Netherlands
The Netherlands’s contribution to data for development
The Netherlands engages in strengthening statistical capacities and systems in developing countries through contributions to multilateral organisations and some bilateral capacity building. For instance, the Netherlands has supported the Statistics for Results Facility – Catalytic Fund of the World Bank since 2008, providing a total of EUR 5.25 million.
The government is following up on a commitment made by the Minister for Development Co-operation, Ms Ploumen, to provide technical assistance for disaggregated data collection and analysis within the context of the Leave No One Behind Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is looking into offering bilateral assistance to support the collection and analysis of disaggregated data – in particular on income, access to education and health services – on the poorest and most marginalised groups in partner countries. The Netherlands plans to focus its support on national statistical systems and other data producers as well as the interaction between these different actors. Promoting the use of data by policy makers, civil society and citizens will also be an important objective.
According to the 2017 Partner Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS) dataset, the Netherlands committed on average USD 4.36 million per year to finance national statistical capacities and systems in developing countries in 2013-15.
Financial flows from the Netherlands to developing countries
The Netherlands’ use of ODA to mobilise other resources for sustainable development
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USD 0.63 million of official development assistance (ODA) was committed to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries, e.g. to support the development of their tax systems, in 2015.
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USD 588.2 million of ODA (-33.7% in real terms from 2014) was committed to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2015.
The Netherlands’ performance against commitments for effective development co-operation
The Netherlands’ official development assistance
In 2016, the Netherlands provided USD 5 billion in net ODA (preliminary data), which represented 0.65% of gross national income (GNI) and a decrease of 13.1% in real terms from 2015, mostly due to lower expenditures for in-donor refugees compared to 2015. The Netherlands’ ODA/GNI ratio slipped below the UN target of 0.7% in 2016 – the third time since 1974. The Netherlands’ share of untied ODA (excluding administrative costs and in-donor refugee costs) was 92.7% in 2015 (down from 98.4% in 2014), above the DAC average of 78.1%. The grant element of total ODA was 100% in 2015.
In 2016, in-donor refugee costs were USD 461 million, a decrease of 65.3% in real terms over 2015, and represented 9.3% of the Netherlands’ total net ODA.
In 2015, 73.1% of ODA was provided bilaterally. The Netherlands allocated 26.9% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations, above the DAC country average of 26.2%. In addition, it channelled 15.5% of its bilateral ODA for specific projects implemented by multilateral organisations (multi-bi/non-core contributions).
In 2015, only 16.5% of bilateral ODA was programmed with partner countries. The Netherlands’ share of country programmable aid was lower than the DAC country average of 48.8% in 2015. Project-type interventions accounted for 65% of this aid. Twenty-nine per cent of the Netherlands’ bilateral ODA was reported as “other and unallocated” by category, and 31.1% was allocated to refugee costs in the Netherlands.
In 2015, USD 1.1 billion of bilateral ODA was channelled to and through civil society organisations (CSOs). Between 2014 and 2015, aid channelled to and through CSOs increased in volume (3%) but decreased as a share of bilateral aid (from 29.2% to 24.7%). This share was higher than the 2015 DAC country average (16.9%).
The largest share of Dutch allocable bilateral ODA was directed towards sub-Saharan Africa. In 2015, USD 620.8 million was allocated to sub-Saharan Africa and USD 219.8 million to the Middle East, noting that 72% of Dutch bilateral ODA is unallocated by region.
In 2015, 10.9% of bilateral ODA went to the Netherlands’ top 10 recipients. Nine of its 15 priority partner countries are on the list of its top 10 recipients. In 2015, its support to fragile contexts reached USD 580.5 million (13.6% of gross bilateral ODA).
In 2015, 11% of bilateral ODA was allocated to least developed countries (LDCs), amounting to USD 466.4 million. This is a decrease from 18.2% in 2013 and 14.2% in 2014 and is well below the 2015 DAC average of 24.3%. LDCs received the highest share of bilateral ODA in 2015, noting that 81.8% of bilateral ODA was unallocated by income group.
At 0.14% of the Netherlands’ GNI in 2015, total ODA to LDCs was below the UN target of 0.15% of GNI.1
In 2015, 37.8% of the Netherlands’ bilateral ODA was allocated to social and economic infrastructure and services. USD 1.9 billion was allocated to social sectors, with a strong focus on support to government and civil society (USD 1.4 billion), population and reproductive health (USD 211.3 million), and water and sanitation (USD 152.4 million). USD 424.1 million was allocated to production services, with a strong focus on agriculture (USD 165.2 million). Humanitarian aid amounted to USD 549.5 million.
USD 2.1 billion of bilateral ODA supported gender equality. In 2015, 61.3% of the Netherlands’ bilateral allocable aid had gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal or significant objective, compared with the DAC country average of 36.3%. This is up from 57.1% in 2014. The Netherlands’ aid to population and reproductive health, government and civil society, and water and sanitation has a strong focus on gender equality and the Netherlands is among the biggest donors to women’s organisations.
USD 1.2 billion of Dutch bilateral ODA commitments supported environmental outcomes in 2015. The Netherlands has a strong focus on climate change and sustainable use of natural resources, with a focus on water management and access to energy. It invests in both mainstreaming climate change into development co-operation programmes and direct support to climate mitigation and adaptation. The share of bilateral allocable aid supporting the environment was significantly higher than in 2014 (35.3% vs. 15.8%), and above the DAC country average of 33.2%. In 2015, 29.9% of bilateral allocable aid (USD 1 billion) focused on climate change, above the DAC country average of 26.2%.
Note to reader: Annex B provides “Methodological notes on the profiles of Development Assistance Committee members”.
Reference
OECD (2017), OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews: The Netherlands 2017, OECD Publishing, Paris.
← 1. The Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that 0.26% of GNI was directly or indirectly targeted at LDCs in 2015.