Update: As of 1 October 2021, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency has handed over this programme to Invest International. Find out more about this change.
In 2014 the Minister for Foreign Trade & Development Cooperation decided to stop the ORIO programme. On 16 June 2015, a new, adjusted programme for public infrastructure was launched, named DRIVE.
ORIO encouraged public-infrastructure development in developing countries, contributing to the realisation of a functional public infrastructure that is relevant to development. In this way, ORIO aimed to contribute to human development and private sector development. It is untied aid.
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency continues to support the existing ORIO projects. In the coming years, the 65 projects will be completed following the agreements made.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has commissioned the Netherlands Enterprise Agency to carry out both ORIO and DRIVE.
Financial and project administration
Once your ORIO project application has been selected, you will want to know precisely what and when you are required to report to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
The Policy Rules (pdf) contain all the necessary information referring to the assignment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It explains among other rules the criteria, the definition and the target group. The Manual (pdf) contains all the necessary information about the project cycle. It contains information about the process and requirements during the development phase and implementation phase and operation and maintenance phase.
We have included the most important documents under the phase they belong to. On the following pages you can find a number of annexes, reporting templates with instructions for accurate monitoring and other necessary forms:
Infrastructural tenders
Open tenders for infrastructural projects within the programmes Develop2Build (D2B), DRIVE and ORIO can be found on the page Infrastructural tenders.
Projects overview
ORIO projects either active on or started after January 2015 can be found at the aiddata.rvo.nl portal. This portal offers an overview of all official development aid (ODA) projects and programmes executed by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. You can refine your search by using filter options such as country, sector and programme.
The projects that have been selected for an ORIO grant have been placed on a world map.
ORIO in practice
Extraordinary leadership: drinking water project in Ghana
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Read how other entrepreneurs have made successful use of ORIO in our showcases.