The overall objective of the NFP is to help alleviate qualitative and quantitative shortages of skilled manpower within a wide range of governmental, private and non-governmental organizations. The programme offers fellowships to mid-career professionals, by doing so it aims to improve the capacity of the employing organizations. Since the programme is designed to promote capacity building within organizations, the need for education and training must be linked to the institutional development of the organization the applicant is working for. Therefore, applicants must be nominated by their employer. The programme is broad in scope and not confined to bilateral cooperation target areas. RRD has visited Bangladesh cooperating in this with a local consultant. The aim was to give a picture of:
- the country context on general as well as in relation to higher education and other fellowship programmes;
- Data on the implementation of the NFP and the selection criteria used;
- An evaluation of the programme using the criteria of Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency as well as the lesson learned based on the information given by a number of the employers and alumni to be interviewed.
Clemens Romijn (far right) with alumni of the Institute Of Water Modeling in Dhaka, Bangladesh
