Four ISS students successfully completed their MA thesis in late 2006 as part of the civil society-building programme with Hivos, one of the larger Dutch private development aid agencies. One of the successful students wrote to us recently that the Hivos internship had been crucial in getting a new job with a local NGO in South Africa. The programme with Hivos will be expanded in the coming years according to Kees Biekart, who co-ordinates the programme for ISS.