Bonn offers a favorable climate for partnerships, for cooperation and synergies, uniting actors and fostering the international dialogue on future-oriented issues.
Newcomers will not only benefit from the strong presence of international key actors, but they will also find an international, multicultural, tolerant and safe environment, and they will receive assistance for their relocation and activities.
Situated on the banks of the river Rhine, Bonn is an inviting city featuring a plethora of cultural events and leisure activities.
So, welcome to Bonn! Join us and help shape the world’s future!
NGO Services
The City of Bonn supports the settlement and work of internationally active non-governmental organizations in the fields of environment, climate and sustainable development by
- Providing advice on administrative and legal aspects of relocation / establishment (association / corporate laws)
- Supporting the search for suitable properties
- Assisting with formalities and official matters
- Offering annual partnerships
- Providing services for employees on site
Why come to Bonn? Ten good reasons for NGOs to join us!
There are many convincing reasons for Non-Governmental Organizations to work from Bonn. You will
- Benefit from the city’s rich diplomatic and international experience
- Find synergies - embedded in a cooperative network of international organizations
- Be close to Germany’s federal ministries and national authorities and agencies as well as to competent partners in science and industry
- Enjoy a high-profile appearance due to a strong media presence
- Be well connected through a well-developed transport infrastructure
- Meet at excellent conference venues equipped with state-of-the-art technology
- Easily recruit skilled experts and staff on site
- Receive support for your activities and be operational from day one
- Enjoy family-friendly living and working conditions in beautiful surroundings
- Feel safe in a cosmopolitan environment
These are only ten of the good reasons for you to join us. To put it in a simpler way: We are convinced that you will feel at home here and will enjoy working in our attractive international location on the Rhine.
Welcome on board: Networking opportunities for Bonn-based NGOs
The City of Bonn, Germany’s capital for nearly half a century, has established itself as a place for international dialogue and Germany’s United Nations City. Bonn has developed a globally unique profile as a location for leading international organizations active in environmental and developmental policy and other future-oriented issues. A great number of international and internationally active organizations have settled on the banks of the Rhine in recent years. Here in Bonn, new NGOs will find many partners and synergies for their worldwide activities.
Bonn - Germany’s second political center
Bonn is home to six federal ministries:
- The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
- The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
- The Federal Ministry of Defense
- The Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
- The Federal Ministry of Health
All other ministries maintain their secondary seat in Bonn.
A great number of higher agencies and supreme federal authorities are working from Bonn to strengthen the policy areas that have been assigned to the city.
Roughly thirty diplomatic missions and consular representations are located in the Bonn area.
Germany’s United Nations City
More than twenty UN organizations are working from Bonn - almost all of them have their headquarters on the city’s UN Campus. Their activities focus on climate and environmental issues, volunteering, development cooperation and disaster risk reduction. The shared motto of Bonn’s growing UN family is: Shaping a sustainable future.
Sustainability hub
A large number of NGOs – around 150 - working in the field of development cooperation, peacekeeping, renewable energies and sustainability have come to Bonn. Whether climate, desertification, water, soil, biodiversity or early warning and disaster risk reduction – Bonn has developed into an international competence center for future-oriented issues.
Place of science and research
Bonn offers excellent working conditions to scientific organizations and to those institutions that act as mediators in the field. As a consequence, a number of scientific and research institutes have been founded, such as the CAESAR research center, Life & Brain as well as ZEI, the Center for European Integration Studies, and ZEF, the University’s Center for Development Research. The University of Bonn with its distinctive international profile houses a total of six Clusters of Excellence. The technology and research sector also includes the German Aerospace Center (DLR). All of these institutes – and consequently, our city – together have established an excellent reputation in the world of science and learning – in a region that has become the heartland of science and research.
Read more: https://international.bonn.de/business-and-science/science-research/index.php (opens in a new tab)
Business and Media
Various global players, such as Deutsche Telekom or Deutsche Post DHL, are working from Bonn. Together with approximately 800 IT companies, they make for the city’s innovative potential. The knowledge-based service segment in Bonn comprises the sectors healthcare, corporate management and information technology, which together account for nearly a quarter of all employment in the city.
Deutsche Welle (DW), one of the world’s leading international radio and television broadcasters, has its headquarters in our city. The Federal Press Conference maintains an office in Bonn for correspondents working here.
Read more: https://international.bonn.de/business-and-science/business-in-bonn/index.php (opens in a new tab)
Selection of internationally active organizations working from Bonn
Sustainability / Climate / Biodiversity / Renewable Energies
- Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research
- EUROSOLAR – European Association for Renewable Energy
- WWEA – World Wind Energy Association
- ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) World Secretariat and Bonn Center
- BION network
- IRENA Innovation and Technology Center
- IUCN – Environmental Law Centre
- Germanwatch e.V.
Development Cooperation / Peacekeeping / Capacity Building
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ
- German Development Institute – DIE
- Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V.
- CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg e.V.
- Senior Experten Service – SES
- HELP – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe e.V.
- Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC)
- Working Group on Peace and Development (FriEnt)
Global Certifying Agencies
- Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International – FLO
- Forest Stewardship Council – FSC International Center Bonn
- IFOAM – International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements
- 4C Association (Common Code for the Coffee Community)
Science and Research
- German Aerospace Center – DLR
- University of Bonn
- Bonn / Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences
- Center for Development Research – ZEF
- EADI – European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes
- German Academic Exchange Service – DAAD
- Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation – AvH
- German Research Foundation – DFG
Media
- Deutsche Welle – DW Broadcasting
- TV broadcaster PHOENIX
- WDR Broadcasting Bonn Regional Office
- Federal Press Conference
- Office of Wissenschafts-Pressekonferenz e.V.
Other
- German Commission for UNESCO
- International Paralympic Committee - IPC
Fully operational from day one: Our services for NGOs
The City of Bonn provides advice on all administrative and legal aspects in connection with the relocation of an NGO to Bonn and its establishment in the city. This support covers a large spectrum of formalities and official matters, the organization of informative events for NGO staff, but also the search for suitable properties in the city, or the assistance for access to funding opportunities at local, regional, national and EU level. Support is also provided for the organization of technical meetings and conferences in the city, as well as personal support and advice for NGO staff before, during and after the move to Bonn.
Once the new organization is on board and fully operational, the City of Bonn is pleased to provide suitable forums for public presentation and networking as often as possible to raise awareness for the organization’s work and foster synergies among its Bonn-based actors. Annual partnerships between the City and its international organizations are one such forum. Joint study courses, lectures, conferences and workshops are organized as well.
- Contact
- opening hours
- Location
Contact
opening hours
Montag und Donnerstag von 8 bis 18 Uhr,
Dienstag, Mittwoch und Freitag von 8 bis 13 Uhr
Telefonische Servicezeit:
Dienstag und Mittwoch von 13 bis 16 Uhr
Location
Amt für Internationales und globale Nachhaltigkeit
Altes Rathaus
Markt 2
53111 Bonn
53103 Bonn
Behindertengerechter Zugang auf der Rathausgasse (hinter der Frontseite des Rathauses)
Aufzug im Hause vorhanden
barrierefreie Toilette im Eingangsbereich
Host city at the heart of Europe: International travel connections and local transport
Within the Federal Republic of Germany, at the geographical heart of Central Europe, the region between Düsseldorf/Ruhr and Frankfurt is a central axis of approximately 250 km in length with a high economic performance and a unique urban diversity and density surrounded by a varied and beautiful landscape. In the middle of this region are the two neighboring cities of Bonn and Cologne, only 25 km apart.
The City of Bonn is part and parcel of the most intense research area in Europe. The “science triangle”, comprising the cities of Aachen, Bonn and Cologne, counts over 150,000 students, 15,000 scientists and more than 50 science and research institutions.
Bonn offers great structural advantages without the conurbation problems commonplace in larger cities. It has remained a charming place where everything is within easy reach. Residential areas are well connected to the city center.
The sophisticated infrastructure – both, local and regional - meets all the needs of globally active, globally traveling organizations. It includes a dense highway network, rail links and flight connections to all key destinations. A total of three international airports are located less than one hour away from Bonn.
Working from Bonn: State-of-the-art facilities and qualified human resources on site
Central conference facilities with state-of-the-art equipment are available in or near the international district and in many other locations within the city boundaries. A special emphasis is placed on sustainable conference management.
The city’s top conference location is the World Conference Center Bonn. The Maritim Hotel in Bonn has often served as the venue for UN conferences. Furthermore, at the “Bonner Bogen” site – located in the Rhine bend just across the river from the conference center – a complex of green buildings has been built that includes additional conference facilities for events with up to 2,500 persons as well as a 5-star hotel, the Kameha Grand Hotel Bonn.
As a conference venue, Bonn has been able to prove its experience many times over. In 2017 Bonn hosted the 23rd Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat (COP23 of UNFCCC) for two weeks. With well over 15,000 participants, the conference – the largest one in Bonn to date - posed a major logistical challenge, which the host city mastered with flying colors.
Given the international profile of the city of Bonn, highly qualified and expert personnel for international relations and institutions have remained or have been attracted to the banks of the Rhine. The labor market offers a large number of fulltime or part-time skilled office staff for international organizations.
Your new home away from home: Staff and family support in a multicultural environment
Bonn’s citizens traditionally are multi-cultural, educated and cosmopolitan. As a growing international location, Bonn is home to a steadily increasing number of international staff and their families. The city’s roughly 320,000 inhabitants come from over 170 countries. For many of them, our attractive city on the Rhine has become a new home away from home.
The City of Bonn not only assists the employees of international organizations in finding housing and in dealing with local administrative procedures. Assistance is furthermore given in all areas of the new international arrivals’ personal environments. This includes finding a place for children in a child care institution, choosing the appropriate school education, obtaining access to the local labor market for family members, registering a car etc. The City Administration has collected all relevant information in a large service section on its English web pages.
Read more: https://international.bonn.de/services/index.php (opens in a new tab)
Moreover, Bonn’s growing international community is invited to regular “Expat Evenings” - to become familiar with the new surroundings in Bonn, obtain information on particular issues, visit a cultural event, learn about Rhenish customs or simply enjoy a relaxed get-together.
Many other multicultural events form part of the urban life in Bonn: the City Administration and civil society have established a tradition of international gatherings and colorful festivals in the city.
- Contact
- Location
Contact
Location
Department of International Affairs and Global Sustainability
Head of office: Stefan Wagner
Mr. Wagner
Markt 2
53111 Bonn