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02 DECEMBER 2009
EVS Student Symposium 2009
According to Mr. Goudswaard, the world is a global village and in order to bring about change, we all have to be idealistic and acknowledge our responsibilities. Mr. Goudswaard strongly emphasises that ASN Bank takes this responsibility through investments and funds and the time has come for ‘Banking with the Heart’, a concept widely preached by ASN Bank.
Mr. Goudswaard is convinced that even small banks can make a change: through empowering societies via microfinance, through investing in companies based on human rights and environment records, as well as investing in government bonds. In addition to these investments, he explained that ASN Bank is involved in several funds. To illustrate, ASN works together with partners such as Oxfam Novib, Cordaid and Plan NL, in order to finance projects for street children and to prevent child labour. Next to this, ASN Bank has its own fund, which finances projects concerned with development assistance, human rights, sustainable economic development and peace.
The plenary opening came to an end with a Question and Answer session, during which students and young professionals from the audience were at liberty to discuss pressing issues with Mr. Goudswaard. When the director of ASN Bank was asked what he thought of the message Dambisa Moyo conveys in her book ‘Dead Aid’, he admitted that she has very good points and that aid is not the only solution. Mr. Goudswaard also stressed however, that abolishing aid would have grave consequences. In his opinion Africa cannot develop unless all channels are used optimally. In an additional remark Peter Heintze, director of the EVS, noted that even though Mrs. Moyo has good remarks, her scenario causes concern for countries that have not yet reached the point where they can access financial international markets.
The Jury Panel concluded that the first prize was to go to master class number 9, which was focussed on migration and remittances: ‘Migrant Remittances in times of Financial Crisis: Lifeline or False Hope?’, and guided by expert Bruno Fon from the AfroEuro Foundation. With their winning recommendation the students seek to ‘enhance the skills and capacities of migrants aimed at promoting their role in the development of their countries of origin’. They emphasise the importance of ‘educating migrants on more effective uses of remittances’ and argue that ‘this will be achieved in cooperation with migrant organizations and home town associations’.
At the end of the day, students and experts celebrated a successful symposium while enjoying a drink and discussing the results. As a result of this symposium all policy recommendations formulated in the master classes as well as summaries of the plenary and group sessions will be published in a special booklet. On January the 27th, the winning group will present this booklet and all the formulated recommendations to the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, Mr. Bert Koenders. The booklet will also be published on our website www.evertvermeer.nl.
EVS Student Symposium 2009
On Saturday the 28th of November, the EVS Student Symposium 2009 took place at the University of Amsterdam. 150 students were prepared to give up their free Saturday to engage in an inspiring program revolving around the consequences of the financial crisis on developing countries: “Money Makes the World Go Round?”.
Even though the financial crisis is originally a Western phenomenon, it has hit developing countries the hardest. “Growth and more money were indeed the magic words for too long”, Ewoud Goudswaard, director of ASN Bank, advocated during his opening speech of the EVS Student Symposium. In his opinion the food, climate and financial crises are actually symptoms of an underlying moral crisis.
According to Mr. Goudswaard, the world is a global village and in order to bring about change, we all have to be idealistic and acknowledge our responsibilities. Mr. Goudswaard strongly emphasises that ASN Bank takes this responsibility through investments and funds and the time has come for ‘Banking with the Heart’, a concept widely preached by ASN Bank.
Mr. Goudswaard is convinced that even small banks can make a change: through empowering societies via microfinance, through investing in companies based on human rights and environment records, as well as investing in government bonds. In addition to these investments, he explained that ASN Bank is involved in several funds. To illustrate, ASN works together with partners such as Oxfam Novib, Cordaid and Plan NL, in order to finance projects for street children and to prevent child labour. Next to this, ASN Bank has its own fund, which finances projects concerned with development assistance, human rights, sustainable economic development and peace.
The plenary opening came to an end with a Question and Answer session, during which students and young professionals from the audience were at liberty to discuss pressing issues with Mr. Goudswaard. When the director of ASN Bank was asked what he thought of the message Dambisa Moyo conveys in her book ‘Dead Aid’, he admitted that she has very good points and that aid is not the only solution. Mr. Goudswaard also stressed however, that abolishing aid would have grave consequences. In his opinion Africa cannot develop unless all channels are used optimally. In an additional remark Peter Heintze, director of the EVS, noted that even though Mrs. Moyo has good remarks, her scenario causes concern for countries that have not yet reached the point where they can access financial international markets.
After the plenary opening, experts and students convened for the first round of master classes. During this first session a lecture was held by the experts, for example on the feasibility of the MDG’s (Sasja Bökkerink – Oxfam Novib), the concept of Fragile States (Gerd Junne – University of Amsterdam), and on reforming the World Bank and IMF in a transition towards a Fair International Financial System (Howard Stein – University of Michigan and Jasper Blom - University of Amsterdam).
After a tasteful lunch, students and experts reconvened for the second session of their master classes, during which discussions were aimed at answering the question ‘How can the Dutch government mitigate the negative impact of the financial crisis on the world’s poor?’. Focussing on their specific topic and guided by experts, students identified critical problems and formulated policy recommendations, which in their opinion could alleviate the negative impact developing countries currently face. While taking into account criteria such as political feasibility, developmental impact and financial viability, they assessed different cases and problematic situations and provided advice to Dutch politicians.
In the final plenary session, one member of every master class had the opportunity to present one of their three recommendations to a Panel of Experts. In this panel, Mei Li Vos (MP PvdA), Piet van Ommeren (ICCO) and Jeroen Blüm (Shell Foundation) were seated. Guided by the experience and knowledge specific to their field of expertise, the jury critically evaluated the recommendations, and selected the winning group, and a first and second runner-up.
The Jury Panel concluded that the first prize was to go to master class number 9, which was focussed on migration and remittances: ‘Migrant Remittances in times of Financial Crisis: Lifeline or False Hope?’, and guided by expert Bruno Fon from the AfroEuro Foundation. With their winning recommendation the students seek to ‘enhance the skills and capacities of migrants aimed at promoting their role in the development of their countries of origin’. They emphasise the importance of ‘educating migrants on more effective uses of remittances’ and argue that ‘this will be achieved in cooperation with migrant organizations and home town associations’.
The second prize was awarded to master class number 8, focussing on export: ‘Exporting out of poverty. Tools in coping with the economic downturn: development cooperation 2.0’, which was guided by Minke Vorstenbosch and Bart Verhulst from CBI. They argued for poverty alleviation through economic growth, and seek to do this through trade: ‘Trade is an important way out of poverty so trade development and trade promotion should be seen as a major instrument for Dutch development cooperation’. This group wants to stimulate the Dutch government to ‘shift focus from development aid towards development cooperation by means of technical assistance and investments related to trade development and trade promotion’.
Finally, the third prize was given to master class number 2, which concentrated on the role of banks: ‘(Un)risky Business: the banks, the crisis, and consequences for developing countries’, and was guided by Mayte Oosterveld, who is now a consultant and previously worked for Goldman Sachs and PharmAccess. The view of this group was that ‘The Dutch government should stimulate Dutch banks to invest and cooperate with local banks in developing countries, by supporting these Dutch banks in selecting an interesting local bank and potentially providing a financial guarantee’. In the group's opinion, ‘this will strengthen the local banking sector, with the long term goal that local companies have sufficient access to local capital’.
Finally, the third prize was given to master class number 2, which concentrated on the role of banks: ‘(Un)risky Business: the banks, the crisis, and consequences for developing countries’, and was guided by Mayte Oosterveld, who is now a consultant and previously worked for Goldman Sachs and PharmAccess. The view of this group was that ‘The Dutch government should stimulate Dutch banks to invest and cooperate with local banks in developing countries, by supporting these Dutch banks in selecting an interesting local bank and potentially providing a financial guarantee’. In the group's opinion, ‘this will strengthen the local banking sector, with the long term goal that local companies have sufficient access to local capital’.
At the end of the day, students and experts celebrated a successful symposium while enjoying a drink and discussing the results. As a result of this symposium all policy recommendations formulated in the master classes as well as summaries of the plenary and group sessions will be published in a special booklet. On January the 27th, the winning group will present this booklet and all the formulated recommendations to the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, Mr. Bert Koenders. The booklet will also be published on our website www.evertvermeer.nl.
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