Continuing a successful NL-CGIAR Partnership

The Netherlands joined CGIAR in 1971 as a founding member and shares a longstanding and fruitful partnership through which they have contributed financial, scientific and technical resources and expertise. CGIAR has a long history of collaboration with leading Dutch universities, advanced research institutes and development organisations. Since the establishment of the Strategic Partnership 2015, the relationship of the Government of the Netherlands and CGIAR deepened from simply a funder and a recipient of funds to being Partners. This closer relationship greatly improved their communication and cooperation.

The signing of this new Memorandum shows the continued commitment to collaborate in the achievement of common objectives that contribute to transformational change in food, land and water systems around the world. It does so by advancing knowledge and mobilising joint public and private innovation. Both parties aim to cooperate in the following strategic areas:

• Eradicating existing hunger and malnutrition by better mobilising research for agriculture, nutrition and health;
• Promoting inclusive and sustainable growth in the agricultural sector by developing and implementing tools for sustainable agri-food value chains and sectors;
• Creating ecologically sustainable food systems by enhancing farming system resilience in the face of climate change as well as the efficient use of water and land resources;
• Promoting locally-owned, evidence-based and integrated food system transformations at the national and regional level.

The agreement focuses in particular on domains where CGIAR and Dutch partners have complementary expertise and to promoting research impact through interdisciplinary research approaches, co-creation and downstream applied research partnerships, including private sector and civil society organisations. In order to stimulate more intense collaboration between the Government of the Netherlands, CGIAR and partners (including research institutes, private sector, civil society and government) several instruments will be developed. To name a few:

• Build, where most relevant, strategic partnerships between CGIAR’s research portfolio or Impact Area Platforms and Dutch academia, public institutions, private sector, government agencies and nongovernment organisations including co-funding arrangements;
• Facilitate expert secondments and/or mutually decided staffing programs for senior scientists/experts from the Netherlands to work within CGIAR’s portfolio of research initiatives and for scientific staff from the CGIAR to work within public or private knowledge organisations in the Netherlands, in accordance with relevant CGIAR and Dutch policies and programs;
• Support CGIAR in new, innovative models of private sector engagement that would incentivise CGIAR research to deliver clearly defined, explicitly demand driven innovations.

Both the Government of the Netherlands and CGIAR have expressed their enthusiasm to collaborate towards productive and meaningful results to their development goals in the coming years!

NFP congratulates CGIAR, MoFA and MoA on achieving this significant landmark and is tremendously proud and honoured to have co-hosted the event which marked the occasion. Private sector engagement and partnerships are a key component to the work NFP delivers through our Impact Coalitions and Community Engagement amongst other areas. We very much look forward to further supporting the partnership and strengthening CGIAR's engagement with the private sector.