ABUJA, Nov 21 (IPS) – It’s an already established reality that constructing partnerships is among the single only methods for African non-profits to draw funding and deepen their influence. So, as an addendum to this text by Tafadzwa and I, here’s a information to discovering your match.
Certainly, selecting an organisation to collaborate with might be just like deciding on a life accomplice. It doesn’t require the identical life dedication however a unsuitable partnership can considerably harm your fame with donors, the belief you will have from the neighborhood(ies) and even the religion your group members have in you. In some conditions, the results should not so dire. Maybe, it might solely sidetrack you, forcing you to forge into areas you in all probability didn’t intend, and making you lose time or put years of onerous work in danger.
So, in broad strokes, how are you going to discover the proper accomplice to your work as an African civil society organisation (CSO) or nonprofit?
- Put your Home in Order: Organisations are sometimes judged on the power of their company governance. Whereas the scale of an organisation could affect how strong its processes and procedures are, what’s paramount is that regardless of the scale, there’s a system and tradition of accountability and transparency. Probably the most strong path in the direction of establishing broad neighborhood partnerships that guarantee long-term grassroots assist revolve round legitimacy and construction, as evidenced in your insurance policies, management composition, accountability measures and organisational tradition. This will appear to be an apparent level however African non-profits usually begin informally as a small initiative to deal with an issue in the neighborhood. Over time, that small initiative morphs right into a registered non-governmental organisation, whose management is made up of shut family and friends members. Even when this works to get the organisation operational, it doesn’t work in the long run. On the barest minimal, each nonprofit ought to have a various and purposeful board of administrators/trustees, well-articulated imaginative and prescient, values and aims, strategic objectives and motion plans. These benchmarks enable you streamline what sort of accomplice(s) you want, when it is best to strategy them and the way you need to collaborate with them.
- Be Keen to Collaborate, not Compete: For too lengthy, the funding pool in Africa has pit nonprofits in opposition to each other. Nevertheless, to faucet the advantages of partnerships, organisations should be prepared to name a truce, and work collectively in an open, sincere relationship. But, with a lot mistrust already being the marker of the nonprofit house, how will we transfer ahead? It actually begins with having a distinct mindset. If extra organisations undertake the concept collaboration, and never competitors is the way in which ahead then we could have made appreciable progress. However this isn’t an ideal world and there’ll at all times be unscrupulous individuals so the following few factors ought to provide you with some safety.
- Discover your Strategic Match: Whereas sure collaborations could also be short-term, all partnerships must be strategic (regardless of timeframe). Because of this there must be congruence in values, strategy to work, complementary (not essentially actual) thematic areas of labor and confirmed file of worth. Earlier than participating with a potential accomplice, you will need to think about what you may also provide the partnering organisation. What can be useful is to have a predetermined guidelines with some must-haves and some standards that may be versatile. This additionally means creating an inner commonplace for excellence that every one potential companions should abide by. For this reason level (1) is simply too necessary. In case you are not clear about who you’re as an organisation or your wants, how will you recognise an organisation that matches your accomplice profile?
- Begin Small and Take it Gradual: You can begin out of your circle, with organisations that align together with your values and whose management you’ll be able to vouch for to a sure diploma. Even at that, don’t be fast to decide to main initiatives or signal a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with out studying the wonderful print. It’s also possible to begin with initiatives that will not require funding (as a result of this usually has increased stakes) however issues like data/data-sharing, workers exchanges and so on. could also be someplace to start. These low-hanging fruits enable you get a really feel of what sort of organisation you’re coping with. Lastly, it goes with out saying that you simply request a ‘get-to-know-you’ assembly the place you share your histories, insurance policies and procedures with one another (sure, very like a primary date) then you’ll be able to go from there. It’s important that you don’t settle for a partnership below duress and if the organisation refuses to honour this request, then it’s potential that they don’t seem to be the proper match for you.
- Be Various and Inclusive in your Search: Too usually nonprofit organisations wrestle to be a focus for the extra established entities, forgetting that there may be a bunch of different organisations doing spectacular work and who may be dependable companions. It’s advisable to solid a large web. The truth that an organisation is small (and even smaller than yours) doesn’t negate the worth they may provide. It’s also possible to make an open name for partnerships, highlighting your curiosity space(s), what you deliver to the desk and an summary of the sort of organisation you need.
In the end, it is best to do not forget that the purpose of discovering a accomplice is to realize your strategic objectives and make sure the sustainability of your organisation whereas contributing to one other organisation. Approaching partnership-building from this attitude strengthens the community of non-profits throughout the Continent, helps us leverage our inner wealth of assets and weans us off our over-dependence on exterior funding.
Angela Umoru-David is a inventive social influence advocate whose expertise cuts throughout journalism, program design and company/improvement communications, and goals to seize a plurality of views that positively affect the African narrative
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