From private funding to governmental support
In 1949, the Dutch government made a modest start with development cooperation contributing 1.5 million guilders to the technical assistance programme of the United Nations and deploying experts to developing countries. The government’s decision to grant subsidies to non-commercial private organisations, from 1965 onward, was the next step in the evolution of Dutch development assistance policy. In the first year, the state secretary responsible for aid to less developed countries, Izaac Diepenhorst, made 5 million guilders available, about 2 per cent of the budget for development aid. In 2004, more than 450 million EUR was set aside for co-financing private organisations, about 11.8 per cent of the total budget for development cooperation. After forty years, private development organisations have become indispensable in Dutch development policy.
In this contribution, I shall concentrate on the rise and expansion of private development aid in the Netherlands and the long road to recognition, subsidies and being an important player within Dutch development policy.
‘Non-governmental organisations in the Netherlands. From private funding to governmental support’ in: H. Pharo and M. Pohle-Fraser (eds.), The Aid Rush. Aid Regimes in Northern Europe during the Cold War, Vol. 1 (Oslo: Unipub, 2008), pp. 315-332.
Bewerkte versie van paper voor conferentie over internationale ontwikkelingssamenwerking te Kopenhagen, 28 en 29 april 2006.