Dutch aid organisations have been told they will receive less subsidy in the coming years. The leading role the Netherlands plays in the field of development cooperation could be coming to an end.

Dutch aid organisations will have to make do with less in the future. The 19 largest organisations, which have combined forces in various alliances to apply for subsidies, will jointly receive only 2.1 billion euros. They asked for almost three billion. And that amount may be even lower after the new cabinet introduces its cuts.

Arbitrary choice
Many large organisations, like Oxfam Novib, Cordaid and ICCO were told at the beginning of the week that they will receive roughly a third less than their current annual budget. Others, like Terre des Hommes, will receive nothing at all. Professor of development cooperation Paul Hoebink says the minister’s choice does not follow any particular policy. “All you can say is that alliances involved in emergency aid and reconstruction have done better than expected.”

The minister responsible for development cooperation Ben Knapen thinks aid organisations should learn to be more independent in the future. At present, they have to find a quarter of their budget from other sources. Minister Knapen says: That proportion should be increased, because the public is becoming sceptical about how the money is spent.

“I sincerely believe that people concerned with the fate of others have doubts about how taxpayers’ money is spent. So we have to show results and communicate openly about things that go wrong. We also have to actively involve the public and businesses.”

Trend
After being a leader in development cooperation for many years, the Netherlands is beginning to follow a European trend, says Mirjam van Reisen, managing director of the European External Policy Advisors:

“That means that people think development aid should be given in exchange for good governance and trade with Dutch firms. And that businesses should support development organisations.”

Nevertheless, the Netherlands is still a progressive country in this respect, she adds. “The rest of Europe still thinks what happens in the Netherlands is important, and the 0.7% (of the gross national product, ed.) is less than it was, but still the top European rate. That shows that the Netherlands still thinks it is an important policy area.”

Left-wing hobby
That is not what the idea the largest coalition party, the conservative VVD, wants to give. The new prime minister Mark Rutte has repeatedly said he wants to halve the budget for development aid. The anti-Islam Freedom Party, which lends parliamentary support to the minority coalition, wants to scrap development cooperation altogether. Party leader Geert Wilders likes to call development aid a “left-wing hobby”. “But in practice European countries show that development aid is not at all a left-wing issue,” says Professor Hoebink.

“Mr Rutte, take a look at the British conservatives, they are much more positive about development aid and they appreciate how important it is. The same goes for the German conservatives. The British conservatives say progress has been made in a large number of areas. While in the Netherlands people say: There are still poor countries in Africa, so development cooperation has failed. Of course that is absolute nonsense.”