journalistiek over mondiale samenwerking

On 8 January 2025, Melle Leenstra, strategic policy adviser at the Sub-Saharan Africa directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, passed away. Vice Versa worked with him in a very pleasant way over the past year. And we are hugely touched at his passing. In this contribution, three people reflect on Melle.

Ellen Mangnus, researcher at Wageningen University, author of books, articles and opinion pieces on power and inequality.

I knew Melle from conferences and networking events. Our shared passion for agri-food, international cooperation, and Africa often brought us to the same gatherings.

Last year, while temporarily working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I truly came to appreciate him. Melle stood by his values, he dared to speak out and in doing so forced others to take a position as well. I discovered that beneath his macho exterior, there was a person that at times was deeply insecure. His principles often clashed with his impulses. As much as he despised hierarchy, it affected his self-esteem. As the son of an Ambassador he was sensitive to status, no matter how much he rejected it. Sometimes it seemed he overlooked that his influence, being always the one asking the uncomfortable questions, also extended far.

Above all, I got to know a good person. Melle was someone you could rely on, he would always help you. Rarely did we have a conversation in which he didn’t refer to his wife and daughters. He loved them deeply and everything showed that he was so incredibly dependent on them.

Melle held science in high regard and also wished to be recognized as an expert, but the fact that writing was a struggle for him led him too easily to the conclusion that he was failing.

In the past few days, one question kept echoing in my mind: did he ever realize that he possessed a special gift? The ease and charm with which he connected people was unmatched. I can’t count the number of people he brought me into contact with.

When we consider diplomacy as the art of relationship management and the craftmanship of building bridges between different stakeholders, and when we define the core of academia as generation and sharing of knowledge, Melle excelled in both.

A great fighter for international and inclusive cooperation has passed away, Melle, we will miss you.

Ruerd Ruben, emeritus professor Wageningen University, former director Inspectorate Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and co-founder of the Netherlands Food Partnership.

Melle joined my course on ‘Peasant Economics’ at Wageningen University and distinguished himself as a very engaged and committed student. He always stayed after finishing each lecture to further discuss about what drives rural development and how we could combat widespread poverty amongst smallholder farmers. This engagement was further shaped during his academic career at Leiden University and in his professional work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

We had very frequent interactions in our joint efforts to develop an integrated Dutch commitment towards food security. Melle contributed energetically with first ideas about shaping a ‘food systems’ approach and strongly advocated for a political economy framework for strengthening smallholder inclusion and improving nutrition. His energy was vital for the constitution of the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) that he considered as a key partnership for shaping the Dutch Diamond.

During his period in Africa and Egypt we discussed by mail about all kinds of alternative development strategies. Melle always pointed to the importance of rural governance and criticised the growing attention for robust impact measurement. Instead, he considered social innovation and grassroot participation as key drivers towards progress.

But Melle also suffered from the slow rhythm of change in policy circles and more recently the adverse climate around development cooperation.  A few weeks ago we had lunch at the Huiskamer in Den Haag Central Station to exchange ideas about how to revive public enthusiasm for working on poverty alleviation close by and far away.  To support his dedication to the cause, I gave him the biography of Jan Tinbergen, the Dutch Nobel prize winner who also devoted his life and career to development cooperation and peace building.

Sadly enough, Melle could not finish his own path towards a better world. May his memory inspire many other people to take up his challenge and continue the journey towards justice.

Cissy Nalumansi, Ugandan Film Writer and Director, and Co-founder of  ‘Debunking Notions, Reshaping Mindsets.’

Before I met Melle physically, I had heard about him from my partner, Marc Broere, how he was passionate about Africa and equal partnerships with The Netherlands, and in particular the Dutch Africa Strategy 2023-2032, an initiative by the Dutch Government which stood for the same values of equality through collaborations.

When we met through an online meeting for the very first time, I saw his passion first hand which endeared me more to him. I felt right in place, I knew that he and I would work smoothly together, at-least through our project, Debunking Notions. For it was advocating for the same values as the ones he stood for.

I also learnt that his two children are Ugandan born and that he had lived in Uganda for some time. This was very important for me to know because it meant that he understood my perspective, as a Ugandan, as an African. He had been to my world, not as a guest who sees things through binoculars, but as a member of the tribe. He called me ’Nyabo’ which means ‘lady.’ Right there, right then, the bond was formed.

When I arrived in the Netherlands for the Debunking Notions Event on December 6 2024 in The Hague, I was anxious to speak to people. Not only was the subject matter sensitive to address, but also the guests in the audience were still strangers to me. I had met a few people virtually, but only knew Marc Broere.

Then I remembered Melle would be there. The one who called me Nyabo, my tribes-mate. Actually, my eyes looked for him in the crowd during my speech. After the speech, he gave me a big hug and praised the speech I had made. You can only imagine what that meant for me.

He went on to write about the event on social media and how he believed it was one of the best ever organized by Vice Versa. I saw in Melle, a supportive spirit, a nurturer, a Dutch man called to be an African through his work and family ties. I was looking forward to meeting him again in the future but turns out, fate had different plans.

I mourn his death. I will forever be grateful for the warmth and passion he had for an equal world. I didn’t know what he was dealing with, on top of trying to make the world a better place, I am sorry. He fought a good fight and his impact will come a long way in creating the world he imagined.