People's Organizations

Definition

"People’s organizations (POs), unlike NGOs, are established by and represent sectors of the population like small farmers, artisanal fisherfolk, slum dwellers and others. POs take a wide variety of forms and exist at various levels.

- Community-based organizations (CBOs) mobilize and represent local populations and directly address their immediate concerns. Examples include neighbourhood associations, water-users groups, women’s credit associations. Over the past decade they have become widespread partners of UN programmes at the local level.

- People’s organization platforms structured above the local community level have been built up by marginalized sectors of the population, over the past decade in particular, in order to defend their members’ interests in policy and programme negotiations at national, regional and global levels. These platforms are not yet sufficiently recognized and engaged by the UN system in country programmes and projects and in global forums." (http://interface-articles.googlegroups.com/web/mckeon.pdf?gda=T7O7RzwAAACYyjGsjeTfccAd9zHIfrDtbE9AOOr607d2pqHgpVqunk91SsZL1wtMKOyx5Zc89Pj9Wm-ajmzVoAFUlE7c_fAt)