So, whats wrong with Dutch aid organisations?
They were once highly regarded; for decades, Dutch aid organisations quietly worked in every corner of the globe, building schools, digging wells and supporting agriculture and health care institutions and no one questioned their work. Gradually, the number of NGOs increased and there are now between 250 and 300 organisations in the Netherlands. Myriad changes Author Marieke de Wal (pictured right), whose book A Sector under Fire will be published this week, says NGOs have had to cope with a huge number of changes over the last 10 years. De Wal, who works for the independent consultancy firm Berenschot, studied the past, present and future of Dutch aid organisations. She says, “We see numerous crisis across the globe; the climate crisis, the food crisis, the energy crisis and now the economic crisis, aid organisations have had to respond to all of them”. There’s also been a change in the political-economic power structure. Previously, aid travelled from the rich north to the poor south
