About NGO Branch

The DESA NGO Branch is the focal point within the UN Secretariat for non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and for NGOs seeking status. Our aims are the following:

• Support to NGOs: Informing you in a timely fashion on events and opportunities to collaborate with the United Nations.
• Intergovernmental Support: We service the Committee on NGOs, which meets twice a year to discuss accreditation of NGOs to the UN Economic and Social Council.
• Conference registration: We facilitate participation of NGOs to most of the intergovernmental processes taking place at United Nations headquarters and beyond. Each year, some 7,000 NGO representatives participate in those events in New York alone.
• Technical assistance: With support from the UN Development Account, we carry out limited capacity-building activities with civil society organizations.

Our Branch is part of the Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development (OISC), a division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) of the United Nations.

Inside DESA, we assist in facilitating NGO registration to the many subsidiary bodies of ECOSOC, such as Commission for Social Development, the Rio+20 Conference, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Commission for Population and Development, the UN Forum on Forests, and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Beyond DESA, we work with the UNOG NGO Liaison Unit in Geneva, the Commisison on the Status of Women serviced by UN Women, UN-NGLS, DGC NGO Relations, OHCHR, Office for Disarmament Affairs, UNAIDS, the Office of the President of the General Assembly, and other UN agencies and programmes.