The Council of Non Governmental Organizations (CNGOs) of Jaffna District was formed during the peak of the conflict in November 1990 with the aim of providing a coordinated relief support to the affected people when available resources of the various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) functioning in the district were very much limited. There were 14 member organizations including 4 International NGOs at the time (namely: SCF, CARE, FORUT and Redd Barna).

With the mass exodus in October 1995 to Thenmaradchy and the Wanni the task of the CNGOs was formidable to coordinate and efficiently look into the relief assistance of almost 500,000 displaced people within the district. The various advocacy steps taken at the time with the international community, Governments and the UN made it difficult for the INGOs to continue with the membership since there appeared a split of interest.

Thus, one by one all the four INGOs got out of the Council by mid-1996 but opted to be present as only ‘observers’. The journey of the CNGOs continued from 1996 to date with only the active National and Local NGOs functioning in Jaffna. At the moment there are 28 member organizations with the Council of which 10 are National level organizations (meaning they are functioning in more than one district) and the others are Local level organizations.