Taiwan delegates participate in the 2023 Social Enterprise World Forum Oct. 11-12 in Amsterdam. (MOFA)
 

Taiwan’s nongovernmental organizations are raising the country’s global profile while local branch offices of overseas counterparts boost international collaboration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Dec. 14.

Supported by MOFA’s Department of NGO International Affairs, domestic organizations coordinated numerous projects and large-scale international events and activities in 2023, the MOFA said.

This year such projects spanned areas including free health care, girls’ and women’s empowerment, and literacy promotion, the ministry said, adding that essential supplies for the disadvantaged were also sent to allies Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Nauru, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to the MOFA, endeavors have also leveraged Taiwan’s creative energy. During the 67th session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in New York, a Taiwan NGO kicked off Taiwan Gender Equality Week with a fashion show spotlighting the country’s innovation and tech prowess, the ministry said.

As for overseas organizations, London-headquartered Westminster Foundation for Democracy set up an office in Taiwan this year with assistance from the ministry. Since 2020, efforts to aid major international NGOs in establishing local divisions have been fruitful, the MOFA said, citing Taiwan branches of Czechia’s European Values Center for Security Policy; Germany’s Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom; Japan’s Terra Renaissance; Spain’s Safeguard Defenders; and the U.S.’ Freedom House, International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI).

Among the biggest accomplishments resulting from the presence of international NGOs were a forum co-hosted by NDI, WFD and Taiwan-based Citizen Congress Watch on legislative oversight and transparency and the 2023 NGO Leaders Forum organized by the MOFA in November. The latter event saw Dr. Liberato Bautista, president of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations, and Denise Scotto of the International Federation of Women in Legal Careers give keynote speeches, the ministry said. 

The MOFA will continue to work with NGOs both at home and abroad to promote Taiwan’s international participation and raise its profile in the international arena. (POC-E)