A Community-Based Organization (CBO)is a non-formal organization (usually without formal government recognition) created and controlled by the beneficiaries themselves for their own benefit, i.e. the organization's target population is resident within the community. Such groups often form federations, associations or regional cooperatives which function to service, support, follow-up or provide political representation. Membership groups can evolve into a subset of support/service NGOs.
A Beneficiary-Owned Organization (BOO) is an inter-village, non-formal organization appropriate for a low level partnership based on indirect service delivery where development and sustainability are not the focus.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends support for community-based people's organizations, especially farmers and pastoralists.