Announcement of Change of UN Accreditation Status for GFDD and FUNGLODE

On July 18, 2013, within the framework of Substantive Session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Global Foundation for Democracy and Development was officially granted special consultative status with ECOSOC. At the same time, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarollo (FUNGLODE), its sister organization in the Dominican Republic, was also reclassified and upgraded from special consultative status to general consultative status.

These further recognitions and heightened roles, were acknowledged by the decisions made in reference to an NGO Committee Report E/2013/32 (PartI), and signals a considerable achievement for our Foundations and their work with the UN body.

This special consultative status is granted by ECOSOC
upon recommendation of the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs, which is comprised of 19 Member States. To be eligible for consultative status, an NGO must meet certain criteria such as;  being established for at least two years with its own headquarters, a democratically adopted constitution, authority to speak for its members, and with a representative structure that have appropriate mechanisms for accountability and transparent decision-making processes.

Special consultative status is generally awarded to NGOs which have a particular competence in, and/or, are concerned specifically with only a few of the fields of activity covered by ECOSOC.” General consultative status, “is reserved for large, established international NGOs with a broad geographical reach, whose area of work covers most of the issues on the agenda of ECOSOC and its subsidiary
bodies’’.

The Economic and Social Council is perhaps one of the first, and certainly the most important UN venues by which non-governmental organizations take a role in formal deliberations. At the UN’s inception in the 1940s, 41 NGOs were granted consultative status and the number has been steadily increasing to over 3000 today, although not all are active participants.

In their new capacity, the Foundations are
anticipating to continue to strengthen their multisided activities. By further fostering the partnership with the United Nations and the rest of NGO community, the Foundations hope to continue making a difference to the planet and its peoples and look forward to collaborating with like-minded institutions to achieve this.

Related links:
http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/2013/32(PartI)