United Nations Agencies and their partners

For the most part United Nations Specialised Agencies must work with government agencies to negotiate delivery of programmes and projects. These projects are executed in close collaboration with, or channelled through, the relevant national Ministries. Since many countries have relatively well-established Public Health Ministries and Labour Departments, WHO and ILO projects in particular tend to be circumscribed accordingly. In addition to substantive projects, it is common for United Nations Specialised Agencies to execute complementary projects aimed at strengthening the planning, management or administrative capacities of their counterpart national Ministries and subordinate units at provincial, district or municipal levels.

In practice, there remains room for greater operational cooperation between United Nations agencies with NGOs and community groups. UNICEF, for example, has a long, nurtured relationship with many national governments which allows UNICEF to fund, train and work directly with NGOs and community groups. More recently, UNDP, the UN Capital Development Fund and UNV have been following the same steps.

Even within projects and programmes that are predominantly delivered through government agencies, there is sometimes a willingness for - or at least a toleration of - some form of co-operation or partnership with NGOs and/or community groups. PVOs have traditionally displayed greater independence in negotiating bilaterally with national NGOs and local community groups. In many countries, it is necessary to seek registration or even to negotiate a formal memorandum of understanding with a designated central -government agency before embarking on programming efforts with NGOs or other organisations countries; this applies especially to VSAs.