In 2013, the Dutch government in The Hague was challenged by one of the country's Members of Parliament over aid policy; organizations outside the Netherlands were barred from bidding for the country's foreign aid funding, he said, and it was time for a change.
It was an important challenge because the Netherlands is one of the world's most generous and influential funders. Although the country has only 18 million citizens, the Dutch aid budget is $6.5 billion a year, and the Netherlands is one of the very few nations to give almost 0.7% of its gross national income as overseas development assistance, or ODA, each year.
After months of fractious debate, that MP, Roelof van Laar, ultimately succeeded in getting approval for the bill, Secretarial Participation of Southern Organizations, to allow organizations from the global south to apply directly for Dutch development funds.