Development Co-operation Profiles

Netherlands

Introduction

The Netherlands applies its thematic priorities - notably food; water; sexual and reproductive health; and rights, civil society and private sector engagement, across its bilateral and multilateral official development assistance (ODA). These priorities inform large multi-country programmes and country partnerships, focusing on Africa and the Middle East. The Netherlands’ total ODA increased in 2023 to USD 7.4 billion (preliminary data), representing 0.66% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

The 2022 development and trade policy “Do what we do best” continues the focus on partnerships with least developed and fragile contexts in Africa and the Middle East, particularly through its Africa Strategy. In addition, it combines trade and co-operation efforts in select middle-income countries. Long-standing thematic priorities are water management and food security; sexual and reproductive health and rights; and private sector development. Strong attention is given to the rule of law, gender equality and civil society. Multiannual country strategies steer co-operation in each country.

The Netherlands sees its multilateral engagement as an effective way to advance its policy priorities, such as climate adaptation and gender equality. Global Strategies on Climate and Health set out the Netherlands’ ambition to contribute to global goods through international diplomacy, financing and adjustments to national policies such as trade and health. A policy coherence action plan steers cross-government efforts to reduce negative spillovers from Dutch trade and consumption, work on taxation, illicit financial flows, and global health.

Poverty and inequality reduction focus

The Netherlands’ development co-operation aims to address the root causes of poverty and gender inequality, as outlined in the 2022 Policy Document for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, with a particular emphasis on increasing access to basic needs and rights such as nutrition, agriculture and water. Gender equality is the most prominent dimension of the Netherlands’ approach to reducing poverty and inequalities, focusing drivers of gender inequality, such as unequal power relations, social norms and stereotypes. Promising features of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ approach include incorporating gender equality considerations throughout procurement processes and mainstreaming gender in other policy areas such as trade.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The 2023 OECD-DAC peer review praised the Netherlands for its focus on its strengths, its engagement in fragile contexts and its support to civil society. It also highlighted Dutch efforts to tackle the negative effects of its policies on developing countries. The review recommended that the Netherlands step up its locally led development efforts, adapt its thematic focus to the partner country context and clarify its risk appetite. The review stressed the importance of managing the effects of in-donor refugee costs on the budgeting of other co-operation activities. The peer review found that the Netherlands had fully or partially implemented all of the 16 recommendations of the 2017 peer review. Learn more about the Netherlands’ 2023 OECD-DAC peer review.

ODA allocation overview

The Netherlands provided USD 7.4 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 6.7 billion in constant terms), representing 0.66% of GNI.1 This was an increase of 3.1% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2022. This increase confirms the upward trajectory from 2022, mainly due to the provision of additional ODA budget in support of Ukraine. The Netherlands is not yet in line with its domestic and EU commitments to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. The Netherlands provided all of its ODA as grants in 2022.2

In 2023, the Netherlands ranked 8th in terms of ODA volume among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members and 7th among DAC member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. Among DAC members, the Netherlands had the highest share of interventions targeting gender equality as a principal objective in 2021-22 (28.4%), and the highest share of ODA allocated to interventions that focus on peace in fragile contexts (25% in 2022). The Netherlands is also one of the largest providers of aid for trade. Almost all Dutch ODA is reported as untied, both to countries and sectors covered by the DAC Recommendation on Untying ODA and those beyond. The increase of in-donor refugee costs in 2022 means that shares of bilateral ODA allocated to other areas may have decreased from 2021 to 2022, even if absolute volumes have not.

 

Notes: Data on official development assistance (ODA) volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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The Netherlands is committed to several international targets and Development Assistance Committee standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC recommendations.

Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)	0.7	0.52	0.67	0.66
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.09	0.12
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	100	100
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		98.2	97.9
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	100	100

Note: ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee. This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations.

The Netherlands provided a higher share of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 66.8% of total ODA disbursements. Twenty-nine per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). The Netherlands allocated 33.2% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, the Netherlands provided USD 345.2 million (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia's war of aggression, a 77.3% increase from 2022 in real terms3.

 

Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, the Netherlands provided USD 3.4 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 38.7% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 2.2 billion was core multilateral ODA, while USD 1.3 billion was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 46.1% of the Netherlands's non-core contributions, and 53.9% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Seventy per cent of the Netherlands's total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to EU Institutions, the World Bank, and other UN organisations.

 

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The United Nations (UN) system received 35.6% of the Netherlands's multilateral contributions, of which USD 701.9 million (57.4%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 1.2 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of the Netherlands's support (core and earmarked contributions) were UNDP (USD 187.4 million), UNICEF (USD 166.3 million) and UNHCR (USD 99.4 million).

 

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See the section Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, the Netherlands's bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 4.4 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 21.8% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 24.9% of the Netherlands's gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 945.6 million in 2022, an increase of 147.1% in real terms over 2021, and represented 21.6% of the Netherlands's total gross bilateral ODA.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, the Netherlands channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector. Technical co-operation made up 6.8% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 921 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 10% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 1.8% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 19.2% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2021 to 2022, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 26.4% to 21.1%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, the Netherlands's bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Africa. USD 737.4 million was allocated to Africa and USD 201.4 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 87.6% for Ukraine), accounting respectively for 16.9% and 4.6% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 140 million was allocated to Middle East. Africa was also the main regional recipient of the Netherlands's earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, in line with the its policy focus.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 13.4% of gross bilateral ODA went to the Netherlands's top 10 recipients. With the exception of Ukraine, its top 10 recipients are mainly in Africa, where the Netherlands focuses its co-operation, notably on low-income countries. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 79.8%. This high level is primarily due to multi-country and regional programmes managed from headquarters that are not reported by the recipient country and partly (27.1%) due to expenditure for in-donor refugees.

 

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In 2022, the Netherlands allocated 0.12% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). The Netherlands allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (12.4%) to least developed countries in 2022, noting that 79.8% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, the Netherlands allocated 8.2% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 358.9 million.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support to fragile contexts was USD 578.4 million in 2022, representing 13.2% of the Netherlands's gross bilateral ODA. Two per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, decreasing from 13.8% in 2021, while 25% was allocated to peace, slightly below 25.9% in 2021. Six per cent went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing a decrease from 7.7% in 2021. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, the largest focus of the Netherlands's bilateral ODA was on social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 30.4% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 1.5 billion) with a strong focus on government and civil society (USD 616.2 million) and health and population (USD 603.1 million), which accounted for 12.3% of gross bilateral ODA, and an increase of 119.6% from 2019 in real terms.Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 831.8 million (17% of bilateral ODA). Meanwhile, multi-sectoral aid or aid that is not allocable by sector (except for humanitarian assistance) totalled (USD 1.8 billion), to a large extent focused on support to refugees in donor countries (USD 946.1 million). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused primarily on social sectors in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, the Netherlands disbursed USD 93.7 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 159.4 million in 2021.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, the Netherlands committed 84.4% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women's empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective (up from 78.8% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 2.8 billion of bilateral ODA in support of gender equality. Unpacking the gender equality data further:

• The share of screened bilateral allocable aid committed to gender equality and women's empowerment as a principal objective was 28.4% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• The Netherlands includes gender equality objectives in 97.5% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• The Netherlands screens virtually all their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2021-22).

• The Netherlands committed USD 9.6 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 26.8 million to support women's rights organisations and movements and government institutions in 2021-22.

Learn more about Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: DAC Guidance for Development Partners and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.

 

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Environment

In 2021-22, the Netherlands committed 47% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.5 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), up from 39% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

• Five per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11%.

• Forty-five per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.4 billion) focused on climate change overall, up from 38.2% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). The Netherlands had a greater focus on adaptation (39.5%) than on mitigation (18.4%) in 2021-22.

• Eleven per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 334.9 million) focused on biodiversity overall, up from 8.1% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 7.2%).

Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change [DAC/CHAIR(2021)1/FINAL].

 

Note: In this figure, the category climate includes climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation efforts.

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Performance against environment and Rio Markers, 2021-2022

Marker	Constant 2022 USD million	% of bilateral allocable
Environment	311.8	9.9
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	334.9	10.6
Desertification	59.4	1.9
Climate change mitigation only	168.6	5.3
Climate change adaptation only	834	26.4
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	412.7	13.1

Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.

The OECD initiative Sustainable Oceans for All shows that the Netherlands committed USD 16.5 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2022. The 2022 value is equivalent to 0.5% of the Netherlands's bilateral allocable aid.

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, the Netherlands also:

• Committed USD 0.5 million of bilateral ODA to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries. Regarding the payment of local tax and custom duties for ODA-funded goods and services, the Netherlands does not typically seek tax and customs duty exemptions on its ODA-funded goods and services in partner countries and territories and it makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 721.2 million (19.9% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries' trade performance and integration into the world economy.

• Committed USD 184.4 million (5.1% of its bilateral allocable aid) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as health.

Mobilised private finance

The Netherlands uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2022, The Netherlands's FMO mobilised USD 486.3 million from the private sector through syndicated loans, shares in collective investment vehicles and direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles. This constituted a 17.3% increase compared to 2021.

 

Note: CIV: collective investment vehicle; SPV: special purpose vehicle. For the purpose of the OECD statistics on amounts mobilised from the private sector, the FMO is considered official, in line with the OECD-DAC definition on official transactions. However, in the Netherlands' National Accounts System, the FMO is registered as a private, independent bank. Data on mobilisation are therefore provided by the FMO.

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A share of 72.7% targeted middle-income countries, while 3.6% went to LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs) in 2021-22, noting that 23.6% was unallocated by income.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Mobilised private finance by the Netherlands in 2021-22 related mainly to activities in banking and financial services (44.3%), as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 47.8% of the Netherlands's total mobilised private finance was for climate action.

The Netherlands also promotes Responsible Business Conduct through voluntary agreements with business, trade unions, and civil society stakeholders.

Effectiveness of development co-operation

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation monitoring exercise tracks the implementation of the effectiveness commitments. Following the reform of the exercise during the 2020-22, the 4^th global monitoring round (2023-26) has resumed. Information on partner countries' participation in the exercise as well as their progress can be followed at the Global Dashboard. More detailed results for The Netherlands results from the 2016 and 2018 monitoring rounds can be found here.

To help improve the transparency of development co-operation, the OECD provides regular feedback to members on the overall quality of their statistical reporting and works with each member to ensure the data meet high quality standards before they are published. Regarding DAC/CRS reporting to the OECD, the Netherland's reporting in 2022 was on time, with room to improve in terms of the completeness and the accuracy of the data.

Institutional set-up

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a dedicated Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation, is responsible for the development co-operation policy and management. The Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) steers the bulk of the ODA budget, directly delegating a small share to embassies. Important implementing institutions, notably for private sector engagement, are the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Development Bank FMO (a public-private partnership, with 51% of shares held by the Dutch state) and Invest International (a joint venture of the state and the FMO). The Foreign Trade and Development Committee in the Dutch parliament oversees development co-operation.

The DGIS has around 300 staff at headquarters and another 300 in embassies in focus countries, around half of which are local staff.

 

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An important mechanism for consulting stakeholders is the so-called Dutch diamond approach, thematic multi-stakeholder partnerships bringing together the government, the private sector, companies, CSOs and research institutions. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body Partos.

Quality and oversight

Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of the Netherlands’ development co-operation. Select features are shown in the table below.

Features of the Netherlands’ systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	A Quality Entry process reviews larger and high-risk programmes in-depth, often associating external experts. A task force and focal points advance gender equality and mainstreaming was assessed in an evaluation. To integrate climate change in the development co-operation portfolio, staff received coaching and guidance and systems and processes were updated.
Risk management	The development co-operation policy underlines the need to take calculated risks. Risk managers support staff in risk assessments and share experiences in a community of practice. A dedicated policy, work plan and staff help promote the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.
Innovation and adaptation	The Netherlands invests in strengthening innovation ecosystems and the private sector’s ability to innovate in partner countries, for example through the Orange Corner Innovation Fund, which entered its second phase, and the FMO Ventures Program.
Results management	An integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Unit has focal points across all teams. Quantitative (short- and medium-term) results are tracked for all priority themes and published on line, aggregated also by country and portfolio. To focus more on longer term impact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is piloting qualitative indicators for policy influencing and stories of change.
Evaluation	The Policy and Operations Evaluation Department IOB is the independent evaluation service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a focus on complex strategic and policy evaluations. Evaluations are shared with the Dutch parliament, as is the government’s management response. Findings inform decision making, for instance, to streamline the portfolio. Read more about the Netherlands’ evaluation system. Visit the DAC Evaluation Resource Centre website for evaluations of the Netherlands’ development co-operation.
Knowledge management and learning	Knowledge platforms bring together Dutch and external stakeholders in key thematic areas. Thematic theories of change are regularly updated in line with insights. There is a strong learning culture. For example, country strategies need to reflect lessons learnt and identify learning needs and efforts are underway to integrate continuous learning into programmes.
Communication and transparency	The Netherlands publishes general information on its development co-operation on a government website. A separate portal provides information on projects, disbursement and results of government-funded development co-operation activities.

Additional resources

2023 OECD-DAC peer review of the Netherlands: https://doi.org/10.1787/67b0a326-en

Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Development Cooperation: https://www.government.nl/topics/development-cooperation

Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO): https://www.fmo.nl

CSO platform Partos: https://www.partos.nl/about-partos

Netherlands' practices on the Development Co-operation TIPs: Tools Insights Practices learning platform: https://www.oecd.org/development-cooperation-learning?tag-key+partner=netherlands#search

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1960.

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

Notes

← 1.  DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.

← 2.  Other providers also provide non-grants, which include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.

← 3.  In their preliminary reporting on 2023 flows, published on April 11, the Netherlands did not specify how much of their ODA to Ukraine in 2023 was humanitarian. The Dutch policy on humanitarian aid is focused on providing support through flexible and unearmarked (core) contributions to UN institutions and NGOs such as the Red Cross and the Dutch Relief Alliance. This was also the case for (additional) Dutch support in 2023 as a consequence of the war in Ukraine.