Whereas the first year of the process was dedicated to gathering opinions and fine-tuning thoughts ‘internally’ within the Task Force and a small circle of experts around it, the process continued ‘externally’ in the second year. DPRN therefore aimed to increase the sense of urgency as regards discussing the Dutch DC/IC architecture through an intensive round of public consultation.
Working group discussions
In the period March-May 2009, four ‘mixed’ working groups prepared propositions on the organisation of Dutch IC/DC. Each working group included participants from policy, practice, academia and the business sector. The respective chairpersons of these groups were Maarten Brouwer, René Grotenhuis, Peter Nijkamp and Herman Mulder as representatives of the four DPRN target groups.
Each working group met twice and together the four groups formulated a total of 47 propositions, which the DPRN Task Force arranged into a synthesis document (in Dutch) according to two scenarios:
- Poverty alleviation & human development.
- Sustainable global development.
In each scenario a further distinction was made between the propositions that focused on (i) strategy, (ii) structure, (iii) limiting conditions, and (iv) the necessary steps to involve the public. This organising principle largely continued building on the four questions that were identified in advance of the issue paper that was written in 2008, in order to ensure continuity of the process.
Public meeting
The next step in the process was the organisation of a public meeting, which was held on 15 June 2009 at the Royal Tropical Institute, in which the outcomes of the working groups were discussed with a larger audience. In order to stimulate the discussion in advance of the meeting, the four chairpersons were asked to comment on the scenarios proposed by the Task Force, and to consult with their constituencies (mainly the working group participants who belonged to their sector).
During the first part of the meeting these sector-specific discussions were continued under the leadership of the same chairpersons, who later presented the outcomes to the larger audience. The second part of the meeting was reserved for a plenary discussion in which the chairpersons, three prominent members of political parties - Marianne Douma (D66), Peter Heintze (PvdA) and Joris Voorhoeve (VVD) - and the audience debated the outcomes of the discussions.
The report of the meeting, including the statements of the chairpersons, (in Dutch) can be viewed here.
PROVO
Based on the process outcomes so far, the DPRN Task Force drew up a ‘Programme of requirements of the organisation of Dutch IC/DC' (in Dutch and English) – known by the acronym PROVO - to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and political parties about a possible strategy and ways of organising the infrastructure deemed necessary for a more effective IC/DC. The document, published in September 2009, identifies the main features of the discussions:
- As far as the strategy is concerned, the document underlines the need to shift from DC to IC, implying that policy should be oriented towards global issues. This means that classic poverty alleviation is no longer the only driver for IC, but that action is also required to deal with the many new problems that the globalised world is facing and which affect both the North and the South (environmental problems, climate, migration, security, etc.).
- The document also emphasises the need for a more strategic positioning of the Netherlands, both by focussing on specific Dutch expertise, but also by grounding policy more in Dutch society. In connection with this, there is a tension between the international dimension of the IC architecture and the organisation and use of instruments and capacities available for that purpose in the Netherlands.
- Another main outcome of the debate was that the business and knowledge sectors - and their respective values of focussing on returns on investments and investing in learning capacity - need to be integrated more into the field of IC. However, the participation of the knowledge and business sectors should not lead to new proliferation and an excess of organisations since this would be contrary to the need for consolidation. The PROVO therefore argues in favour of operational management with a hybrid public-private character.
- Serious doubts were expressed about whether the strategic goals could be achieved through the bilateral and multilateral channels as they are now organised. In this respect the PROVO proposed setting up an independent, non-political and market-oriented project office or clearing house. There was much less doubt among participants about the effectiveness – and therefore about the preservation – of the civilateral channel in IC.
Reflection
In 2009 DPRN succeeded in organising a broad public debate whereby it was pleasantly surprising that the business community and representatives from ministries were well represented. Although some felt that the time frame was too short to acquire the depth required for a discussion on such a broad theme, there was appreciation of the fact that the intensity kept people involved and brought to light some of the most relevant issues in this debate. Besides, many of the issues raised in the PROVO, have turned out to be similar to those brought forward in the long-awaited report by the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) entitled ‘Less pretension, more ambition’ (in Dutch; published in January 2010).
Timeline 2009
