ICCO’s mission is to work towards a world where poverty and injustice are no longer present.
ICCO’s work consists in financing activities which stimulate and enable people, in their own way, to organise dignified housing and living conditions. ICCO is active in countries in Africa and the Middle East, in Asia and the Pacific, in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Central and Eastern Europe.
ICCO co-operates with church and non-church organisations which are directly involved with the people who are the prime target group. ICCO respects the individual culture, history and social role of the organisations concerned. In co-operating, ICCO considers it important to actively listen to, and think with these organisations.
ICCO has its roots in the Dutch Protestant-Christian churches and is partner in various national and international collaborations. Furthermore, ICCO will co-operate with anyone who shares its ideals. ICCO is actively involved in this wide range of collaborations to boost the effects of its financing work and to mobilize expertise and information that is available within its organization for lobbying and counseling purpose.
ICCO finds its inspiration in the Christian tradition and mission, in experiences and stories from partners who mostly have a different cultural background and who have different sources of inspiration, and in dialogues about these matters within its organisation.
ICCO is one of the six co-financing organisations in the Netherlands and for performing its duties it receives about 133 million Euros from the Dutch and European governments, and from organisations participating in ICCO. ICCO is accountable to politicians and society for the way in which these moneys are spent.
Strategy
In the long term, ICCO strives for the structural reduction of poverty and the realisation of internationally recognised human rights.
Poverty manifests itself primarily in the South, but its causes lie in both the South and the North.
For this reason. ICCO seeks on the one hand to make a relevant contribution to structural poverty alleviation in developing countries, and on the other hand to promote structures, systems and processes that contribute globally to a more equitable distribution and power These long-term objectives have been elaborated into three policy themes :
- (Access to) Basic Social Services
- Fair Economic Development (FED)
- Democratisation and Peace Building
Organisation
ICCO was founded in 1964 and has grown ever since. In 2000 ICCO merged with SOH (Dutch Inter chrurch Aid – DIA) and Service Abroad (DOG). The organisation consists of a board and 204 employees who are active in the Board of Directors, the Projects department, the Policy department, the Communication Department or in the Internal Affairs Department ……
Instruments
ICCO’s most important instrument is the financing of development projects and programme.
ICCO also has four additional ways to make its poverty alleviation efforts more effective.
These are used as much as possible in combination :
- Emergency help through ICCO’s existing partners in co-operation with the Global Ministries of the Uniting Protestant Churches in the Netherlands (ACT – Netherlands) (Read more and go to Instruments/ Emergency… at website.)
- Capacity building of local organisations through the internal consultancy bureau, I/C Consult, and the Medical Co-ordination Secretariat. (Read more and go to Instruments / Capacity Building…. at website.)
- Personal Co-operation for strengthening capabilities, for instance through missions, exchanges, and staff deployment. (Read more and go to Instrument / Personnel Co-operation (PSa)… at website.)
- Providing loans and guarantees to economic development projects with a market oriented approach. (Read more and go to Instruments / Loans and guarantees… at website.)
Themes
(Access to) Basic Social Service
Large groups of poor people and their children are denied access to education, health care water, nutrition and food.
ICCO chooses to primarily work on improving the living conditions of the most marginalized groups, such as women, children, rural people and minorities.
Special attention is paid to rural areas where basic social services are most lacking.
ICCO urges partner organisations to put more pressure on their governments to guarantee access to affordable basic social services, nutrition and food ………
Fair Economic Development (FED)
ICCO has chosen the theme of Fair Economic Development (FED) because it gives people hope for an income and prosperity and because it contributes to transparent and fair production and trade. Important factors include alliances of producers, companies, knowledge holders, NGO’s and governments.
On the one hand, ICCO finances and supports programmes focused on concrete economic activities, and on the other hand, it works on influencing policy in areas such as international trade. Wherever necessary, ICCO reconsiders its support for partner organisations …..
Democratisation and Peace Building
Democratisation and Peace Building increase the chances for economic and social progress. Activities within this theme contribute to good collective facilities, regulations and institutions, and they fight against corruption. They promote traditional human rights or economic, social and cultural rights and they increase access to these rights, especially for weak target groups such as women, children and minorities.
Over the coming period, ICCO will pay extra attention to conflict prevention and peace building as well as to the conciliatory role of religion and churches. …….
Our New visitor’s address :
Joseph Haydniaan 2a, 3533 AE Utrecht, The Netherlands
Postal address:
P.O. Box 8190, 3503 RD Utrecht, The Netherlands
Tel:+31 (0) 30 692 78 11 Fax:+31 (0) 30 692 56 14
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.icco.nl