At the 2025 Annual General Assembly in Brussels, Board Member Lisa van Nieuwkoop (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands) highlighted a key message: with limited resources, coordination becomes a resource in itself.
Michelle Tang/GDPRD: It’s been a long day here at the Donor Platform’s Annual General Assembly. Do you have any key takeaways from the day?
Lisa van Nieuwkoop/The Netherlands: What really resonated with me is that everyone is just very keen on sharing new initiatives. They just want to share what they’re doing or what they’re going to do.
And that made me wonder, why we don’t compile one big list with all the best practices or maybe even worst-case scenarios, and everyone can find each other easily.
We can create a business case together. I think that was also one of the topics today, how do we create these business cases? How can we make it more likely for investors to invest with limited resources, which is, by the way, not the case for the Netherlands.
What stood out for me was that so many things are going on simultaneously – so why not make it more actionable.
If there are limited resources, then coordination becomes a resource in itself.
Michelle: From the Netherlands’ perspective, what can the Donor Platform do to stay relevant? Also, what are some positive points to look forward to in 2026?
Lisa: We’ve talked quite a lot about coordination and we can make it more tangible.
If there are limited resources, then coordination becomes a resource in itself.
If we can take a lead in coordinating these different activities — if everyone can find each other easily, keep on talking with one another, and pushing towards action so that it becomes more tangible — that will be a great first step for 2026.
Learn more about the 2025 Annual General Assembly on “Investing in the Future of Agrifood Systems: New directions for development finance”.
