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 has three sub programmes for individual fellowships:
- Short courses
- Master’s degree programmes
- PhD studies
In addition, there are seperate funds for tailor-made training courses and alumni activities.
Aim of the NFP
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.
Each embassy has its own focus area to support the development goals of the Netherlands in each NFP country. 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.
Eligibility Criteria
The NFP is meant for professionals who are nationals of and work and live in one of the 51 NFP countries. The countries have been classified into two categories (I and II). Category I countries are priority countries and will receive more fellowships.
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.
Criteria
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 EP-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).
Offered Benefits
An NFP fellowship is meant to supplement the salary that you should continue to receive during your study period. It is a contribution towards the costs of living, the costs of tuition fees, visas, travel, insurance and so on. If there is a difference between the actual costs and the amount of the NFP allowance, you are expected to cover this yourself.
