Netherlands

The Netherland’s official development assistance (ODA) fell from US$6.6 billion in 2008 to US$6.4 billion in 2009, but it still ranks within the top ten largest government donors (eighth). Its humanitarian aid contributions followed a similar pattern and dropped from US$612 million to US$508 million in the same period, ranking seventh.

In 2011 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Development Assistant Committee (DAC) conducted a peer review of the Netherlands’ aid system. The review stated that little progress had been made on humanitarian aid recommendations from 2006, such as developing a more coherent humanitarian policy, increasing staff capacity and reviewing funding to protracted crises. The outcomes of the 2011 review were a clearer humanitarian aid strategy, greater focus on disaster risk reduction and stronger leadership and coordination in partnership development.

The primary department concerned with humanitarian aid is the Human Rights, Good Governance and Humanitarian Aid Department (DMH), which is situated within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Netherlands is a member of the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) initiative group and was active in its establishment in 2003. It was joint chair of the group in 2008/09.

In 2012 the Netherlands’ development cooperation aid budget will be cut by €958 million (US$1.3 billion), which will directly affect funding for emergency aid, good governance and environmental programmes. The Netherlands will focus on and increase funding to four priority areas: water; food security; security and legal orders; and sexual and reproductive health and rights.