The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes

Application Deadline: November 4th 2014

This programme is managed by Nuffic.

The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) promote capacity building within organisations in 51 countries by providing fellowships for training and education for professionals. The NFP is initiated and fully funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the budget for development cooperation.

The NFP aims to help increase both the number and the competencies of skilled staff at a wide range of government and non-government organisations.

Fellowship holders will improve their knowledge and skills, learn about relevant global developments in their field and build an international network. This way the employing organisation directly invests in staff development and the fellowship holders invest in their further career.

For the Netherlands it also serves to strengthen ties with the fellowship holder’s country.

After completing the training fellowship holders return to their original workplace. This ensures the training is embedded within the organisation.

Types of funding

The NFP offers fellowships for:

• short courses
• master’s degree programmes
• PhD studies

Eligibility:

• The NFP is meant for professionals who are nationals of and work and live in one of the 51 NFP countries.
• Candidates have to be nominated by their employer to be eligible for the fellowship. There also has to be a clear need for training within the context of the organisation.
• Each embassy has its own focus area to support the development goals of the Netherlands in each NFP country.

riteria

You must meet a number of criteria that support the aim of the NFP to be eligible for a fellowship.

To be eligible you:

• must be a national of, and working and living in one of the countries on the NFP country list;
• must have an employer’s statement that complies with the format Nuffic has provided. All information must be provided and all commitments that are included in the format must be endorsed in the statement;
• must not be employed by an organisation that has its own means of staff-development. Organisations that are considered to have their own means for staff development are for example:
  • multinational corporations (e.g. Shell, Unilever, Microsoft),
  • large national and/or a large commercial organisations,
  • bilateral donor organisations (e.g. USAID, DFID, Danida, Sida, Dutch ministry of Foreign affairs, FinAid, AusAid, ADC, SwissAid),
  • multilateral donor organisations, (e.g. a UN organization, the World Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, IADB),
  • international NGO’s (e.g. Oxfam, Plan, Care);
• must have an official and valid passport;
• must not receive more than one fellowship for courses that take place at the same time;
• must have a government statement that meets the requirements of the country in which the employer is established (if applicable).

The Fellowship:

The overall objective is to spend 35% of the budget on grants and study programmes in food security and private sector development.

The fellowships are further prioritised as follows:

• 50% of the budget is for applications from Sub Saharan Africa.
• 50% of fellowships has to be awarded to female applicants.

How to apply

You need to apply directly with a Dutch higher education institution:

1. Check whether you are in the abovementioned target groups.
2. Check whether your employer will nominate you.
3. Find a course.
4. Contact the Dutch higher education institution that offers that course to find out whether it is NFP-qualified and how to apply.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Netherlands Fellowship Programmes