Netherlands-ILO partnership in action 

  1. ACCEL Africa 

Netherlands - ILO Cooperation

The Netherlands is a founding member of the ILO and a generous donor to the ILO’s development cooperation programme. The Netherlands has ratified 110 conventions and two Protocols, which includes nine out of ten Fundamental and four Governance Conventions.

The Netherlands' strategic contributions to the ILO

The Netherlands funds the ILO through:

  • Assessed contributions to ILO's Regular Budget, paid by all ILO Member States by virtue of their membership. From 2018-2022, the Netherlands contributed US$ 30.4 million.
  • Voluntary core funding contributions provided by nine ILO donors as a pool of un-earmarked, flexible resources allocated by the ILO to strategic areas and emerging priorities. From 2018-2022, the Netherlands contributed US$ 18.9 million. In 2023, the Netherlands was the biggest contributor to RBSA with a contribution of US$ 4.4 million.
  • Voluntary, non-core funding contributions earmarked for specific themes or projects. From 2018 to 2022, the Netherlands contributed US$ 196.9 million.
Total voluntary contributions from the Netherlands to the ILO for the period 2018-2022 amount to US$ 188.1 million.

The Netherlands’ financial contributions to the ILO, 2018-22 (US$ 246.2M)


The Netherlands’ support to ILO interventions

The Netherlands currently supports ILO programmes in Bangladesh, Cõte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawi, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda and Viet Nam as well as a regional programme in Africa and an important number of global programmes, such as Better Work, the ACCEL Africa project, the PROSPECTS project and the Junior Professional Officer programme.

  1. View the Netherlands' portfolio in the Development Cooperation Dashboard

The Netherlands' policy on foreign trade and development cooperation

At the international level, the Netherlands pursues four closely connected objectives:
  • Preventing conflict and instability;
  • Reducing poverty and social inequality;
  • Promoting sustainable and inclusive growth and climate action worldwide; and
  • Enhancing the Netherlands’ international earning capacity.
Advancing gender equality and improving the position of women and girls is a cross-cutting goal and the Netherlands' policy aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

With special attention given to its focus regions in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, the Government of the Netherlands is working to address income inequality and investing in new programs supporting young women and men through general and vocational education as well as employment. In these regions, spending will increase by at least one third in the following areas: 
  • water;
  • agriculture;
  • sexual and reproductive health and rights;
  • climate change;
  • rule of law; and
  • private sector development
Additional information can be found on the Government of the Netherlands' website for development cooperation.