link to ongoing policy and strategy developments (e.g. UNHCR policies developed/reviewed in 2022 and/or 2023 and which would benefit from NGO input);
- link to major global initiatives and processes (e.g. related to the Global Refugee Forum);
- link to operational aspects, particularly in engaging NGOs in the operationalization of specific policies and strategies or in discussing – at global level – coordination and implementing partnerships issues;
- connect to past discussions as well as to upcoming discussions such as in the framework of the 2024 UNHCR-NGO Global Consultations;
- lead to collective recommendations and/or follow-up actions.
On this page, you will find:
- summaries of each Consultation, published afterwards;
- public background materials and guidance documents related to the topics discussed (when available);
- a list of topics for future Consultations (see Calendar, below);
- an information note on the background, participation criteria and logistics of the Online Consultations with NGOs.
We will email notes and panellists’ presentations to registered participants. If you were not at a session, email [email protected] to request notes and presentations.
Calendar of Consultations
- 2 March 2023: Increasing access to asylum through improved asylum capacity (co-organized with ICVA)
- 4 April 2023: Disability (co-organized with International Disability Alliance)
- May 2023 (exact date to be announced): Solutions to internal displacement (co-organized with ICVA)
- June 2023 (exact date to be announced): Innovation
- September/October 2023 (exact date to be announced): Climate Action (co-organized with ICVA)
Participation criteria
As per the participation approach for the UNHCR-NGO Global Consultations, NGOs who wish to attend and contribute to those consultations should meet at least one of the following criteria:
- be an implementing partner of UNHCR in 2022/2023;
- be an NGO collaborating with UNHCR (including operational partners and Refugee/PoC-Led Organizations) with a demonstrated interest in the solution to the problem of refugees, internally displaced persons and/or statelessness and/or in the themes of the consultations;
- be a member of ICVA;
- have consultative status with ECOSOC (UN Economic and Social Council) with a demonstrated interest in the solution to the problem of refugees, internally displaced persons and/or statelessness and/or in the themes of the consultations.
Other actors (e.g. academia representatives, sports associations, etc.) may be allowed to join.
If your NGO fulfills one or more criteria above:
- email [email protected];
- use email subject “Participation in UNHCR-NGO Quarterly Consultations – Name of Organization”;
- include an explanation of why you wish to attend and contribute to the UNHCR-NGO Quarterly Consultations.