SNV was born out of the Jongeren Vrijwilligers Programma (JVP), or Young People's Voluntary Programme, which was set up in 1963 as a cooperative venture between the Netherlands government and a number of private organisations.

In 1965, the Stichting Nederlandse Vrijwilligers (SNV) or Foundation of Netherlands Volunteers was founded. It concentrated on posting young Dutch volunteers to share know-how with groups in the South and to help develop middle management skills in those countries.

During the 1970s, SNV recognised that simply working in developing countries wasn't enough to improve their position. Development workers could also play a key role in making the Dutch public more aware of the conditions in the South.

Consequently, at the start of the 1980s, SNV policy consisted of two central activities: sending personnel to work in developing countries and raising public awareness in the Netherlands.

Since the 1990s we have gone by the name of SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. The emphasis of our work has also shifted from technical assistance to advisory services. The advice we offer is primarily directed at arming local people in their fight against poverty.

Since 1 January 2002 SNV has been separated from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The new relationship between the Ministry and SNV is now one of subsidiser and subsidy recipient. From this position SNV aims to be a main supplier of capacity-building support to meso-level organisations.

In 2006 the Ministry and SNV signed a long-term agreement for intensive cooperation in the period up to 2015. SNV will use its unique position and outreach potential to strengthen its complementarity with other international players and with DGIS in particular.

In 2007 a new SNV Corporate Strategy was approved for the years up to and including 2015. A fundamental change in the new strategy is that it focuses our activities on two main impact areas, namely basic services and production, income and employment.

As we look to the future beyond 2015, we hope to sustain our impact in these two areas, and to further increase the percentage of our services provided by local organisations.