NGO Federation of Nepal (NFN) emerged as an umbrella organisation of NGOs in the aftermath of democratic political change and the establishment of the multiparty parliamentary system in 1990. Since its establishment in 1991, the NFN apart from defending NGOs’ autonomy has been fighting for promoting human rights, social justice, and pro-poor development. Today, it has evolved as a leading civil society organisation in Nepal with 6,089 NGOs affiliated to it from across the country and has also received Special Consultative Status from the UN Economic and Social Council.

NFN is a democratic organization run by a team of NGO professionals who volunteer their services to achieve the vision of NFN.

The Executive Committee is comprised of 51 members. Among them 47 are democratically elected members, including a president, a senior vice-president, two vice presidents, Secretary General, two deputy secretary Generals, Treasurer, seven Secretaries, in charge and deputy in charge in each province and members including 47 are directly elected, the immediate past president as an ex- officio member and three members are nominated members in total 51 members currently working under the Central Committee of NGO Federation of Nepal.

All the members of the central and provincial committees are experienced and established personalities in NGO management. The Executive Committee meets every three months.

NFN is an autonomous, independent, and politically non-partisan organization, governed by its own Constitution, amended in 2018. It has prepared and enforced an NGO Code of Conduct (CoC) to increase the accountability and transparency of NGOs. The CoC has been widely disseminated to member NGOs and efforts are on-going in relation to implementation and compliance.

NFN has about 6,345 members NGOs affiliated to it through 77 district chapters. To coordinate and mobilize its member NGOs to carry out various programmes effectively and efficiently, NFN has seven provincial committees comprised of 7–9 members each, one in each provincial committee. Together, they work as a provincial catalyst to support member organizations in leadership and professional skills development, and to enable them to face the challenges of sustainable development.

NFN follows a highly participatory approach in the delivery and implementation of its services. Its focus is on qualitative capacity building of local member NGOs and, in particular, on improving their management, governance, skills, and competencies.