About PSO

The PSO Association was founded in 1985, to facilitate the posting abroad of professionals in the context of development cooperation. The name refers to this main activity: Personnel Cooperation in Developing Countries (Personele Samenwerking in Ontwikkelingslanden). During the more than 25 years of its existence, PSO assisted over 30,000 postings abroad.

Although nowadays professionals are still seconded to developing countries to give technical assistance, during the past decades PSO changed its focus to expertise building in the field of capacity strengthening of civil society in developing countries. This is the logical result of the vision that a strong civil society in developing countries can only arise if strong local social organisations exist. PSO developed into a learning and training center for the Dutch and increasingly also for the Southern development sector.

Being a learning attendant, PSO assists its members and other development organisations to learn about the numerous aspects of capacity strengthening in Southern societies. The learning trajectories supported by PSO are strengthened by strategic project funding, with the aim of creating opportunities within the participating organisations to reflect on their own practices and to adapt their approach. During the past years, PSO mainly focused on linking academic research and fieldwork, and providing the development sector with lessons learned.

At the moment, the PSO Association has 57 member organisations, while many more Dutch and Southern organisations participate in several learning trajectories. At the PSO office, 33 staff members and three external employees are employed. The complete formation is 28 FTE. For its activities, PSO receives 26 million Euros funding of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the 2011-2012 period.

PSO’s General Assembly of Members decided in 2011 to liquidate the Association as of 1 January 2013 (or later if required for the liquidation). This was not an easy decision, according to Ludy Geut, Chairman of the Board. ‘In 2010, it became clear that the financial policy of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs – by far the most important funder of PSO – would change for our organisation. During the first quarter of 2011, PSO commissioned an external research, primarily to find an answer to this question: What does PSO require to be able to operate in a competitive market? The research demonstrated that, whatever scenario PSO would choose, large changes were inevitable. ‘After the research, the Board concluded that the way PSO is organised as well as its targets needed to be changed entirely. We were convinced that this was not feasible. For the Association the decision is painful and sad,’ according to Geut.

Until the end of 2012, PSO continues to implement its activities and to lobby for capacity strengthening. The focus of the work will be on finishing learning trajectories, collecting lessons learned, and making these lessons available for the sector.