NDL is a collaboration between NUFFIC, DebatUnie and the Oracy Institute.

All secondary schools in the Netherlands are eligible to take part. There are, however, a few conditions:

1. To join, you need to sign up either 12 to 24 students. 

2. Students are required to take part in all three tournaments, the workshops and be present as a mentor at one of the Soapbox challenge days. This is required to meet the MDT criteria.

3. Students need to take part on a voluntary basis.

4. Costs

Schools pay a membership fee of 360 euros for their school slot (regardless of how many students participate).

Additionally, we expect the school to pay for students' travel costs towards the three tournaments.

The reason why we strictly follow these criteria is because this project is possible because of the MDT subsidy. You can read more about the subsidy below.

Participating in the National Debat League (including the workshops and preparatory materials) costs 360 euros per participating school (regardless of how many students sign up per school). 

This is possible because NDL is a MDT (Maatschappelijke Diensttijd) project. The MDT subsidy covers the rest of the costs of this programme (for now). This means that there are some requirements/obligations that need to be met in order to be able to participate. You can find the requirements in the FAQs.

We can organise the National Debate League because the project is part of  MDT. Below you can read more about what that means:

MDT, or Maatschappelijke Diensttijd, was founded to give young people a broad societal orientation, helping them develop into critical and engaged citizens. It was established as part of the Dutch Coalition Agreement 2017-2021 with the aim of fostering a stronger and more connected society. By participating in various community service projects, young people can discover their talents, meet new people, and contribute positively to their communities. This program ultimately enhances social cohesion and provides valuable experiences that benefit both the participants and society at large​ 

In order to complete the project students need to:

1. participate for at least 80 hours within a period of 6 months (which they will if they follow the workshops and attend the tournament)

2. Develop their skills

3. Meet new people 

4. Do something for someone else. In this project students fulfill this requirement by  being a mentor during one of Nuffic's Soapbox challenges.

Feel free to look at the timeline on the homepage to get an overview of the project. 

For now the most important date is the signup deadline which is set on the 1st of July 2024.