International Inter-Governmental & Non-Governmental Organizations: Non-Governmental Organizations

Introduction

What is an NGO?

An NGO, or Non-governmental Organization, is an organization focused on humanitarian issues, often social problems with a political aspect (eg. human rights, relief services, women's rights).

NGOs may recieve partial or full funding from governments (including Inter-Governmental Organizations) but are not directly part of the structure of any government. NGOs also generally exclude government representatives from membership.

What kind of information do international NGOs produce?

Publications describing their work
Publications describing and evaluating problems
Policy suggestions (eg. green papers)
Conference papers and publications
Case studies
International statistics concerning humanitarian issues

NGO Search

Yearbook of International Organizations
Detailed descriptions of non-governmental (NGO), inter-governmental, non-profit, and other international organizations.

Non-governmental Organizations Search
Search [at least 1026] Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) websites. By James R. Jacobs, International Documents Librarian, Stanford University.
NGO Research Guide, Duke University
Browse links to NGO websites by subject (development, human right, etc.), alphabetically, by affiliation, by region or by type.
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Provided by University of California Berkeley Library; find links to guides and directories for International NGOs, Regional NGOs, as well as NGOs & the UN.
WANGO - World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations
WANGO is "an international organization uniting NGOs worldwide in the cause of advancing peace and global well being." The NGO Handbook, and Worldwide NGO Directory are recommended.
WANGO - Worldwide NGO Directory
Locate NGOs either by using the search feature or the interactive map feature. Find NGOs by region, then choose the countries and/or areas of activity that interest you.

Additional NGO Resources

Development Gateway
Development Gateway "is a portal website on development issues, from which users can access information, resources, and tools, and into which they can contribute their own knowledge and experience."
AidData
"The AidData team is committed to building an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and timely resource describing the universe of development finance project-by-project, including all grants and loans committed by all major bilateral and multilateral aid donors. We currently have the most comprehensive database on development finance, but have plenty of additional work to do."
Directory of Development Organizations
"The purpose of this web site is to provide free information and resources to the development community. All directories can be downloaded for free, at no cost. Users may download, copy and reprint information from the site for non-commercial purposes so long as the source is cited."
idealist.org
Non-Governmental International Activist Organizations homepages can be found here. "Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives. "
InterAction
"InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. With more than 160 members operating in every developing country, we work to overcome poverty, exclusion and suffering by advancing social justice and basic dignity for all."
Policy Commons
- This link opens in a new window
Access over a million documents from thousands of IGOs, NGOs, research centers and think tanks.
ReliefWeb
"Our goal is to help you make sense of humanitarian crises worldwide. To do this, we scan the websites of international and non-governmental organizations, governments, research institutions and the media for news, reports, press releases, appeals, policy documents, analysis and maps related to humanitarian emergencies worldwide. We then ensure the most relevant content is available on ReliefWeb, or delivered through your preferred channel (RSS, e-mail, mobile phone, Twitter or Facebook)."
The WWW Virtual Library - Nongovernmental Organizations
By Wayne A. Selcher, Elizabethtown College; an annotated list of links to English-language NGO sites.

NGOs

A small sampling of environmental NGO logos.

More Focus

Arms Control Sales and Data

...try using one of these topic-specific pages: