A ĉefdelegito (chief delegate) is someone installed also by the UEA headquarters, but with the task to collect and remit membership fees in a given country.

The IJK is a week-long event of concerts, presentations, excursions attended by hundreds of young people from all over the world.

In Esperanto these were initially termed as Naciaj Societoj (national societies), but they have subsequently become known as Landaj Asocioj (country associations).

Decades later, in 1959, the Cuban association was refused because its statutes respected the leading role of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Next to Esperanto, the Yearbook (Jarlibro de UEA) which published for 108 years, was the oldest continuous publication of the association.

The organisation has a network of local representatives from around the world, the Delegita Reto, who are available to provide information about their geographical area or professional field.

Since 2009, World Congresses have been held in Białystok, Poland, the hometown of L. L. Zamenhof, the creator and guiding spirit of Esperanto, as well as in Havana, Copenhagen, Hanoi, Reykjavík, Buenos Aires, Lille, Nitra, Seoul, Lisbon, Lahti, Montreal and Turin.

In addition to the UN and UNESCO, UEA also has consultative relations with UNICEF and the Council of Europe, and a general working relationship with the Organization of American States.

The modern UEA is the result of a decades-long process of several attempts to give the Esperanto movement a sound foundation.

The founder of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof, wished for an international association to come into existence, but the first world congress of 1905 produced only a general manifesto about the essence and neutrality of the movement.

In 1906, the French Gen. Hyppolyte Sebert created his Esperantista Centra Oficejo (Central Office of the Esperantists) in Paris.

In spite of this 'official' name, the office was a purely private enterprise of Sebert, but he tried to engender support from the various national associations.

One year later, at the Geneva world congress, Zamenhof created a Lingva Komitato (Language Committee), the basis of the later Akademio de Esperanto.

It consisted of some eminent speakers from several countries and was intended to safeguard the evolution of the Esperanto language; members were elected for a nine-year term.

This evolutionary thread ceased in 1914 with the breakout of World War I, which forced the movement as a whole to pause many of its activities, and the Congresses planned for 1916, 1917, 1918 and 1919 were cancelled.

The delegate was tasked with collecting membership fees and sending them to the Geneva headquarters, and was expected to represent the other local members on the international level.

The discussions eventually created the so-called Helsinki system, on which UEA and the national associations agreed at the congress of 1922 in the Finnish capital.

The heads of the movement saw that at the world congresses there was considerable overlap, and three separate groups were discussing essentially the same subjects: the Komitato of UEA, the Ko-Ro of the national associations and the six members of the ICK.

The final blow to the Helsinki system came in 1932 when UEA did not pay its contributions for the common budget, and the same was true for some of the national associations.

The new board with president Louis Bastien faced a catastrophic financial situation and decided in early 1936 to depart Geneva for London.

In London, the capable activist Cecil C. Goldsmith wanted to become the new director (secretary), and for certain currency reasons UEA could exist significantly more cheaply in Britain than in Switzerland.

A hastily organized and secret campaign, led by former president Stettler, made it impossible for the Bastien-led board to legally move the headquarters away from Switzerland.

The international Esperanto movement survived World War II with its IEL headquarters in Heronsgate, near London.

[8] Ivo Lapenna, a London law professor originally coming from Croatia, in the 1950s reshaped the association significantly.

The office moved from Heronsgate to Rotterdam, the board since then has a general secretary, the Esperanto editor is a paid position.

After the war, the UEA at times employed ten or more people (e.g. a congress manager, a book seller, a librarian.)

After having served for more than 30 years on the board of UEA, Lapenna left the association in 1974 and created a rival organization (Neŭtrala Esperanto-Movado).