The World Bank is a global entity known for its proactive development efforts. In order to reach its goal of ‘ending poverty’ worldwide, the World Bank needs all the help it can get. The World Bank, primarily a financial institution and secondarily a knowledge institution, therefore relies on local government, civil society, companies and donors to provide the   means, experience, knowledge and capacity to end poverty.

Since the inception of the World Bank, the Netherlands has been a contributor to the Bank’s cause. The Netherlands was one of the first recipients of a World Bank loan, aimed to modernize and expand the fleet of the Royal Dutch Airlines, and has been a staunch supporter ever since. Today, we are ranked 7th among the development partners in terms of contributions to the WBG Trust Funds between 2009-2014, and are one of the largest contributors to IDA.

Given fiscal restraints in recent years, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sought to ensure an even bigger development bang for each buck. Over the last few years we have refocused our development coordination strategy to several core fields. In early February, policy meetings were held between the Netherlands and the World Bank in which this renewed focus was agreed upon: “[The World Bank Group and the Netherlands] agreed on strengthening their partnership in strategic priorities, finding new ways of working together, and exploring the implications of our partnership in light of the recent organizational changes within the World Bank Group”. The shining example of these partnerships is our cooperation in the field of water.

Water partnership

The Netherlands has had an intimate relationship with water for centuries. As a result, the Netherlands is one of the most sophisticated countries when it comes to living and working with water, and solving the challenges that arise from it. In October of last year, the Netherlands, per the request of the World Bank, became a ‘co-creator’ of the World Bank Global Practice Water. Doing so ensures that state-of-the-art Dutch technology and expertise is more readily available to the World Bank and developing countries, thereby achieving economies of scale and ensuring that water projects are of higher quality and impact for people in developing countries. As Ms. Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, noted: “This unique cooperation with the World Bank Group means we can get more out of the available capital. First and foremost, that works to the advantage of those directly affected, but it also benefits our own water sector, allowing it to be involved both in the bank and in projects on the ground.”

Establishing the Water Partnership is a great success both for the Dutch Government and for Dutch companies. For more information on water orientated projects and tenders please visit the WB projects page, e-consultant2 and the NL4WB blog.

Agriculture

The second sector the Netherlands is strongly focused on is agriculture. The Netherlands and the World Bank are in the initial phases of discussing cooperation in this field. As part of this, the World Bank was featured rather prominently during the meetings of the various Dutch Agriculture Attachés in early February. During these meetings, the World Bank’s agriculture representative Willem Janssen gave a presentation on World Bank activities in various countries and how Dutch expertise may be of use in these projects. The World Bank is particularly interested in Dutch knowledge in fields such as Climate Smart Agriculture, food security, supply chain management, and cultivating agricultural innovation systems.

The Netherlands continues to be a strong and innovative partner for the World Bank: “The collaboration between the Netherlands and the World Bank Group is unique, and already has a strong record of including knowledge as well as finance,” said Anita Bhatia, Director of Development Partner Relations, “We look forward to further strengthening this partnership and using lessons from the Dutch model in on our relationships with existing and new partners.”