Social Sustainability Fund - SSF

Because of upcoming laws, companies must show how they avoid and address negative impacts in their supply chains. As an unintended result, negative impacts can lead to local producers' and suppliers' exclusion from international markets. SSF aims to support companies and their local producers and suppliers in socially responsible business practices. Local producers can be different types of businesses, such as small textile mills, agricultural cooperatives, or smallholder farmers.

For whom?

SSF supports companies active in the Netherlands that: 

• Want to improve social sustainability in their international value chains;
• Work with local supplier(s) to prevent, reduce or stop negative social impacts; and
• Take steps following the OECD Due Diligence Guidelines.

Would you like a non-committal consultation with one of our advisors? Then email ssf@rvo.nl or call +31 (0) 88 042 42 42. 

Budget and duration

SSF is a 3-year subsidy programme that runs from 2023 until 2025. 

• For the first application round in 2024, a total of €5.5 million was available. 
• Netherlands-based entrepreneurs or social organisations (NGOs) can apply for a grant for at most 70% of eligible costs and up to €500,000.
• Applicants must start within 3 months after receiving their subsidy and end their projects within 4 years. It takes up to 3 months to assess your application. So, the project's start date should be within 6 months after the application.

Conditions

Projects must meet the following conditions.

Lead party (applicant)

• The lead party is:
  - a (Dutch) company with a branch or permanent office in the Netherlands; or
  - a (Dutch) NGO with a branch or permanent office in the Netherlands.
• The lead party applies for a subsidy for activities aimed at 1 or more of the following topics:
  - Combatting child labour;
  - Working towards living income or wages;
  - Ensuring good working conditions.
• Applicants must carry out their activities in a partnership.
• The lead party applies for a subsidy to improve social sustainability in their value chain(s) in 1 or more countries on the SSF list. See the list of target countries in the section 'Eligible countries' below.

Partnership

One of the conditions to apply is that your company involves its local producers and suppliers. Your partnership consists of at least the following parties:

• 1 company with a branch or permanent office in the Netherlands;
• 1 local company or corporation;
• 1 local social organisation, a local civil society organisation or a social organisation with sufficient knowledge of the local context and a local network.
  Please note: If it is impossible to involve a local civil society organisation or social organisation with sufficient knowledge of the local context when applying for a subsidy, please do so during phase A instead. In this case, the partnership must consist of at least 1 civil society organisation when you apply for a subsidy. 

A company with a branch or permanent office in the Netherlands or a Dutch social organisation can be the main applicant.

A project partnership is a mix of companies and social organisations (for example, NGOs) in which:

• Each partner is a legal entity;
• The applicant (lead party) has an integrity policy;
• Each partner is essential to reach the subsidy project's goals; 
• The companies must be part of the same value chain;
• The company is based in the Netherlands and has significant activities in the Netherlands; and
• The partners must suspect social risks or abuses in their production chains, such as low wages, poor working conditions, or child labour.

You can involve more local or international companies, NGOs or organisations in the formal partnership besides the required parties. All partners must be necessary to achieve the project's goals, and the partnership must remain manageable. You can involve extra partners in the project as (external) third parties.

Your activities may not focus on social improvements at your own local branches, local sub-organisations or production sites. 

You should focus your project activities on or link them to an existing partner production chain.

The subsidy programme aims to support as many companies as possible and seeks innovative project proposals. A company, NGO or other organisation may be involved in multiple applications or ongoing projects. But in the assessment, we will evaluate if the company, NGO or organisation has enough resources and capacity to carry out multiple projects at the same time. 

Responsible Business Conduct

Your project must follow international guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct (RBC). We take RBC into account when assessing your application. We ask you to:

• Follow the OECD guidelines; and
• Share how you follow the OECD guidelines via your company's RBC policy.

Social sustainability

SSF helps improve social sustainability in your supply chain. Social sustainability means:

• Contributing to inclusive, sustainable and gender-equal production chains;
• Production chains are child-labour-free;
• Workers and small producers have decent working conditions; and
• Producers and suppliers earn a living wage or income. 

SSF supports parties that carry out innovative approaches to become more sustainable. The programme funds new pilot projects for the companies, sectors, and countries involved.

The aim is for companies to try out their approach during pilot projects and scale up if their approaches prove successful. Also, others can learn from the experiences gained during these projects. 

SSF wants to share and develop the lessons learnt through a knowledge and learning programme. This way, more companies and stakeholders in the Netherlands and producing countries can make their value chains more sustainable. 

SSF aims to support supply chain partners who want to strive for a sustainable business model and improve social sustainability in their value chain by:

• Investigating risks and abuses;
• Increasing transparency;
• Integrating their sustainability and sourcing goals;
• Improving their due diligence processes;
• Setting up a long-term cooperation and dialogue;
• Developing and carrying out an improvement action plan; and
• Contributing to local capacity building.

Social sustainability themes

To reach social sustainability goals, companies applying for SSF must focus on 1 or more of the following 3 themes:

1. Combatting child labour

The International Labour Organization (ILO) states that 160 million children carry out child labour worldwide. Child labour means that children are too young to work or carry out tasks that are too dangerous, and work interferes with their schooling and development. Children have a right to a good education, play, and be children.

More information on child labour

2. Living wages and incomes

A living wage is a worker's wage for a standard working week. It is enough to provide the worker and their family with a decent living standard. 

A living income is the income that a self-employed person, for example, a coffee or cocoa farmer, can earn from carrying out their core activities and provides for a decent living standard.

A living wage is not the same as a minimum wage. A minimum wage is the amount a worker must legally receive.

More information on living wages

3. Ensuring good working conditions

Good working conditions are part of responsible business conduct. The basic ILO standards include:

• Decent wage levels;
• No child labour or forced labour;
• No violence in the workplace; 
• No discrimination; and
• Trade union freedom.

More information on working conditions

You should research all 3 social sustainability themes in phase A. If you can sufficiently prove why you could omit other risks in the implementation phase (phase B), you can focus on 1 particular theme.

Environmental themes

You can address environmental problems but only if there is a direct link to 1 or more of the 3 main themes. For example, regenerative agriculture: in this case, an environmental solution contributes to higher income or better working conditions.

Sectors

SSF focuses on high-risk sectors, for example:

• Agriculture (primary production or processing);
• Clothing and textiles;
• Mining (minerals, natural stone), and so on.

You can also apply if you can prove significant social risks in another sector., and

Eligible countries

Countries eligible for an SSF subsidy are Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Ukraine, Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Sudan, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Tunisia, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

SSF project activities and measures must take place in 1 of the eligible project countries. If social problems occur mainly in groups of migrant workers, we do not take their origin into account.

We have based the country list on the Policy Document for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation: Do what we do best (2022) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The policy states that the Netherlands wants to focus on fewer countries than before, concentrating on a smaller number of markets to achieve more results with the same resources. 

Calendar

How to apply

Would you like an initial, non-committal consultation with one of our advisors? Please email us or call +31 (0)88 042 42 42.

You must first submit a quick scan to apply for a subsidy from the Social Sustainability Fund (SSF). You can submit a quick scan at any time during the year. But note that you can only apply for a subsidy during an application round. SSF is temporarily closed.

You need our recommendation on your quick scan before you can apply for a subsidy. The second application round of 2024 is open from Monday 12 August, 09:00 CEST - Monday 7 October, 15:00 CEST. 
The lead applicant applies on behalf of the partnership. You can download all required documents forms on this page during an application round.

To submit a subsidy application, you must take the following steps:

Quick scan

You can submit a quick scan at any time during the year. But note that you can only apply for a subsidy during an application round. SSF is temporarily closed for applications. 

1. Complete the mandatory quick scan.
2. One of our project advisors will contact you to arrange an online meeting during the next application round. 

We use the quick scan to check if your project proposal idea meets the conditions to start an SSF project. Based on your quick scan, we will give you a non-binding recommendation.

We aim to assess your quick scan within 2 weeks. We use the quick scan to check if your proposal will meet the conditions and is eligible for an SSF project. After completing the advisory process, you can decide whether to submit a formal subsidy application. 

• You can download the quick scan form here:

Apply for SSF

Once you have received our advice, you can apply for funding within an application round. 

1. Apply for eHerkenning level 3. It may take a few weeks to process your application;
2. Log in with eHerkenning level 3 and apply for an SSF subsidy via eLoket. 
   
   Please note: To add a foreign organisation without a Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KvK) number, choose 'Reason no KvK'. Do not complete the field 'KvK-number'. If you do not have RSIN identification, you do not have to complete the 'RSIN' and 'Statutory name' fields. These fields are optional.
    
3. We only process complete applications in English. We will ask you for more information if your application is incomplete. If we do so, the date of your application will be the date on which we receive this extra information.

Checklist for your application

Make sure you have the following information at hand when submitting your application:

• Your company's Chamber of Commerce registration number, if applicable;
• Your quick scan reference number;
• Your social organisation or company's bank details;
• Partner forms;
• Project name;
• Start and end date of the project;
• Budget and subsidy amount; and
• Completed required documents (see 'required documents' below).

Required documents 

You must submit several documents with your application. Please complete the following documents in English:

• Annex I: Project Proposal
• Annex II: Result Sheet 
• Annex III: Budget 
• Annex IV: Cooperation Form
• Annex V: Authorisation Intermediary (if applicable)
• Form free: Risk Analysis and Outcome 
• Form free: The companies' RBC Policies 

You can download the annexes here:

Following your application

We will assess your application based on the criteria in the Administrative Rules. We will inform you whether we approve your application within 13 weeks. If we approve your application, you can start carrying out phase A of your project. You will receive the subsidy in advance payments. 

After you finish your project, we will assess the total realised costs and results. All costs should be eligible, justified and aligned with the project's results and efforts. 
 

Project administration

After we grant you a subsidy, you must report on the project's progress. On completion of your project, you must submit a final report. Below, you will soon find the required documents for your project administration. Please include extra documents mentioned in the annexes as separate files if necessary.

You will find the required documents for your SSF project administration for current projects below. You can already submit a gender analysis. Please complete all documents in English and send them to ssf@rvo.nl.

Please submit the following reports:

• Final Report Phase A (4 weeks after the phase A end date);
• Proposal Phase B (4 weeks after the phase A end date);
• Final Report Phase B (3 months after the phase B end date); and
• Annual Progress Reports (as specified in the Grant letter).

Social sustainability: An example

Frequently asked questions

Find answers to frequently asked questions below.

Publications

• Social Sustainability Fund 2024 - 2025 in Government Gazette, 12 February 2024 (official publication in Dutch)
• Social Sustainability Fund 2023 - 2025 in Government Gazette, 2 October 2023 (official publication in Dutch)