The Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance (VVOB) was founded in 1982 as a non-profit organisation. VVOB’s motto “Education for Development” reflects its overall objective: “to contribute to poverty reduction and to a fairer world with increased opportunities for all”. The organisation’s main aim is “to sustainably improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of education and training in developing countries”.
VVOB is currently active and has well established strategic and operational partnerships in nine countries: Cambodia, DR Congo, Ecuador, Rwanda, South Africa, Suriname, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The annual budget of VVOB for each country programme varies between €700,000 and €1,100,000. VVOB employs more than 130 associates worldwide. The head office is based in Brussels, with local offices in ten countries.
Mainly on behalf of the Federal Belgian and Flemish governments, VVOB cooperates in a variety of ways with other governmental and non-governmental organisations, both national and international:
- key Belgian government agencies, including DGD, BTC and the Flemish Department of Education;
- the governments of DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ecuador and Surinam;
- regional and local education authorities, such as pedagogical services, teacher training institutions and quality support institutions;
- and international development agencies, such as UNICEF, UNESCO, IRC, JICA and ADB.
In Flanders, VVOB runs a programme on linking Flemish schools and schools in developing countries (SchoolLinks).
Our core competences
Technical assistance
We provide technical assistance to our partners in the education sector. Medium and longer term assistance is given by our teams, consisting of local and expatriate experts. These education and development experts are professionally experienced and socially committed specialists who engage mainly in training, coaching, facilitating and planning tasks. The teams are supported by partnerships with local and Flemish institutions offering short-term expertise in the field of education and development.
Capacity building
We focus on institutional capacity building of our strategic and operational partners. It strengthens their ability to use resources effectively and efficiently in order to achieve their goals. Our actions are aligned with the policy plans and the needs of the direct and indirect target groups in our partner countries. We increasingly focus on initiating, guiding and facilitating processes of change and institutional strengthening, based on ownership and partnership.
Bridging between macro, meso and micro level
We refer to ‘macro’, ‘meso’ and ‘micro’ as the levels of policy and institutions that govern and influence the quality of education. Since our organisation’s size and mandate allow for collaboration both with government and non-governmental institutions, our interventions mainly focus on the meso level (subsector level partnerships, such as with teacher trainer institutions, and/or focus on the provincial level, etc.). From this position we are able to reconcile the macro level policies with the needs and circumstances at the micro level, where implementation takes place. The alignment with local policies and the harmonisation with other donors through partnerships, safeguards the relevance of our interventions.
- Micro: Level of implementation (e.g. basic and secondary schools)
- Meso: Subsector level and regional level (e.g. provincial department of the Ministry of Education, teacher training institutions)
- Macro: National policy level (e.g. Ministry of Education)
