Governance

Board of Supervisors

The Board of Supervisors authorises the policies laid out by the Board of Directors and is responsible for assessing the Board of Directors’ performance. The Board has seven members, with Reverend dr. G.J. (Gert Jan) Baan serving as the chairman. Board members are appointed for four years and can be reappointed twice.

Board of Directors

Woord en Daad is led by a two-member board of Directors. Rina Molenaar MSc serves as the Chair, focusing on the development of the internal organisation, maintaining relationships with supporters, and increasing support for international cooperation within the Netherlands. Jacob Jan Vreugdenhil MsC, as the director of programmes, is dedicated to ensuring the quality and impact of the programmes that Woord en Daad implements in collaboration with partners and stakeholders across the countries where we operate. The policies developed by the board are submitted to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

Human resources

Woord en Daad continues to invest in a professional and dedicated staff pool, built on the principles of mutual trust, flexibility and loyalty. Our work is organised on a project basis, bringing together experts from both the Global North and South in entrepreneurial teams focussed on achieving results. In addition to our permanent staff, we also draw on expertise from our flexible pool of specialists.

International Corporate Social Responsibility (ICSR)

Our commitment to motivating and supporting enterprises to operate responsibly is very naturally linked to our mission and vision. Woord en Daad collaborates with businesses in fragile and impoverished regions, where the risk of exploitation and human rights violations is high. To address these challenges, we implement our ICSR policy, which guides how we support and motivate businesses to operate sustainably. We require private consortium partners to comply with international ICSR regulations from the UN and OECD, as required by Dutch government. If partners are not yet compliant, we encourage them to align with these standards. We also work with local businesses to focus on promoting a living wage and decent work conditions, using our in-house monitoring tools to ensure these priorities are met.