Non-governmental organisations are specific form of organising of citizens. This term has been widely used in the last two decades, and besides the term ‘’non-governmental organisation’’, a term –citizens’ association” is also used. What matters is that freedom of speech and freedom of association are important elements in democratic societies which allow the citizens to associate and to express different interests which are not obligatorily attractive to everyone.

Non-governmental organisations are established in order to perform the activities which would satisfy a public need or a community need, or a common interest of the members, but not private interests such as profit. Organisation implies a team of people led by the same vision, mission and goals. The NGO mission is what it does in order to satisfy an identified need and, as a rule, it is connected with a series of basic, deeply rooted values.

There is a large number of registered non-governmental organisations in the region of Southeast Europe. There are more than 20000 registered citizens’ associations in Serbia; in Croatia, according to the Registry of Associations of the Republic of Croatia, there are more than 42000 associations; in Montenegro this amounts to 4000 registered NGOs; in Bosnia and Herzegovina, around 6500; in Slovenia, around 22500; in Macedonia, around 6000; in Bulgaria, around 8000, and in Romania has reached number of 62000 organizations.

The following is the list of some Non-Governmental Organisations in the region of Southeast Europe, by countries.