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WPFC Youth Newsroom gives aspiring journalists a stronger voice

Last week, the World Press Freedom Conference (WPFC) Digital Edition took place in The Hague. The Youth Newsroom has been a part of the conference since 2012. As WPFC 2020 co-host, the Netherlands provided Youth Newsroom participants with preparatory coaching for the first time. The coaching sessions took place under the auspices of the Influentials’ Programme organised by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the lead up to the conference, fifteen participants from all over the world followed training sessions on writing powerful articles, storytelling, and producing exciting content in multiple formats. The participants were selected via UNESCO, Dutch universities and colleges and Dutch embassies. They each produced their own video on What Press Freedom means to them.

Human Rights Tulip 2020

Human rights are the cornerstone of human dignity, freedom and development, and form the basis for open and free societies all over the world. The Netherlands supports human rights defenders and organisations, and awards one of them each year with the Human Rights Tulip award. This year the award went to Armenian LGBTI activist Lilit Martirosyan.

Optimising plant growth through data and technology in Mexico

How can we feed a growing world population while reducing the impact on the environment? The Dutch consortium and PIB project HortiConnect believes nature itself provides the solutions and worked on a pilot project with Mexican grower United Farms using the Growing by Plant Empowerment principles (GPE). GPE combines the power of data and advanced technology to optimise a plant’s natural growing power and resilience. The result? Much higher yields using significantly less resources.

How East-West Seed helps Vietnamese smallholders increase productivity

Improving the productivity of smallholder farmers can make a large difference in meeting the ever-growing demand for healthy and nutritious food around the world. In the last four decades, Dutch tropical vegetable seed company East-West Seed (EWS) has provided millions of smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia with high-quality hybrid seeds, improving their productivity and standard of living.

Indonesian-Netherlands education and research partnership makes everyone a WINNER

In November 2020, the online Week Of Indonesian Netherlands Education And Research (WINNER) kicked off successfully. This was the first time that the plethora of forward-looking sustainable development initiatives in various fields of research and education were brought together on a single platform. The event resulted in new connections between institutes, scientists and government representatives and a focus on Indonesia’s priorities in agricultural technology and climate change.

Preparing Nigerian horticulture for the future

The world’s population is expected to grow by 9 billion people in 2050. To increase the supply of high quality and nutritious food, we must come up with innovative solutions that boost production and restore nature and biodiversity. The Netherlands is stepping up its contribution towards achieving global food security. In Nigeria, a group of Dutch companies founded the Seeds 4 Change (S4C) programme, to support the local horticulture sector to become self-sufficient.

Creating a blueprint for a blue economy

With the need to provide food and energy for a global population of 9.5 billion by 2050, pressure on the use of space will increase. The world’s oceans and seas could provide the answer. They are vast, covering 70 percent of the planet. However, not belonging to man’s natural habitat, humanity has largely ignored the depth of potential within them.