[ID:6221]EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article is written as a general introduction to NGOs in Belgium and it is also a companion article for the Belgian NGO resources, found in the All NGOs resource list. The article is also available in French, since volunteers, interns and job applicants must, in general, be proficient in the French language in order to work/volunteer/intern with a Belgian NGO. It has also taken most of its sources and information on the NGO-Openboek's and the ACODEV websites, which are two excellent resources for Belgian NGOs.

NGOs in Belgium are known as “associations sans but lucratif” (asbl) or "organisations de la société civile" (OSC) in French and as “vereniging zonder winstoogmerk” (vzw) in Dutch. These organizations are mostly specialized...