KIT assists governments, NGOs and private corporations around the world to build inclusive and sustainable societies, informing best practices and measuring their impact.

[5] Dutch trade in Indonesia led to increased public interest in ethnology and in the way of life of people of the Tropics – and their welfare.

Three designs were tendered and the building commission chose that of Johannes van Nieukerken [nl], who did not live to see out his work, which was completed by his sons M.A.

Materials were hard to find and expensive due to the outbreak of the First World War, and this caused long delays.

[6] During World War II, the German occupying forces housed the Grüne Polizei in the institute; at the same time, owing to the complicated architecture of the building (at one time the largest building in the city), the institute was a hotbed of resistance—it housed weapons and radios, and even Dutchmen hiding from the Germans: the grandson of Hendrikus Colijn, resistance fighter Hendrik Colijn, worked there under the alias Colijn, and when the building was searched by the Germans in 1944 he escaped through the labyrinthine passages in the attic.

[5] In the ensuing decades KIT grew into an association of scientists dedicated to international cooperation, intercultural understanding and the practical application of scientific knowledge for socio-economic development and health care amongst the diverse collection of newly independent nations that emerged in the post-colonial era.

In 2011 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands) had announced it would cease its €20 million annual subsidy, a decision appealed by the institute to the Dutch Council of State.

[9] As a result of the Dutch government's withholding of subsidy, the entire collection of books and magazines (the Tropenbibliotheek) was moved.

It acts as a catalyst for sustainability initiatives: a place to meet, exchange ideas, identify synergies, and build enduring partnerships.