Give your input to the upcoming Dutch Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Policy
On February 22, 2018 the newly installed Dutch Rutte-III government opened an online civil consultation to feed into its upcoming policy brief that will guide Dutch Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation (FT&DC) in the coming years.
All (inter)national partners active in this field are warmly invited by Minister Kaag to share their ideas and knowledge. In particular civil society organizations, enterprises and related sector organizations operating in Dutch partner countries, cities and regions with international ambitions and knowledge institutes are invited.
The government coalition agreement stipulates that its new FT&DC policy will include a focus on tackling root causes of poverty, migration, terror and climate change. The Netherlands will also contribute more to international climate action, sustainable production in value chains and inclusive economic development. Furthermore, the government wants to invest in market access and strategic positioning of Dutch businesses in existing and expanding markets.
The online consultation is open until March 22, 2018 and asks nine questions. Contributors are welcome to answer those questions that are most relevant to them. Reactions should be based on solid arguments and provide concrete ideas for action. Background documents can be sent in additionally. Reactions will be published online in the course of the consultation, but only if the contributor agrees. Despite the fact that the consultation questions are formulated in Dutch the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that English answers are welcome.
Although none of the questions explicitly addresses Food & Nutrition Security, the Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) calls on all actors in its network to give solid knowledge-based input from the perspective of food & nutrition security. All nine questions offer space to do so. Summarized in English, the questions are:
- How can Dutch actors ensure more results for the prevention of conflict and instability, shelter in the region and emergency aid?
- How can Dutch actors best address population growth in Africa and stimulate youth employment in Africa and the Middle East?
- Which (new/ sub) focus areas can the government identify to reduce poverty and inequality? (Currently areas are: food & nutrition security, water, sexual and reproductive health & rights and security & rule of law)?
- Which innovative solutions can stimulate Dutch actors to reduce CO2 emissions (mitigation) and help societies adapt to climate change (adaptation)?
- What opportunities do you see to address social challenges (e.g. better working conditions, opportunities for young people and women) or ecological challenges (e.g. water, climate, biodiversity) in production, trade and investments?
- How can the government stimulate international trade and investments to contribute to the SDGs?
- With which innovative creative solutions could the government support private and knowledge actors to better market Dutch skills and knowledge?
- How can Dutch businesses, SMEs in particular, be better supported in internationalization, and what markets require extra focus?
- Which additional suggestions for the FT&DC policy do you have?
Please note that you can use a maximum of 2,500 characters per answer.
The F&BKP invites contributors to answer the questions from the perspective of Food and Nutrition Security and how Food and Nutrition Security can contribute even more to the Dutch Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation agenda. The F&BKP also stimulates groups/ organizations to cluster and/or synthesize their input. If input for the consultation is published on your own website, please let us know so that we can use it for our own input to the consultation.
Please find here the link to fill in the consultation questions: https://www.internetconsultatie.nl/bhos
Please find here the link to the questions and background document in English: https://www.internetconsultatie.nl/bhos/berichten
Good luck!
unemployment is a major concern in africa. the population of Africa is very youthful and the levels of unemployment are extremely high.what kind of assistance would help to address this challenge which is very common in most African states.
In this article i want to highlight on solutions that can help address unemployment.
1.Value Addition and industrialisation
Endowed with natural resources,Africa is a major source of raw materials for most industrialized countries and this material is still exported in it’s raw form and not has finished products.As the dutch government come up with development strategies for the future,try to focus more on areas that will help africa to add value to it’s raw material so that africa exports finished products.value addition will lead to industrialization which in turn becomes a vehicle for job creation.industrialization can be achieved through knowledge transfer,technical and vocational training.
2. Agriculture Mechanization
Agriculture has always been looked at as a large scale enterprise that can create sustainable economic growth failing to materialize from mineral deposits.in africa,the use of human muscle in agriculture is very common and this indicates how low mechanized africa’s agriculture is.this scenario gives an explanation why Africa has more subsistence farmers than commercial.Let the dutch government help africa to enhance productivity through increased use of modern farming equipment,management and utilization of water development,weather vulnerabilities and education and research.Another important aspect is financial assistance to SMEs who are in the agriculture sector and Smallholder farmers so that they are supported to become commercial farmers.with abundant arable land,agriculture can create million of jobs for young africans who can be farmers and also work in agro-processing industries.
3.Trade
Trade is one area where africa has not done so well.fair trade can create millions of jobs.Let the dutch government trade more with africa by increasing trade volumes.when the volumes of trade are increased,there will be a spiral effect.that is, business activities will increase which will also increase demand for jobs.
The other matter of concern is that the dutch government should find ways of helping african countries by investing in the establishment of systems that will enable them get more benefits from their natural resources.in many countries,multinational corporation have been exploiting governments by evading taxes.these companies have been reaping more from africa than what they are paying as tax to governments.You can help as a cooperating partner to build capacity in institutions that have been charged with responsibilities to collect revenue and tax to implement natural resources monitoring mechanisms to enable African governments get full view of the Value Chain.if right taxes are not paid,it becomes very difficult for governments to raise funds for services such as education,health and agriculture and the end result is continued borrowing from developed countries.
I feel,these ideas can help to stimulate youth employment and poverty reduction in africa.
Africa is extremely vulnerable to the impact of climate change. This is due to lack of funds and technology to mitigate climate change.
Fortunately, Africa has a youthful generation which is coming up with innovative solutions which can stimulate developed countries like the Netherlands help in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
One of the innovative solutions is the recycling of electronic waste and other waste. Electronic waste recycling has the potential to create employment for the youths and women. This can reduce on poverty and increase the standard of living for many people. Recycling of electronic waste and other waste reduces the polluting of the environment and it also reduces on energy consumption as well as land degradation.
Africa has about 60% of arable land. This land can feed the world if used very well and can create a lot of employment opportunities for many Africa youths and women. The best method to use which many farmers are encouraged to is organic or conservative method of farming. This is because it improves the soil and it does not pollute the environment.
Another area which is critical to the well being of Africa, is clean energy generation. A lot of African entrepreneurs have ventured into generation of clean energy, but have not done a lot due to lack of investment.
Now, all these innovative solutions can be achieved with the help of developed countries which have the financial muscle.
My contribution refers to questions 2 and 5. I speak specifically of Kenya. There are communities, particularly in some of the semi-arid areas of Kenya, that have access to large areas of fertile land but do not have access to the support needed to produce crops and get the crops to market, particularly to export markets. Large areas are being deforested due to charcoal burning and exploitation by external commercial farmers who use slash and burn agriculture. At the same time, the employment opportunities in these areas are often limited to charcoal burning, motorbike ‘taxi’ and casual labour. Partnerships with Dutch agricultural firms that can provide expertise in sustainable agricultural practices that support environmental conservation and promote green energy use but also will help local communities understand production for quality markets and help them access these markets (through the Dutch firms as appropriate) would help both create employment/ income generation in the local agricultural sector and reduce environmental degradation associated with charcoal burning and with slash and burn agriculture. This might best be done through social enterprises and local NGOs that can provide the Dutch companies with access to farmers and local stakeholders and facilitate on the ground community discussions.