Children’s Hope India granted consultative status at UN

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The New York-based Children’s Hope India (CHI), an NGO that helps underprivileged children progress from poverty to prosperity, was recently granted Special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The consultative status enables an organization to actively engage with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with the United Nations Secretariat, programs, funds and agencies.

Special consultative status provides CHI with access to decision-makers at the highest international level.

The organization can have its voice heard through its ability to deliver written and oral statements on subjects in which CHI has special competence, to hold side events and collaborative conferences at the UN, and to consult with Member States and the UN system at large.

“CHI is honored to receive this status which will enable us to share the 25 years of work on the ground in slum communities in India. We look forward to interacting with organizations with a similar mission to strengthen work that CHI is currently doing,” Dina Pahlajani, President of Children’s Hope India, is quoted saying, in a press release.

To be eligible for consultative status, “an NGO must have been in existence (officially recognized by a government) for at least two years, must have an established headquarters, a democratically-adopted constitution, authority to speak for its members, a representative structure, appropriate mechanisms of accountability and democratic and transparent decision-making processes. The basic resources of the organization must be derived mainly from contributions of the national affiliates or other components or from individual members.”

Decades of experience partnering with local grassroots organizations in India will enable CHI to provide valuable insight to ECOSOC, and its Commission for Social Development in particular.

The organization has strong ties to NGO leaders and a solid understanding of the needs of impoverished children and families in both urban and rural communities in India.

CHI’s focus will be to support the work of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) whose 2030 agenda places priorities on unemployment among youth, enhancing social protections, and gender equality and women’s empowerment.