SNV maintains a solid partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands (DGIS), our core funding agency. The long and intensive relationship between SNV and the Ministry goes back to the 1960s. Except for the financial relationship we cooperate intensively on several levels and regularly exchange information, views and know how on many issues.

Also in the coming years the partnership with the Ministry, as well as with Netherlands embassies in the countries we work, will be continued. A subsidy agreement with the Ministry has been reached for the period 2007-2015. This long-term agreement shows that the Ministry sees SNV as a key partner in the joint efforts to reduce poverty.

Complementarity

Through the independent and fundamentally different roles that DGIS and SNV play they are well placed to mutually reinforce each other. SNV wishes to use its unique position and outreach potential to strengthen its complementarity with other international players and with DGIS in particular. To this end SNV will:

• systematically coordinate and dialogue with Netherlands’ embassies in bilateral partner countries; 
• allocate a minimum of 50 percent of the volume of its core spending in these countries to provide for capacity development services in jointly agreed sectors and themes; 
• develop a common vision with the Netherlands’ embassies on these sectors and themes; 
• monitor and feedback information on implementation at the meso-level to the national level; 
• stimulate and facilitate discussions between actors at various levels to address the micro-macro disconnect that so often hampers sustainable development.

Where SNV operates in non-partner countries, SNV will work to actively find other partners to fulfil complementary roles.