The partnership weave.

• Author: Hill, Tony
• Position: UN Conference on Environment and Development and non-governmental organizations

In some ways, it could be argued that the turning point in United Nations perceptions and attitudes towards non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and its preparatory process (1990-1992). To an unprecedented degree, the United Nations actively encouraged the participation of NGOs in UNCED, while the degree of international mobilization around the conference agenda was equally unprecedented. In bringing together large numbers of environment and development NGOs from around the world, UNCED revealed the existence of a global constituency for the issues on the UN agenda and highlighted the powerful mobilizing force of NGOs. Since then, there has been growing recognition that the presence of NGOs enrich and enliven the UN policy-setting work through the provision of new information, experiences and insights. With regard to operational collaboration at the country level, the UN development system has similarly built up a considerable, positive experience of working with a broad range of non-governmental development actors.

The past few years have witnessed a dramatic change in the attitudes, approaches and policies of the United Nations system with regard to relations with NGOs, across the entire system and in virtually all areas of its activity: policy dialogue and normative work; operational development activities; humanitarian work, particularly responding to emergencies and to the needs of refugees; promoting human rights, democratization and peace; and raising public awareness of the issues and challenges on the UN agenda.

These new UN experiences reflect historical changes in the world scene and international life in the post-cold-war world. These include the emergence of the private sector as the principal engine of economic growth; new roles for States and Governments and new roles and responsibilities for non-State actors; new approaches to promoting development emphasizing people-centred, participatory projects and programmes, drawing upon the experience of NGOs; the extension of democratic forms of governance and the rapid growth of NGOs and other civil society organizations worldwide, particularly in societies with economies in transition and in developing countries, leading to an emergent global civil society active at the international level - a development which owes a great deal to the revolution in international telecommunications and transport.

Today, in...