Dianova, Official Partner of UNESCO

Since its foundation, UNESCO has given great importance to cooperate with nongovernmental international organizations. Over the years, this cooperation has become a genuinely strategic partnership attesting to the importance of civil society’s action alongside UNESCO’s. NGOs now operate in all of UNESCO’s fields of competence.

 

However, interactions between UNESCO and civil society are in constant evolution, reflecting the increasing active role the world of NGO’s is having with other, intergovernmental organizations. For such reason, following an independent external evaluation in 2010, the UNESCO decided to renew its statutory framework, in order to

  • Allow civil society and other partners contribute to defining UNESCO‘s goals rather than being regarded solely as vehicles for program delivery;
  • Make UNESCO more accessible and less bureaucratic, especially important for NGOs.

UNESCO‘s new statutory framework for cooperation with NGOs was adopted during the 36th Session of UNESCO’s General Conference. The framework’s general principles provide, amongst others, for the transition from three relational categories (operational, formal consultative, and formal associate) to two partnership categories, namely consultative partnership and associate partnership.

Following the adoption of the new directives, Dianova International’s partnership was reclassified into NGO in “Consultative Status” with UNESCO.