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AGENDA 21, CHAPTER 27

STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS: 
PARTNERS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT










NOTE:     This is a final, advanced version of a chapter of Agenda 21, as adopted by
          the Plenary in Rio de Janeiro, on June 14, 1992.  This document will be
          further edited, translated into the official languages, and published by the
          United Nations for the General Assembly this autumn.





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                       PROGRAMME AREA

Basis for action

27.1.Non-governmental organizations play a vital role in the 
shaping and implementation of participatory democracy.  Their 
credibility lies in the responsible and constructive role they 
play in society.  Formal and informal organizations, as well as 
grass-roots movements, should be recognized as partners in the 
implementation of Agenda 21.  The nature of the independent 
role played by non-governmental organizations within a society 
calls for real participation; therefore, independence is a 
major attribute of non-governmental organizations and is the 
precondition of real participation.

27.2.One of the major challenges facing the world community as 
it seeks to replace unsustainable development patterns with 
environmentally sound and sustainable development is the need 
to activate a sense of common purpose on behalf of all sectors 
of society.  The chances of forging such a sense of purpose 
will depend on the willingness of all sectors to participate in 
genuine social partnership and dialogue, while recognizing the 
independent roles, responsibilities and special capacities of 
each.

27.3.Non-governmental organizations, including those non-profit 
organizations representing groups addressed in the present 
section of Agenda 21, possess well-established and diverse 
experience, expertise and capacity in fields which will be of 
particular importance to the implementation and review of 
environmentally sound and socially responsible sustainable 
development, as envisaged throughout Agenda 21.  The community 
of non-governmental organizations, therefore, offers a global 
network that should be tapped, enabled and strengthened in 
support of efforts to achieve these common goals.

27.4.To ensure that the full potential contribution of 
non-governmental organizations is realized, the fullest 
possible communication and cooperation between international 
organizations, national and local governments and 
non-governmental organizations should be promoted in 
institutions mandated, and programmes designed to carry out 
Agenda 21.  Non-governmental organizations will also need to 
foster cooperation and communication among themselves to 
reinforce their effectiveness as actors in the implementation 
of sustainable development.


Objectives

27.5.  Society, Governments and international bodies should 
develop mechanisms to allow non-governmental organizations to 
play their partnership role responsibly and effectively in the 
process of environmentally sound and sustainable development.

27.6.  With a view to strengthening the role of 
non-governmental organizations as social partners, the United 
Nations system and Governments should initiate a process, in 
consultation with non-governmental organizations, to review 
formal procedures and mechanisms for the involvement of these 
organizations at all levels from policy-making and 
decision-making to implementation.

27.7.  By 1995, a mutually productive dialogue should be 
established at the national level between all Governments and 
non-governmental organizations and their self-organized 
networks to recognize and strengthen their respective roles in 
implementing environmentally sound and sustainable development.

27.8.  Governments and international bodies should promote and 
allow the participation of non-governmental organizations in 
the conception, establishment and evaluation of official 
mechanisms and formal procedures designed to review the 
implementation of Agenda 21 at all levels.

Activities

27.9.  The United Nations system, including international 
finance and development agencies, and all intergovernmental 
organizations and forums should, in consultation with 
non-governmental organizations, take measures to:

     (a)  Review and report on ways of enhancing existing 
procedures and mechanisms by which non-governmental 
organizations contribute to policy design, decision-making, 
implementation and evaluation at the individual agency level, 
in inter-agency discussions and in United Nations conferences;

     (b)  On the basis of subparagraph (a) above, enhance 
existing or, where they do not exist, establish, mechanisms and 
procedures within each agency to draw on the expertise and 
views of non-governmental organizations in policy and programme 
design, implementation and evaluation;

     (c)  Review levels of financial and administrative support 
for non-governmental organizations and the extent and 
effectiveness of their involvement in project and programme 
implementation, with a view to augmenting their role as social 
partners;

     (d)  Design open and effective means of achieving the 
participation of non-governmental organizations in the 
processes established to review and evaluate the implementation 
of Agenda 21 at all levels;

     (e)  Promote and allow non-governmental organizations and 
their self-organized networks to contribute to the review and 
evaluation of policies and programmes designed to implement 
Agenda 21, including support for developing country 
non-governmental organizations and their self-organized 
networks;

     (f)  Take into account the findings of non-governmental 
review systems and evaluation processes in relevant reports of 
the Secretary-General to the General Assembly, and of all 
pertinent United Nations organizations and other 
intergovernmental organizations and forums concerning 
implementation of Agenda 21, in accordance with the review 
process for Agenda 21;

     (g)  Provide access for non-governmental organizations to 
accurate and timely data and information to promote the 
effectiveness of their programmes and activities and their 
roles in support of sustainable development. 

27.10.  Governments should take measures to:

     (a)  Establish or enhance an existing dialogue with 
non-governmental organizations and their self-organized 
networks representing various sectors, which could serve to:  
(i) consider the rights and responsibilities of these 
organizations; (ii) efficiently channel integrated 
non-governmental inputs to the governmental policy development 
process; and (iii) facilitate non-governmental coordination in 
implementing national policies at the programme level;

     (b)  Encourage and enable partnership and dialogue between 
local non-governmental organizations and local authorities in 
activities aimed at sustainable development;

     (c)  Involve non-governmental organizations in national 
mechanisms or procedures established to carry out Agenda 21, 
making the best use of their particular capacities, especially 
in the fields of education, poverty alleviation and 
environmental protection and rehabilitation;

     (d)  Take into account the findings of non-governmental 
monitoring and review mechanisms in the design and evaluation 
of policies concerning the implementation of Agenda 21 at all 
levels;

     (e)  Review government education systems to identify ways 
to include and expand the involvement of non-governmental 
organizations in the field of formal and informal education and 
of public awareness;

     (f)  Make available and accessible to non-governmental 
organizations the data and information necessary for their 
effective contribution to research and to the design, 
implementation and evaluation of programmes.

Means of implementation

(a)  Financing and cost evaluation

27.11.  Depending on the outcome of review processes and the 
evolution of views as to how best to build partnership and 
dialogue between official organizations and groups of 
non-governmental organizations, relatively limited but 
unpredictable, costs will be involved at the international and 
national levels in enhancing consultative procedures and 
mechanisms.  Non-governmental organizations will also require 
additional funding in support of their establishment of, 
improvement of or contributions to Agenda 21 monitoring 
systems.  These costs will be significant but cannot be 
reliably estimated on the basis of existing information.

(b) Capacity-building

27.12.  The organizations of the United Nations system and 
other intergovernmental organizations and forums, bilateral 
programs and the private sector as appropriate, will need to 
provide increased financial and administrative support for 
non-governmental organizations and their self-organized 
networks, in particular those based in developing countries, 
contributing to the monitoring and evaluation of Agenda/21 
programmes, and provide training for non-governmental 
organizations (and assist them to develop their own training 
programmes) at the international and regional levels to enhance 
their partnership role in programme design and implementation.

27.13.  Governments will need to promulgate or strengthen, 
subject to country specific conditions, any legislative 
measures necessary to enable the establishment by 
non-governmental organizations of consultative groups, and to 
ensure the right of non-governmental organizations to protect 
the public interest through legal action.

.
