What is the procedure to establish a partnership?

• © UNESCO/Alison Clayson
• National Park of Cajas, Ecuador

Consultative partnership:

Requests for consultative partnership may be submitted at any time by NGOs to the Director-General, together with this form, once saved on your computer and completed, and the following documents concerning the NGO:

1. the statutes;
2. the instrument of legal recognition;
3. the list of members by country and, where appropriate, by category, as provided in the statutes;
4. the latest activity report covering a period of at least two years, including a detailed financial report on the previous financial year;
5. a brief description of the projects that the organization hopes to implement with UNESCO, and a brief description of activities already implemented in cooperation with UNESCO.

The Director-General decides upon the establishment of a consultative partnership between UNESCO and the NGOs and report thereon to the Executive Board once a year.

Associate partnership:

Any international or regional partner organization with consultative status for at least two years may submit a request for admission to associate status, no later than 30 November of each year, for decision by the Executive Board at its first session of the following year. The request must include:

1. the list of the NGO’s individual and/or institutional members;
2. its most recent activity report;
3. a summary of cooperation with UNESCO in the previous two years. The summary must attest to regular, specific and productive cooperation between UNESCO and the NGO on the basis of several joint projects that have demonstrated the importance to UNESCO of maintaining a close partnership with the NGO in order to implement its programmes.

The Executive Board decides on the admission of NGO partners to associate status with UNESCO and on the renewal of the partnership, on the recommendation of the Director-General. Requests rejected by the Executive Board may not be resubmitted to it until at least four years have elapsed after its decision.