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Blog Liana Hoornweg | Barren times, how do you navigate them?

Last night, Minister Klever’s visit to Uganda suddenly became hot news for a bizarre reason. The minister wants to receive asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies from the Netherlands in Uganda. Uganda has been taking in refugees from the region for years. Klever went to visit that. We knew this, too. She had even mentioned it during the visit to the Woord & Daad shop, which I attended. But that this was the objective of her mission to the refugee areas in the north, not many could have imagined. 

17 October 2024

The meeting with the minister

So I met Klever. There has been much talk about that. Quite unexpectedly, I received an invitation to meet Minister Klever during one of her working visits to the Netherlands. I am regularly asked about that meeting with Minister Klever. I also discussed it with Ama van Dantzig during the debate evening in the Rode Hoed last week. Our constituency is divided, which is quite a balancing act for Partos. Some members want to engage in dialogue and cooperation with this new minister. At the same time, there is also criticism. We should not validate a PVV minister in this way.

In any case, I notice that Klever is ‘elusive’ to many members and that there is a need to get to know her and learn more about her approach. Also, not much is clear yet about what her policies will look like, and she does not necessarily include civil society organisations in her considerations. I must honestly say that I don’t know how to place this minister after yesterday’s news. On the one hand, there is interest and understanding; on the other, a plan is announced that goes directly against international conventions and human rights. 

Telling the broad story of development cooperation

The idea of this meeting was to tell the minister more about support from citizens in the Netherlands for development cooperation. She was, therefore, received at the Woord & Daad shop and met the volunteers who run the shop and representatives of W&D, Wilde Ganzen and Partos. The role of Partos, in this case, was to tell the story of development cooperation in a broad sense. This story was supported by Woord & Daad, Wilde Ganzen and the entrepreneur from W&D’s network. The minister especially wanted to know from him why development cooperation added value to his work (exporting beans) and what the role of the government is in the countries where he works. And he indicated this very well and was heard.

My lessons from the conversation, which I hereby share with you, are: Klever asks through and wants things to be concrete so that she really understands. Her approach is mainly economic. The link with Trade is an important one for her, and I expect this to be strongly considered in future policies of hers. There is certainly interest in engagement from society in the Netherlands on her part. She is still looking for what the role of the government can be (whether it is there in supporting development cooperation). For us as a sector, it is important to keep reiterating how important civil society is for the success of activities in the Global South. We did not talk about migration, but it appears that she is also putting this high on the agenda, taking its own direction, which international organisations will not agree with.

My role in this conversation was to put down the broad narrative of development cooperation. The minister now knows that private initiatives and business benefit from a systemic approach and involvement of civil society organisations, local entrepreneurs and local knowledge for a greater chance of success. And that as far as we are concerned, government and business have a constructive role to play in this. We will remain critical of that in the time ahead.

It remains to be seen what the conversation’s impact will be on the new civil society policy framework and on reversing the cuts. That we are not giving up should be clear. Sometimes, the voice is a little louder, sometimes a little softer, but always with the same goal: to continue promoting development cooperation and the importance of a strong civil society.