Support for International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs)

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs allocates development cooperation funds to international and regional non-governmental organizations (INGOs) whose activities are in line with Finland's development policy priorities and goals.This support complements Finland's development policy and inter-governmental development cooperation on the sectors and activities with strategic importance.

In accordance with the government resolution, Finland will concentrate on few organisations and will conduct active dialogue with them. INGOs can be supported financially only when they are considered to be the best suited channel for promoting Finland's development policy objectives.

The support is guided by the norms jointly agreed upon by donors engaged in international cooperation, particularly the OECD's rules on ODA eligibility.

From the point of view of the development cooperation funding, provided by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, INGOs are non-profit organisations that operate politically and administratively independent of governments. They have members (national NGOs or individuals) from more than two donor or/and developing countries. An INGO operates locally, regionally and/or globally in several countries.

INGO Policy of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Goals

The objectives of Finland's INGO cooperation are:

• to reach the goals of Finland's development policy and development cooperation policy
• to reach the country- and organisation-specific objectives
• to strengthen developing countries'  civil societies and democracies and to pay due regard for the citizens'  opinions and needs in the national and international decision-making
• to bring about greater synergy between different actors

Criteria for support

Important criteria for support are:

• The INGO has been registered and/or legally competent for at least two years.
• The INGO has considerable expertise and experience of and good cooperative relations with developing countries.
• The INGO has relevant, successful and efficient activities with reliable monitoring and evaluation and reporting systems.
• The INGO has funding from at least one other source.
• The INGO is financially solid and it is able to cover its operational expenditure by its fund-raising activity and the continuity of operations is secured

 Reporting

Reporting instructions for international non-governmental organisations (PDF, 14 kB)

Contact information

The administration and processing of INGO proposals are decentralized in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Please contact for further information:

• Political Department, Unit for Human Rights Policy: Human rights and democracy
• Department for Development Policy, Unit for Non-Governmental Organizations: Social development, reproductive rights
• Department for Africa and the Middle East, Unit for the Middle East and North Africa, Unit for Eastern and Western Africa and Unit for Southern Africa: Conflict prevention, crisis management related to development cooperation and peacebuilding in Africa
• Department for the Americas and Asia: Unit for Asia and Oceania and Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean
• Department for Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Unit for Eastern Europe and Central Asia
• Department for Europe: Unit for Western Balkans
• Department for Development Policy, Unit for International Environment Policy: International and regional environmental issues
• Department for Communication and Culture: Information on international development issues

• Department for External Economic Relations, Unit for the EU's Trade Policy and Economic Relations: trade and development, investment and development, aid for trade, trade-related technical assistance.