Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP)

The NFP are demand-oriented fellowship programmes designed to foster institutional development. The NFP are funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the budget for development co-operation. The overall aim of the NFP is to help alleviate qualitative and quantitative shortages of skilled manpower and to do so within the framework of sustainable capacity-building directed towards reducing poverty in developing countries.

More specifically, the NFP are focused on meeting the need for further training and capacity-building in developing countries. To maximize the fellowships' impact on capacity-building, NFP-funded training must be linked to the institutional development of organisations. A wide range of organisations are eligible -governmental, private and non-governmental. They can include educational institutions, planning agencies, ministries, community-based organisations, and private enterprises, for example.

The NFP target group consists of mid-career professionals who are already in employment and who are nationals of one of 57 selected countries. While fellowships are awarded to individuals, the need for training must occur within the context of the local organisation for which an applicant works. The training must help the organisation to develop. This means that applicants must be nominated by their employers. In fact, an application without the support of an employer will not be considered.

Nuffic aims to use at least half of the available funding for fellowships for female candidates, and at least half for fellowships for candidates from sub-Saharan Africa.

For professionals from organisations in developing countries, the NFP offers the following options:

• Fellowships for master’s degree programmes 
• Fellowships for PhD studies   
• Fellowships for short courses   
• Tailor-made training  
• Refresher courses  

For the PhD studies, short courses and master's degree programmes NFP uses a two-step application procedure. Applicants must first gain admission to the course or programme of the Dutch institution that they are interested in. Only after having been admitted, can they apply for an NFP fellowship. The appropriate fellowship application forms are available at the Netherlands embassies or consulates or can be downloaded. The Netherlands embassies and consulates can provide more information about country-specific opportunities and regulations. For this reason Nuffic strongly advises candidates to contact the embassy or consulate in their own country before they start the NFP application procedure. To gain admission to a course or programme, an applicant has to contact the institution concerned directly. The required information can be found on the institutions' websites.

Netherlands Programme for Institutional Strengthening of Post-secondary Education and Training Capacity (NPT)

For the past three decades, the Netherlands government has financed several international co-operation programmes aimed at the sustainable strengthening of institutional capacity for post-secondary education and training in developing countries. The newest programme is the Netherlands Programme for Institutional Strengthening of Post-secondary Education and Training Capacity (NPT). The overall aim of the NPT is to help alleviate qualitative and quantitative shortages in skilled manpower, and to do so within the framework of sustainable capacity-building directed towards reducing poverty in developing countries.

The NPT is a programme of South-North co-operation which helps developing countries to strengthen their institutional capacity for providing post-secondary education and training. It does this by mobilising expertise from Dutch organisations. The education and training capacity which the NPT aims to strengthen must be relevant to the sectors and themes targeted for the Dutch bilateral support given to the countries in question. More general support for the higher education sector is also a possibility, as is support for projects which cut across the chosen sectors and themes.

Support can be given to organisations in the South that play an important role in the development of post-secondary education and training capacity. These include institutions for post-secondary education, government ministries, national commissions, and NGOs.

The NPT is demand-driven and flexible, and it addresses local priorities. ‘Ownership’ on the part of stakeholders in the South is an important feature of the programme. To achieve a good quality-price ratio, the contracts by which Dutch organisations provide the necessary services will be awarded on a competitive basis. The programme will emphasise the achievement of results and will therefore be output-oriented.

Benin werd begin 2004 toegevoegd aan de landenlijst voor uitvoer van NUFFIC’s NPT programma. Zodoende worden in Benin op dit moment de behoeften geïdentificeerd voor institutionele versterking voor (post)secondair onderwijs dat ten goede komt aan de watersector, de door Benin en Nederland overeengekomen prioritaire sector.

Voor verdere informatie over de opzet van het NPT programma in Benin wordt u verzocht NUFFIC’s website te raadplegen [  www.nuffic.nl/npt] , en indien u behoefte heeft aan gedetailleerde informatie contact op te nemen met NUFFIC’s NPT program officer voor Benin, mevrouw Miriam LANGEVELD :  [  mlangeveld@NUFFIC.NL].

The International Institutes Cooperation Programme (SII)

 The International Institutes Cooperation Programme (in Dutch “SII”) is one of the education programmes of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Development Cooperation. The SII programme is a higher education programme focused on South-South cooperation. It finances higher education projects with a regional or multi-country focus and in which the activities are demand-driven. The programme may finance (a combination of) activities in the fields of policy development, research (in the field of higher education), capacity building, higher education management, training of trainers, curriculum development, short courses, Master’s degrees, Ph.D programmes, seminars, staff and management training and scholarships. For each project at least one of the beneficiary countries must be a bilateral partner country for Dutch development cooperation (see Annex 2)

The SII has two main aims:

• to strengthen the higher education sector in developing countries by supporting organisations and cooperative initiatives which aim to improve the quality, relevance and accessibility of higher education;
• to increase the opportunities open to people from developing countries to participate in higher education in their own region.

The Priorities of the Ministry regarding SII include:

• More emphasis on institutional capacity building. Study in the region is only instrumental in this.
• More emphasis on networks/network advantages.
• More emphasis on indicators of results and final impact.

Applications can be submitted by international or regional organisations, as well as by local organisations representing a network in developing countries.

The minimum requirements for applications are:

• Initiatives should have a regional or multi-country focus.
• Proposals should be demand driven.
• Applicant organisations should have sufficient organisational capacity.
• At least one of the beneficiary countries must be on the list of 36 partner countries of the Netherlands.
• Project proposals (and further reports) should be written in English.

For more information: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Education and Development Division, Mrs. K. Wigman, P.O. Box 20061, 2500 EB The Hague, The Netherlands, phone: + 31 70 348 7349 /4265, fax: +31 70 348 6436,  Kaj.wigman@minbuza.nl