Our story
Since 2016 The Spindle connects innovators among Dutch and global actors into an online and offline movement for inclusive, sustainable development.
It was initiated by Partos, the association of Dutch NGOs working in international development, in the conviction that there’s a huge innovation potential amongst the Dutch organizations and their southern partners.
With The Spindle we take up the challenge to translate the abundance of ideas into innovative approaches and solutions. The Spindle builds on the experiences of Partos with joint learning and innovation initiatives by its members, in most recent years taking place as part of the Partos Learning Platform.
The Spindle is financially made possible by a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The grant secures a 5-year programme during which we will prove our value in two ways: by connecting and empowering innovators in inclusive and sustainable development – and secondly by creating an ecosystem that thrives innovation. The Spindle supports ideation, facilitates innovation, showcases successes, monitors trends and builds and facilitates an online and offline community.
In light of the trends and existing challenges we decided in consultation with Partos member organisations – in the development of strategies and the implementation of programs – to focus on four themes: civic power, inclusion, new forms of cooperation and the innovative use of data.
The Spindle was in November 2018, half-way through the time financed by the Dutch MFA. Reason to carry out a Mid-Term Review. The findings of this review served to design The Spindle’s activities for both the remaining period of the current grant and for the long-term future of The Spindle. Based on the results we redesigned The Spindle’s Theory of Change.
