To achieve its vision, mission, and objectives, NFN engages in a spectrum of ways with its CSO constituencies, allies and coalitions, and plays a variety of roles, including leading, facilitating, complementing, collaborating, cooperating, convening, advocating, campaigning. NFN doesn’t duplicate or compete with its member organizations. 

NFN, as necessary, also plays the role of watch-dog, pressure group, advocates, campaigners to influence state/governmental or corporate/market stakeholders’ policies, practices and resource allocation for rights, justice, sustainability, and peace.

The following are the key roles NFN plays:

• Unifying Civil Society Organizations: 

  • NFN facilitates associations, coalitions, alliances, networks, platforms for unity of civil society organizations working for political, social, economic, and environmental development, rights, and justice. 

  • NFN actively promotes strategic and sustained collaborations with and between its members and other civil society organizations, at all levels. 

  • It specifically works with umbrella organizations and federations to build bridges among public, private, and civic actors toward shared goals and agendas. 

  • NFN also seeks collaborative partnerships with international civil society organizations, development organizations, philanthropy, and donor organizations.

 

• Mobilizing Collective and Consolidating Action: 

  • NFN Mobilizes and amplifies the collective power and actions of civil society organizations and movements at all levels from local to global, in solidarity with each other for shared causes: political, social, economic, and environmental development, rights, peace and justice. 

  • People, communities, and their organizations and movements form NFN's power base. NFN works to connect and mobilize them from local to national to global levels, both online and offline, for their stronger collective power as voters, consumers, shareholders, and storytellers.

 

• Strengthening the Capability of Civil Society Organizations: 

  • NFN strengthens the agency, capacity, resilience, resources, and impact of civil society organizations.

  • NFN facilitates members’ and other CSOs and movements’ access to knowledge, information, skills and connectivity towards building and strengthening capability and capacity of its constituencies.

 

• Enhancing Sectoral Integrity and Credibility: 

  • NFN practices, supports and ensures high standards of transparency, accountability, and integrity among member organizations and the wider civil society sector, 

  • NFN upholds the same high standards of behaviour and accountability as it holds others accountable to. 

 

• Advocacy and Campaigning for Transformation: 

  • NFN conducts people-centred and evidence-based advocacy and campaigning for just, equitable, and sustainable public policies, practices, and resource allocation, and for holding state institutions and corporations accountable at all levels. 

  • NFN identifies and challenges the root causes of structural and systemic injustices—such as patriarchy, caste systems, autocracy, and neoliberal economic systems—and works to transform these systems through collective advocacy and campaigning rather than simply address their symptoms.

 

• Consolidation and Amplification: 

  • NFN prioritizes leading on overarching and cross-cutting themes and issues like civic space, civil society organisation legal and policy frameworks, SDGs, inequalities, and democracy, which affect all civil society organizations and the civil society sector. 

  • NFN will not normally focus on sectoral-thematic specializations or work, which are the domains of NFN members. However, it remains prepared to lead and focus when requested by its constituency members or when the situation demands urgent action. 

  • NFN plays convening, coordinating or facilitating roles by working with other civil society associations, forums and federations to consolidate knowledge, advocacy, and campaigning across constituencies and geopolitical levels (local to national to global). 

  • NFN engages in solidarity work on broader and urgent public or societal issues (e.g., disasters, corruption, impunity, gross injustice) that are morally imperative and or add value to the concerns and efforts of NFN allies, partners, and citizens at home or abroad.