SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Prize Finalist 2008

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
http://www.snvworld.org/

Testimonial

Sustainability is a core element of SNV's development work around the world, including the innovative multi-stakeholder strategies developed and launched over the last several years.  Recognition by the Alcan Prize committee will help SNV to leverage new partnerships and upscale the social, economic and environmental impact of these strategies.

Financial resources

$146,750,163 annual budget

Geographical focus

Asia, The Balkans, Latin America, and Africa

Issue focus

Poverty eradication, Environment, equality

Key achievements

• Over 40 years of empowering entities at the national, meso and local levels to implement sustainable development and alleviate poverty. 
• Biogas program has improved income, health, and environmental conditions for over 1,500,000 low-income people in Asia and Africa
• 70 Inclusive Business projects launched in Latin America, increasing income and market access for over 500,000 low-income people.

Mission

SNV is dedicated to a society in which all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development.  SNV contributes to this by strengthening the capacity of local organizations.

With 1,500 professional staff in 32 developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Balkans and Latin America, SNV provides multi-stakeholder solutions and technical assistance to over 3,000 public, private, and community-based organizations with the purpose of eliminating poverty and inequity. To do this, SNV aims to increase sustainable production, income, and employment opportunities for the poor while enhancing their access to, and quality of, basic services such as areas of health care, primary and vocational education, water and sanitation, renewable and sustainable energy, affordable housing, and financial services.

Background

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation was established in 1963 as a cooperative venture between the Netherlands government and a number of private organisations, and remained connected to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs before privatizing in 2002. 

Through its more than four decades of work in developing countries, SNV has become known as much for its technical expertise in pro-poor development and governance reform as for its rooted presence in the regions where it works.  Its committed, long-standing local presence has allowed SNV to build and broker relationships among diverse actors in the public, private and citizens' sectors.

Management

SNV's management structure consists of a Board of Directors that manages the organisation under the guidance of an independent Supervisory Board.  In each country, SNV employs local and international experts who work hand-in-hand with key stakeholders in the business, government, and non-government / community sectors to build local capacity for long-term impact. 

Strategic planning is regularly conducted at the corporate, regional, and country levels.  Three-year, country-level plans drive the implementation of the corporate-level strategy; the role of the region is to establish responsive regional priorities and create links between the countries by mobilizing and sharing resources.

Partnerships

To maximize its impact, SNV engages in partnerships across sectors and constituencies.  The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a key strategic partner that supports SNV with a solid funding base for its work through 2015.  In recent years, SNV has established international partnerships with: Agriterra, Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), private multi-national corporations as well as a variety of private foundations.

Impact Achieved

SNV's accomplishments represent social impact through improved livelihoods and greater inclusion of poor populations, economic impact through increased income and reduced inequity, and environmental impact through improved natural resource management, sustainable industry practices, and the promotion of renewable energy sources. Through its work with over 3,000 client organizations world-wide, SNV directly and indirectly reaches over 3 million people each year.  This global impact is the sum of countless local and national level projects across 32 countries and a variety of programming areas.

Notably, SNV has received international recognition for its renewable energy work in Asia, particularly through domestic biogas programmes. They have already reached over one million low-income people in Asia and Africa with over 250.000 biogas plants having been built. Biogas, produced by livestock, provides clean cooking energy from a renewable source and reduces the time needed for biomass collection, especially for women, thus promoting equality. Also, the by-product of this energy source can be used as organic fertilizer to improve the agricultural productivity of these same households. SNV designs and facilitates the establishment of multi-stakeholder arrangements to develop a commercially viable, market-oriented biogas sector.

In 2006, SNV launched an innovative new poverty alleviation strategy called Inclusive Business, in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.  An Inclusive Business is an enterprise that, without losing its profit objective, contributes to the fight against poverty through the incorporation of low-income citizens in its value chain. SNV has developed and launched over 70 Inclusive Businesses in Latin America, benefitting over 500,000 low-income people as suppliers, distributors, and/or consumers in a wide variety of value chains and industries in eight countries.  This portfolio gives SNV an invaluable library of experience to use in scaling and replicating the most successful models for broader impact. The Inclusive Business model is already being replicated in other regions where SNV works.

Contact

For more information contact:
Neil Ghosh, Head of US Operations and Global Partnerships
Email: nghosh@snvworld.org