About the NPM

In 1997 the first effort to co-ordinate microfinance activities resulted in the working group of the co-financing agencies Cordaid, Hivos, ICCO and Novib and their main funder the Dutch government.

With the growing involvement of other private and commercial organisations in microfinance there was a need to include a larger and more diverse group of actors in the working group. In January 2003 thirteen organisations agreed to formalise their efforts to co-ordinate and work together and jointly established the Netherlands Platform for Microfinance.

Dutch organisations that support the microfinance sectors in developing countries through investments or subsidies can join, and since establishment the Platform has grown to fifteen organisations.

The Dutch offer
As per June 2004 the Dutch microfinance offer consisted of an investment of Eur 207 million in the form of loans, guarantees and participations and a total of Eur 18 million in the form of subsidies. The Dutch support benefits over 550 organisations that offer financial services to poor people ranging from community-based organisations, co-operatives, non-governmental organisations, banks and other financial institutions. In addition, over 16 regional and national wholesale funds and network organisations receive financial support to carry out their activities.

Download more information:

•    NPM portfolio snapshot 2009 ( on the basis of the CGAP donor survey 2009 data)
• The Dutch Microfinance Offer (pdf-file, 779 Kb, 8 pages) 
•  Current trend and challenges (pdf-file, 189 Kb, 7 pages)
•  The Netherlands Platform for Microfinance (pdf-file, 277 Kb, 2 pages)