Civil society

Many WHO/Europe programmes work with a range of civil-society organizations, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), that share WHO’s values and offer opportunities to improve health outcomes. WHO has a variety of working relations with these organizations on joint activities and projects. The advantages of such cooperation include:

  • reaching populations not accessible by WHO;
  • training staff to follow WHO guidance; and
  • providing technical, in-kind and financial support for WHO activities.

WHO/Europe follows WHO’s global policy on NGOs and their accreditation process. NGOs with long-standing relations with WHO can be accredited by it and have official relation status.
Civil-society organizations play an important role in public health and offer a wide-range of perspectives to the health sector. WHO/Europe has a long tradition of working with them.

Civil Society Initiative (CSI)