Hivos

Emancipation, democratisation and poverty alleviation - these are the keys to the work of Hivos in the developing world. Hivos is a secular organisation that operates according to humanist principles.

Founded in 1968, Hivos stands for: Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation. To this end, Hivos provides financial support to more than 800 local grassroots organisations in 32 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and southeast Europe. These organisations operate projects across a wide variety of disciplines and interests: financial services and business development, sustainable production, gender, women and development, human rights, Hiv/AIDS, culture and the arts and ICT/Media. Together, these seven themes form the core of Hivos's policy.

In The Netherlands, Hivos has formed strategic partnerships with organisations that have expertise in these areas. We are currently working on a special programme to improve internet and web access for people in the developing world. Much of our work has been decentralised to regional offices in Zimbabwe, India, Indonesia and Costa Rica. This facilitates better contact with partner organisations.

In both The Netherlands and the European Union, Hivos actively lobbies for a foreign policy that takes the needs and interests of developing nations into account. Total income for Hivos in 2006 was 88,4 million Euro, ca. 90% of which provided by the Dutch government. The rest of our income was raised from the general public, the European Union and private institutions. In 2006, Hivos spent 76 million Euro on funding partner organisations in developing countries.