Anyone who comes up with a good idea to help achieve the United Nations’ millennium goals for development will be eligible for financial support from a new fund set up by aid minister Bert Koenders.

Koenders announced that he has allocated €50mln a year for the fund for the coming four years during a festival to promote the UN’s millennium development goals on the former Zuider Zee island of Schokland at the weekend.
The event was organised by the foreign affairs ministry as part of its Project 2015 initiative (in 2000, 189 world leaders pledged to halve world poverty by 2015) and attracted 5,000 visitors.
The festival kicked off with a concert by War Child ambassador Marco Borsato who promised that the children’s charity would double the number of children in conflict zones it will help in the coming 18 months to 1.5 million.
In total 37 ‘Schokland Agreements’ were signed by businesses, development organisations and individuals who promised to take action to relieve poverty in developing countries. These include an initiative by aids researcher Joep Lange to set up a health insurance fund in Africa with help from the SNS/REAAL bank and insurers Achmea and Aegon.