Building Equal Opportunities Together: SKB Is Designing a New Fund to Enrich Education in Collaboration with the Target Group
Challenge
Not every child has the same opportunities – In the Netherlands, a child’s background still too often determines the opportunities available to them. For many children and young people, access to enriching educational experiences is far from guaranteed, even though these opportunities can make all the difference.
Result
From Insight to Action – Preliminary research confirmed what many stakeholders had already observed: structural funding is lacking, quality standards remain unclear, and schools often lack a strong foundation for implementation. These findings pointed to one clear solution: a demand driven fund.
Client
SKB (Partnership for Equal Opportunities & Citizenship Education) Netherlands is a coalition of civil society organizations dedicated to promoting equal opportunities for children and young people through supplemental and enrichment education, citizenship education, and talent development.
In brief
In collaboration with SKB Nederland, nlmtd developed a new Talent and Engagement Fund (TOF) for enriching education. By actively involving young people and other stakeholders from the very beginning, a demand-driven solution was created that contributes to equal opportunities for children and young people.
Together with young people, schools, foundations, funders, municipalities, and libraries, we co-created the core elements of the fund. Through a series of co-creation sessions, we continuously tested and refined the design based on the needs, ideas, and experiences of all stakeholders. This approach fosters shared ownership and helps create a fund that truly works for the people it is intended to serve. And just as importantly, it is incredibly rewarding to collaborate directly with stakeholders, hear their ideas, and build solutions together.
Challenge
Not every child has the same opportunities
In the Netherlands, a child’s background still too often determines the opportunities available to them. For many children and young people, access to enriching education is far from guaranteed, even though these opportunities can make all the difference.
“This approach offers students additional learning opportunities alongside their regular education,” explains Jeroen Paul Nijmeijer, Director of SKB Nederland. “It focuses on areas such as talent development, career orientation, social skills, and citizenship education. The goal is simple: to create equal opportunities for all children and young people, regardless of their background.”
Where It Gets Stuck
Organizations within the Partnership for Equal Opportunities & Citizenship Education (SKB) work toward this mission every day. “But it’s not easy,” says Jeroen Paul. “There are significant challenges when it comes to quality, funding, and youth participation.”
- Quality
There is a wide range of programs and initiatives available, but no clear overview. Schools often struggle to determine what works, particularly when they do not yet have a well defined vision of what enriching education entails. - Funding
Funding is fragmented and uncertain. “As a result, foundations spend up to 30% of their time fundraising,” explains Jeroen Paul. “That is a significant amount of time that could be spent delivering impact. In addition, only 11% of schools receive government funding for supplemental and enrichment education based on a low socioeconomic status (SES) score. This means many children who could benefit from enriching education are left behind.” - Youth Participation
Perhaps most importantly, young people themselves are still not sufficiently involved. Yet it is their perspectives and experiences that ultimately determine what works.
Why nlmtd?
“nlmtd is known for its ability to create lasting impact within organizations and across sectors. Last year, they launched the nlmtd Fund, through which they make their expertise and services available to high impact organizations like ours.”
– Jeroen Paul Nijmeijer, Director of SKB Nederland
From Design to Launch
Designing Solutions Together
At the heart of the approach was a simple principle: do not design for young people, but with them. Together with stakeholders across the sector, SKB is developing a new fund, a quality framework, and an online marketplace.
“Because if we want these solutions to truly work for the sector, we have to create them together with the people they are intended to serve,” emphasizes Jeroen Paul. “Without their insights, we risk designing something that does not reflect the realities of everyday practice.”
From Insight to Solution
Research confirmed what many stakeholders had already sensed: structural funding is lacking, quality guidelines remain unclear, and schools need more support and guidance. These findings pointed to one clear direction: a demand driven fund. A solution with the potential to drive meaningful change, but one that is also complex to implement effectively.
Building Together
SKB decided to take on that challenge in partnership with nlmtd. Through the nlmtd Fund, Roos Spekman joined the project.
“I had wanted to contribute through the nlmtd Fund for quite some time, and this felt like the perfect opportunity,” she says. “Just as the Fund makes external expertise accessible to nonprofit organizations with limited resources, SKB helps ensure that children and young people have access to opportunities they might not otherwise receive. I’m incredibly proud and grateful to be able to contribute to that mission.”
From the very beginning, co creation was at the heart of the process. Read on to discover how Roos put this approach into practice:
Together with young people, schools, foundations, funds, municipalities, and libraries, we shaped the core elements of the fund. In co-creation sessions, we continually tested the design against everyone’s wishes and needs. This fosters shared ownership and creates a fund that truly works for the target group. And, not unimportantly: it’s, of course, incredibly fun to work creatively with the stakeholders themselves and hear their ideas.
Building on What Already Exists
To give the fund the best possible chance of success, SKB consciously chose to build on existing initiatives rather than start from scratch.
“Think of municipal programs in Amsterdam and Utrecht, as well as innovative solutions such as the Rijke Schooldag App, which makes it easier to organize and coordinate after school activities,” Roos explains.
On the Road to Launch
The first steps toward a regional launch have already been taken.
“The goal is to launch the fund initially in one or more regions, in collaboration with a group of committed organizations, including school boards and local program providers, with support from the municipality,” says Jeroen Paul.
What This Changes
The Talent and Community Fund (TOF) creates value for everyone involved:
- Schools gain access to high quality programs, along with support in developing their vision and coordinating enriching educational activities.
- Foundations benefit from more stable funding, allowing them to focus less on fundraising and more on creating impact.
And, most importantly, children and young people gain access to an education that better reflects their needs, interests, and experiences. By actively incorporating young people’s perspectives, the TOF helps remove barriers to participation and creates more inclusive opportunities for all.
Conclusion
What began as a complex challenge is evolving into a collaborative solution, designed by the very people it is intended to serve.
“At nlmtd, everything we do is focused on building a sustainable future. Yet the organizations that are most dedicated to creating positive social impact often lack the resources to engage external expertise. Through the nlmtd Fund, we have been able to support SKB Nederland and contribute to expanding opportunities for children and young people. That makes this project especially meaningful, because we will need their talents more than ever to help shape a better world.”
Want to know more? We worked on this!
Roos Spekman
Roos Spekman
