Finland Times

 The new POs are Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), the Finnish Refugee Council, Fairtrade Finland, Operation a Day´s Work Finland and the Finnish Fund of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF Finland).

 The organisations were selected on the basis of an open application round that was opened in 2012.

POs receive funding for their particular multi-year programmes from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs' development cooperation appropriations. This will help to make the work conducted by POs more persistent and comprehensive, which, therefore, enhances the effectiveness of their work. 

Organisation eligible as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs' partnership organisation is an NGO or foundation registered in Finland, with strong expertise and experience in development cooperation matters and good knowledge of the local operating environment.

The partnership organisation has the capacity to assess development problems and to help in solving them, and is capable of enhancing the capacity of the local civil society. Partnership organisations complement Finland's overall development cooperation implemented via the national support for intergovernmental and NGO projects.

Beginning from 2003, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has supported the development cooperation of experienced Finnish NGOs via a Partnership Agreement Scheme. Over a half of the financial support to organisations' development cooperation has been channelled to the POs: in 2014, the POs will be allocated a total of EUR 60 million in programme support. 

The number of projects to be implemented within these programmes is approximately 400. As a rule, the funding period is three years.

After the selection of new NGOs, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has 16 partnership organisations: Fida International, Frikyrklig Samverkan, FinnChurchAid, Plan Finland, the Finnish Red Cross, the International Solidarity Foundation, the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, World Vision Finland, Save the Children Finland, the Finnish Disabled People's International Development Association, Crisis Management Initiative, the Finnish Refugee Council, Fairtrade Finland, Operation a Day´s Work Finland and WWF Finland.