Dutch Diamonds Partnerships

• The lead organisation must have a registered office in the Netherlands, or a registered office abroad with a branch or permanent establishment in the Netherlands. The partnership may contain up to six organisations and must include a business with this Dutch presence; a local business, civil society organisation or knowledge institution; a civil society organisation or knowledge institution, local or otherwise; and a local public body. If that public body cannot sign the partnership agreement immediately, it must provide a signed intention to sign within three months of the award. Each partner must be a legal entity. A local civil society organisation must have its registered office in the partner country and legal personality under that country’s law. A local business must be registered in the partner country where the funded work takes place and have private legal personality under its law. These local-registration conditions differ from the Dutch-presence rule above, which permits a branch or permanent establishment. Achieving the project goals must also serve the lead’s interests. Partners’ objectives must fit the programme, and they must have the experience and financial management needed to deliver the work.
• Apply under one theme. Water projects address access to water, flooding, drought or pollution. Water-related risks in agriculture or food processing must be addressed under the combined water–food theme, with its requirements for partners from both sectors and a whole-landscape approach. Food projects must improve local food security; export chains and crops such as coffee or cocoa qualify only if their benefit for the local market and food situation is demonstrated. Projects combining water and food security require partners from both sectors and must consider the whole landscape and water system, including total water availability and all users; improving one farm’s irrigation alone is insufficient.
• Water, food and combined water–food projects ordinarily take place in Bangladesh, Benin, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda or Vietnam. Sustainable market-development projects must fit a specific country–sector or value-chain combination in Appendix 1 of the official rules. For example, Nigeria includes solar energy, while South Africa includes green hydrogen.
• Regional partnerships contributing to the Dutch Global Gateway Northern Corridor may cover Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo; the Lobito Corridor covers Angola, DR Congo and Zambia. Normally an application covers one partner country. Multiple countries are permitted for transboundary river, lake, catchment or ecosystem management, directly linked corridor activities, or a convincingly justified need for a multi-country approach.
• An organisation may qualify as lead for at most two applications per round and may join others as a partner. Multiple applications involving the same organisation must concern different countries or different themes: only one application per country–theme combination is allowed. Otherwise only the first submitted is considered. If more than 50% of the lead’s annual income, averaged over the previous five financial years, comes directly or indirectly from Dutch Foreign Affairs or Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation funding, that organisation can qualify only once in the round, as lead or another partner.
• The programme excludes activities with a commercial purpose, standalone exports or investments, product research and development, unrelated one-off training, voluntary carbon-credit generation, activities aimed at spreading a religion or belief, and prohibited discrimination. Products or services must already be proven for scaling. Financial-sector activities are excluded except insurance systems and developing specific credit products in partner countries. Activities already funded directly or indirectly by the two Dutch ministry budgets, and activities by organisations receiving a Foreign Affairs core-funding grant during the programme, are excluded.
• Projects must not cause significant environmental, biodiversity or climate harm. Coal and new oil or gas exploration/development are excluded. Work at existing oil or gas sites is allowed only to improve environmental performance, safety or health without extending the infrastructure’s economic lifespan.
• Partners must follow the OECD responsible-business guidelines, avoid activities on the FMO exclusion list, identify environmental and social risks and take steps to reduce them. Partners must promptly notify RVO of breaches of the standards and cooperate with the Dutch OECD contact point if it receives a complaint about a business. Dutch businesses must submit the mandatory responsible-business self-assessment. Partners need an integrity policy and procedures to prevent, investigate and promptly report serious misconduct, including sexual exploitation, abuse or harassment. Child and forced labour are prohibited; suspected use in any partner’s operations must be reported immediately to RVO.
• Eligible costs must be necessary and incurred after application submission. Project-management and coordination costs are capped at 20% of eligible costs, and project revenues reduce those costs. Staff, qualifying asset use, invoiced third-party goods or services, travel and subsistence can qualify. When assets outlast the project, ordinarily only project-period depreciation qualifies; the purchase price can qualify if assets are bought to be donated at project end to a local organisation outside the partnership, with transfer evidence. Routine operating costs, research and development costs except demonstrations, application preparation, financing costs and interest, land and existing buildings, licences, intellectual-property registration and maintenance, inflation/exchange-rate costs, and deductible VAT are excluded.

Status

öffnet am 7. Dez. 2026

Antragsbeginn

7. Dez. 2026 · 09:00:00 UTC+01:00

Antragsschluss

15. Feb. 2027 · 17:00:00 UTC+01:00

Beschränkungen dieser Antragsrunde

• Mandatory quick scan must be emailed to RVO before 26 October 2026 at 17:00 CET.[^c12][^c19]

Choose your theme on RVO’s programme page and download its updated DDP quick-scan template. Send the completed scan and attachments to ddp@rvo.nl before 26 October 2026 at 17:00 CET. This preliminary review is mandatory. RVO’s advice is non-binding: you may apply after positive or negative advice, using its reference number.

During the application window, submit RVO’s prescribed form and required attachments. Complete the application attachments in English, except that the financial accounts required from partners contributing at least €25,000 of their own funds may be supplied in Dutch or English. Include a project plan explaining the expected changes, climate benefits and climate resilience; a business case describing goals, market feasibility, costs, benefits and risks; a plan for tracking results and learning; the budget and each partner’s own contribution; partner forms and signed partnership agreement; annual accounts; and an annual cash-flow forecast for each partner. A local public body unable to sign immediately must supply its signed intention to sign within three months of award.

Provide the lead’s accounts for the previous two years, audited where available; unaudited accounts are acceptable if audited ones are unavailable. The same documents are required for any partner contributing at least €25,000 of its own funds and may be supplied in Dutch or English. Include the lead’s five-year income-source figures and payroll information for partners using wage costs plus the fixed mark-up to calculate hourly rates.

Applications compete on quality within each theme. They must score at least 70 out of 100, including minimum scores for policy contribution, partnership and action plan. Meeting the eligibility conditions does not guarantee funding.