The Dutch government invests a lot of time, money and energy in development cooperation. However, the effectiveness of these efforts is hindered by a lack of coordination, weak policies, a suboptimal government apparatus, and limited continuity in political, policy and managerial terms. In 2008 the DPRN Task Force initiated a three year process to discuss alternatives to the fragmented structure of Dutch development cooperation. The idea behind this debate is that development cooperation would be more effective when based on a clear and comprehensive strategy, hence the title ‘structure follows strategy’.
The Netherlands is an international frontrunner in the field of development cooperation and widely praised for its role as a donor, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. However, there is still a widespread sentiment – both within and outside the sector – that the organisation of development cooperation should be improved in order to raise its effectiveness. The activities of the numerous Dutch civil society organisations take place all around the globe and are hardly coordinated. Moreover, in diplomatic terms, the Netherlands is less visible than other countries, including small ones like Norway.
In Dutch politics, each new Minister of Development Cooperation introduces his or her own approach and priorities and this results in a lack of continuity. Moreover, during the last few decades these political leaders have paid relatively scant attention to the organisation of development aid. Until now, the Netherlands has not had a professional organisation to govern and coordinate development cooperation, as exist in many neighbouring countries (e.g. DFID in the United Kingdom, GTZ in Germany and Danida in Denmark).
Clearly, effective development cooperation requires an effective infrastructure. However, in order to create such an infrastructure, the Netherlands would first need to define its objectives and strategy. The following questions need to be answered:
1. Why is the Netherlands involved in development cooperation, what is understood by ‘development’, and what is the intended result? (policy vision);
2. How can we achieve this? (strategy);
3. What infrastructure (multilateral, bilateral and civilateral) is needed to achieve the goals and what conditions have to be in place? (structure);
4. What is needed to effectuate the change from the existing to the desired infrastructure?