We provided the expert analysis of the Mid-Term Evaluation of the World Food Programme Private Sector Partnerships and Fundraising Strategy 2020-2025 – the strategy, progress and results to date. The report is now officially published and we look forward to seeing the revised strategy and actions for the remaining strategy period. Collaborating with Universalia and the WFP team has been a pleasure.
“Open your heart because everything will change” (2023) by Frieda Toranzo Jaegar. Modern Art Oxford. Photo by R. Clay.
Oxford in spring is a melting pot of ideas and fresh perspectives. I am feeling re-energised after recent encounters and sessions at Skoll World Forum and Marmalade and find myself reflecting on the abundance of ideas and insights from so many amazing people. Here are some key takeaways that have left a lasting impression:
Understanding risk could build foundations of strong partnerships. The Risk Pool Fund highlighted: “Funders can under-estimate those obstacles they cannot see for themselves.” Building trust and transparency is essential if partners are to jointly understand the taxonomy of risk they face in their partnerships and if they are to meaningfully assess and manage the real risks.
Impact investing in system change is developing. There is some great thinking going into impact investment at the system change level and the kind of ‘system health’ indicators we will need – meaningful indicators of the shifts in the system. For example, attitudes to driving cars as an indication of a shift in urban transportation.
Lessons on scaling with government from practitioners highlights the importance of political will. That means you need technical partnerships, but also to build champions and support the mindset shift to partnership working. I loved the Spring Impact message that “you need to fall in love with the problem, not the solution”, to support co-design between partners.
Accountability mechanisms are essential to ensure justice for communities affected by impact investments. I was heartened by the work of the Accountability Counsel and aware that many more communities need support. The Environmental Justice Atlas (EJ Atlas) is another initiative that documenting an incredible volume of social conflicts around environmental issues worldwide.
Radical collaboration is needed to match the scale of global challenges we face – that’s going to take commitment to Public, Private, Philanthropic Partnerships, but also creative ways to connect grassroots to this large-scale approach. See also our latest blog post for more reflections on radical collaboration.
Additionally, I’d like to spotlight a few more inspiring initiatives and resources:
The Risk Pool Fund, quoted above, offers a unique model for navigating implementation obstacles, fostering trust and openness among collaborators. Lessons from their RPF Model Evaluation are well worth exploring.
“Radical Collaboration – Five Essential skills to overcome defensiveness and build successful relationships” by James W. Tamm and Ronal J. Luvet (2004, HarperCollins)
Radical collaboration is essential for those working towards transformation of social and environmental outcomes. I recommend the book “Radical Collaboration – Five Essential skills to overcome defensiveness and build successful relationships” by James W. Tamm and Ronal J. Luvet (2004, HarperCollins) for those interested in delving deeper. They focus on building collaborative intention, truthfulness, accountability, self-awareness and problem solving with negotiation skills. All critical for productive relationships. They share some great research too.
So, I was drawn to a session on Radical Collaboration recently. It was an excellent discussion, with social entrepreneurs and their enablers, such as Acumen, sharing their pain and learning. The discussion focused on system challenges and opportunities, including:
Leadership for people and the planet is needed.
Public, private and philanthropic partnerships (PPPPs) may be complex, but they can be key to achieving long-term sustainability.
Blended finance and blended business models don’t need to be so complex – you can keep it simple, for example using convertible grants.
Take the opportunity to monetise impact where possible, particularly around climate funding.
The main challenge highlighted is to enable the many grassroots organisations to collaborate in large scale change and funding approaches.
Finally, there’s a plea for realism as well as radical ambition for collaboration.
My concern is that organisations are not building the skills and capacities for radical collaboration. The growing importance of PPPPs is such that the stakes are high. Radical collaboration needs commitment, but it also needs investments in people and systems. We need to pay more attention to the essential skills required to build these successful relationships that can enable transformation. Let’s see some radical collaboration funds to support transformation.
During Catalysing Change week 2023, we co-facilitated an interactive webinar on co-creating strategy with our partners at Tostan and Lwala. Rachael shared thoughts on the imperative and potential of participatory approaches to strategy development in turbulent times. Here is a summary…
1. First let’s just look at trends for strategy development.
Strategy always operates with uncertainty.But in an increasingly disrupted world (pandemics, conflict, climate shocks) we need to shift from traditional models with a structured plan for the longer-term to more agile approaches to strategy. That means you need to…
Keep focused on external – embrace forces of disruption. Identify the big trends (and likely predictable surprises) to anticipate and respond to.
Choose your big bets (and your no regrets (things that you would do no matter what)).
In an agile strategy you set ambition and goal, general direction and parameters for impact to guide decision making, but allow space to respond to opportunities/challenges.
Keep focused on impact. Keep that question central.
Key for today is that a participatory approach is essential for an agile strategy to live within an organisation and for stakeholders to operate without too much long-term detail/guidance.
2. Participatory approaches, at their best, can be a process of empowerment for communities and part of the impact process.
Nominal (passive) and instrumental (limited and targeted) approaches are giving way to more representative (active, voice) and transformative (means and an end) approaches to community engagement in strategy development.
Those organisations that have structurally integrated community in their own governance and decision-making are well set up for more transformative engagement of communities in their strategies.
Structural tools for active and ongoing engagement with communities, will enable your strategy process to build from your work together. See examples from Lwala and Tostan.
3. There are many approaches and innovations to enable participation in strategy development (and its ongoing evaluation and adaptation during these turbulent times).
Participative structures include user groups, community stakeholder groups, consultation with trusted gate-keepers (e.g., community/religious leaders), community advisory boards (to inform and advise on strategy and planning over an extended period of time) and deliberative structures (e.g., citizen assemblies or juries) to engage communities in decision making around complex issues (used for government policy and strategy development).
Co-creation approaches, using innovation methodologies and embracing diversity of inputs are particularly helpful in early stages of strategy exploration.
Technology can help support insight and engagement
Remote survey tools, SMS surveys and WhatsApp polling, including 60 decibels, Mobenzi Mobile app, and Engage Spark.
Digital engagement platforms have been used by government and service providers to engage communities around service development strategies, but are more suited to urban settings, e.g., Citizen Lab, used by Peñalolén, a Chilean Santiago commune, to develop a participatory budget for the local plan.
Participation doesn’t end when a strategy is written. Participative approaches to evaluation enable ongoing learning for communities, stakeholders and partners, e.g.:
The most significant change methodology, which engages community members and stakeholders to tell their personal stories of change, share and analyse how change is happening.
Journalling over the course of the strategy period which are then analysed for patterns of change.
Overall – the strategy process is an extention of the organisation’s model for working with community. Making strides to structurally engage communities will ensure your strategy development and implementation is adaptive, and responsive in these turbulent times.
