A number of Dutch consultancy agencies are involved in carrying out consultancy on sustainable development issues in the South. These agencies tend to focus on target group participation at all stages of problem identification, project formulation and implementation and take environmental as well as socio-cultural conditions as starting points. Some of the agencies have a general sustainable development focus and include departments that are specialised in various themes, while others are exclusively focused on a certain theme or target group.

The central aim of Agro Eco Consultancy's work is developing and lending support to ecologically sound agricultural systems. Independent advisors specialised in organic agriculture and rural development are associated with the agency. All over the world Agro Eco works together with farmers interested in changing their production methods in a sustainable yet economically viable way. Its activities include consultation on marketing, credit applications, pricing policy and sales strategies. It also trains local educators involved in awareness raising and assists in fundraising. Agro Eco consultants have been involved in the introduction of a number of organic products on the Dutch market such as coffee, tea, cocoa, wine, textiles and flowers.

AIDEnvironment is an independent non-profit consultancy established in 1988. AIDEnvironment is working globally to promote the conservation of biological diversity, environmental protection, sustainable use and management of natural resources and poverty alleviation. It provides strategic advice to government, commercial and civil society organisations, helping them to set goals, formulate visions and develop strategies. Sustainable development and poverty alleviation are the cornerstones of AIDEnvironment's work. From this perspective, AIDEnvironment focuses on three main topic areas: forests, water and biodiversity.

AIDEnvironment's maxim is 'Making Policies Work'. This objective is achieved through building bridges between policy makers, planners, the research community and citizens; incorporating practical experience into policy; and planning and searching for common ground. It involves working at local, regional, national and global levels, adapting solutions to the appropriate scale and promoting integrated approaches.

BEL is a consultancy bureau in Wageningen that is specialised in a broad range of environmental agricultural projects. Since 1991, BEL operates both in organic agricultural projects and in regular agriculture in the Netherlands and abroad. Special know-how exists on project development in the field of:

1. agricultural research, educational work, papers and courses,
2. policy papers, and
3. marketing research and trade mediation.

BEL cooperates with farmers, scientists and policy makers and organises management courses. BEL especially undertakes projects in the Netherlands and Poland but is also active in other Eastern European countries and several African states.

CI provides the following types of consultancy for local NGO's in developing countries.

• Packages - these include full trajectories facilitated and guided by CI consultants. The packages often include such elements as a self-assessment, improvement planning, concept development, training courses, project types development, etc.
• Training courses - focus is on learning by the participants (e.g. staff of local NGO's) with regard to topics relevant for their functioning.
• Workshops - focus is on working out things, assessing things or solving problems by the participants.

CREM, established in 1989, supports governmental organisations, corporations and other institutions by means of advice and research in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of environmental policy and management. The interdisciplinary basis of research and advice ensures the integration of economic, organisational, social and technical aspects.

CREM is active in two separate fields:

1. sustainable business and consumption: stimulating the production, trade and consumption of products that cause relatively few problems for mankind and the environment; and
2. waste management: promoting efficient and effective forms of waste management.

Ecostrategy provides inspiration, ideas and integrated strategies for sustainable development. Ecostrategy is an independent think tank for environmental innovation, in which political processes, communication and social change play a key role. It advises pioneers in sustainable development - organisations that demand high standards and are committed to achieving a sustainable society.

The ETC Group is a non-profit development network with units in the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, India, East Africa, Peru (ETC Andes) and the United Kingdom. In the Group consultants of different cultural backgrounds work together to conceive and practise innovative and effective approaches to development cooperation.

ETC Netherlands consists of four business units: ETC Ecoculture (a research and advisory group that promotes sustainable use of natural resources to secure livelihoods of people living in rural areas of developing countries), ETC Energy (specialised in sustainable energy and development), ETC Chrystal (a public health consultancy group), and the ETC Adviesgroep Nederland (involved in rural development in the Netherlands).

The ETC Group coordinates two networks: ENERGIA and RUAF.

ENERGIA is an international network which links individuals and groups concerned with energy, sustainable development, and gender. ENERGIA's goal is to contribute to the empowerment of rural and urban poor women through a specific focus on energy issues. Founded in 1995, ENERGIA is now active in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania, as well as in Europe, North America and Australia. At present more than 1800 subscribers receive ENERGIA News.

The Resource centre on Urban Agriculture and Forestry (RUAF) seeks to support local initiatives and to build partnerships with relevant programmes of international, regional, national and local organisations and networks, and pooling of resources in jointly planned actions. RUAF is implemented by seven regional organisations in coordination with ETC International.

FACET is a consultancy company specialised in private sector development, with a special focus on small enterprises. FACET's mission is to contribute to a sustainable society through offering high quality consultancy services in the field of private sector initiatives. FACET carries out both long and short-term assignments in the South and Central and Eastern Europe. Through its affiliated organisations SEON and IntEnt, FACET also supports enterprise development in the Netherlands.

Femconsult aims to strengthen the socio-economic status of women in developing countries by designing and incorporating components benefiting women in all stages of development projects. Femconsult promotes the participation of women in mainstream development programmes/projects in developing countries by focusing on women and increasing awareness of the role played by women. Femconsult undertakes gender-based assignments in a wide range of fields such as agriculture, rural development, irrigation, animal husbandry, environment, small-scale enterprises, credit, training, socio-economics, public health and nutrition.

Femsud Consult is a private company registered early in 1999. Femsud plays an intermediary role - to ensure good communication between the North and South. Femsud was established to contribute to the fight against acute poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, and apathy on gender, politics and a general lack of development among the rural people, especially women in Africa. The organisation facilitates training women, girls and men in agriculture, health care, SME (Small Medium Enterprises), and management skills so that they can actively participate in developing their society. Femsud also helps with sensitising women and girls on issues of environmental protection, production of crafts and low-input agriculture to ensure food security and improvements in their living conditions.

FORM, a Dutch consultancy company, was established in 1992 and has been active in a great number of international projects and studies worldwide. FORM is an intermediary between the various stakeholders involved in forestry issues. FORM aims at building bridges between science and organisations involved in practical implementation. Fields of expertise: certification of sustainable forest management, forest management planning, climate and energy investments, green investments, social forestry, reduced impact logging, and plantations reforestation.

IMSA Amsterdam is an independent consultancy firm for environmental strategy and innovation. Founded in 1985, it now works for a large selection of international clients: industry, (international) organisations, governments and NGOs.

IMSA works in the fields of risk analysis, conflict management, trust marketing, corporate social responsibility (CSR), network building, sustainable regions, sustainable agriculture, indicator development, transport and innovation concepts. Together with its daughter company Ocean Desert Enterprises (see below) it is one of the leading developers of saline agriculture.

IntEnt supports and facilitates immigrant workers in the Netherlands, who wish to start a company in their country of origin. The support consists of a course for new entrepreneurs, advice on the writing of a business plan and assistance in finding finance with a local bank. IntEnt also assists entrepreneurs who succeed in starting a company in their home country for two years. The countries included in IntEnt programmes are: Ghana, Morocco, Suriname and Turkey.

MOOI was founded to make information about sustainable development accessible to all kinds of groups in society. Although there is an enormous amount of high quality information available, it only partly reaches its target groups and information is still limited to the (fast growing) computerised world.

To achieve its goal MOOI uses information technology and has established partnerships with research institutes, universities and software houses. Within these partnerships technologies have been developed and tuned to the needs of different target groups. MOOI helps organisations in the field of sustainable development to disclose their information via CD-ROM, Internet or intranet. MOOI develops and maintains also the multilingual search engine for nature and environment Antonya ( httpp://www.antonya.net ).

Created in 1951 NEDECO is an independent non-profit foundation that promotes Dutch consultancy know-how and skills in the area of land and water, transport, infrastructure and the environment. In close cooperation with the Dutch government, the Group initiates pre-competitive strategies for projects and technical assistance in sustainable development and infrastructure projects in countries around the world.

The NEDECO network consists of some 20 independent Dutch consultancies and technology institutes (including large firms like Alkyon, Arcadis-Euroconsult, DHV, Royal Haskoning and WL Delft Hydraulics) working internationally in the above-mentioned fields. The firms cover a much wider field of expertise, but the network limits itself to these sectors where specifically Dutch experience and publicly and privately developed know-how meet.

NEDWORC serves as a common platform in executing consultancy assignments within a framework of professional independence. NEDWORC was established in 1986 when 68 development specialists working in Dutch governmental aid programmes and with a wide range of expertise joined forces to create the Dutch association of independent development experts.

NEDWORC professionals actively promote the concept of self-reliance and the creation of institutional capacity. Furthermore, the organisation attaches great importance to gender and participation, issues and promotes cooperation with local professionals.

Professionals within NEDWORC include: agronomy specialists, social scientists, communication specialists, (development-, agricultural- and social-) economists, land and water specialists, engineering specialists, animal husbandry specialists, medical and health specialists and food science/human nutrition specialists.

Ocean Desert Enterprises BV (ODE) was formed in 1998 by its mother company, IMSA Amsterdam (see above), to develop new system approaches for the restoration of saline wastelands and the conversion of drylands with the help of saline water. The company currently focuses on:

1. integrated sustainable development of saline regions, specifically coastal;
2. growth of saline food and processed food markets;
3. build-up of saline value-added chains other than foods, e.g. agrifibres.

ONRI was founded in 1917. Initially working on behalf of individual consultants, nowadays ONRI represents more than 250 companies. These firms work in the field of infrastructure, drinking water supply, irrigation, environment and construction.

ONRI is responsible for initiating developments within the consulting engineering sector, taking advantage of market developments and actively lobbying politicians with regard to the interest of its members.

All engineering consultancy firms located in the Netherlands can become a member if they meet ONRI’s strict requirements in terms of experience, expertise and integrity.

ProFound was established in 1990 to support the professionalisation of organisations and programmes dealing with sustainable development. ProFound's approach towards sustainability starts with regarding people and communities as participants or partners rather than targets or beneficiaries. Interventions in the field of sustainable development involve specific areas of expertise, i.e. capacity building, income generation and conscious natural resources management. In the field of capacity building, assistance is generally aimed at organisational and institutional strengthening, policy and programme development, staff capacity building, monitoring and evaluation of systems and financing strategies. Income generation aims at providing underprivileged groups assistance in the field of economic analyses and surveys, production selection, design, quality control and marketing. ProFound's support for natural resource management comprises land use analyses, environmental impact assessments and community-based sustainable land use planning. Specific areas of experience relate to sustainable agriculture and tourism, food security, non-timber forest products (NTFPs), community-based forestry, off-farm employment, waste management, small business development, savings and credit programmes, gender, fair trade, relief and rehabilitation.

WASTE works as an adviser and consultancy organisation in four fields of the urban habitat:

1. solid waste management and resource recovery;
2. low-cost sanitation and liquid waste management;
3. community based environmental improvement;
4. micro- and small enterprise development.

The focus of activities is on low-income urban areas and to develop, along with local residents, the tools and means that will enable them to improve their living conditions, the environment and to create sources of employment that can provide a sound economic base for their future.

Another important focal point for WASTE is the role of small-scale entrepreneurs and their (potential) contribution to the provision of urban services and their integration in the municipal services e.g. in resource recovery and the removal of urban waste.

WASTE has a multi-disciplinary consultancy team of experts on urban environment, solid waste management, urban planning, ecological sanitation and environmental economy. In the field WASTE preferably works in collaboration with local experts and makes use of its worldwide network of specialists.

W/E was founded in 1979 and aims to promote sustainable development in the urban environment. W/E participates in consultancy, research and communication projects in the fields of sustainable building, energy, use of materials, waste, water, health, building physics, HVAC and the quality of the built environment. W/E works for the government and the building sector and participates in trend setting and innovative projects in the Netherlands and Europe.

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