Foreword

As of 1 September 2025, the Academy and DARE TOO together form the Learning and Development Division (L&O), within the Human Resources Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA/BZ). Combining our areas of expertise – in individual learning and development, and in team and organisational development, respectively – means L&O can offer BZ staff and managers comprehensive support in achieving their professional, team and organisational goals. Together, we are building a learning culture at BZ that encourages innovation and creates an agile and resilient organisation that is capable of dealing with future challenges.

We offer an appealing and up‑to‑date curriculum focused on international affairs and diplomacy, organisational and operational management, working as a team, and leadership and management. We also develop Human Resources policy instruments such as learning pathways, policy on mandatory learning, and language policy. And we can offer line managers an overview of themes that have caught our eye in team coaching and organisational development activities.

In 2025 we focused on strengthening civil service professionalism within BZ, mainly by promoting dialogue within the organisation. We spotlighted certain events and lectures, and established a ‘dialogue pool’ to get colleagues talking about dilemmas and actively seeking dialogue.

In the interests of security at BZ, the Information and Digital Innovation Department (IDI) – working with the Academy – introduced a new, mandatory course on digital resilience called ‘You’re the key to our protection’. Information security is vital for our work. All BZ staff, whatever their position or duty station, play a crucial role in ensuring information is secure. From 2026 onwards everyone with a BZ account will be required to do a short digital resilience course every year.

BZ wants to be an inclusive organisation and is taking active steps to achieve this. We are involved in the central government-wide contract award procedure for the broad recruitment and objective selection (BWOS) courses for staff who are involved in selection processes. The aim is to create a level playing field for all candidates and select the most suitable candidate for a job, based on objective assessment and unimpeded by conscious or unconscious biases. This produces the best result for the team, the department and, ultimately, the organisation as a whole.

The previous government’s plans for retrenchment across central government – as set out in their framework coalition agreement and programme of government – mean we will have fewer people and less budget to do our work. Besides finding new ways of working, we will have to make strategic choices in the range of courses and activities for learning, development and change from 2026 onwards. This has already had tangible impact in 2026, notably with regard to language courses.

I’m proud of how the Learning and Development Division has succeeded in making a real difference in how BZ approaches learning and development. Guided by the Action Plan for a Future-Proof BZ, our comprehensive plan for future-oriented learning and development (‘Toekomstgericht leren en ontwikkelen’) sets out the organisation’s requirements in terms of knowledge, skills and behaviour. We have thus more closely aligned the BZ development challenges with actual practices on the work floor in The Hague and at the missions worldwide. When developing the plan we also considered a new management model for L&O, to ensure broad organisational support for the rollout of future-oriented learning and development.

By means of targeted investment in learning and development, we aim to present a good-quality, cost-effective curriculum that meets the needs of BZ and other central government staff in international roles. This is our contribution to a future-proof BZ ready for the future, worldwide.

Mirella van de Noort-Tijhaar
Head, Learning and Development Division