Africa: Partnership-Building – a Sustainable Tool for African Non-Profit Organisations

In the landscape of African nonprofit organisations and indeed the world over, sustainability remains a cornerstone for enduring impact. However, continued funding is a pivotal aspect of sustainability.

While traditional fundraising methods such as events have their merits including immediate feedback, the evolving dynamics of global philanthropy and local development demand more innovative and resilient strategies.

This is where partnership-building comes in as an archetypal tool, poised not only to secure financial stability but also to foster collaborative growth and systemic change.

Partnerships build collaborations and the benefits are innumerable, inter alia, pooled resources to scaling impact and reach. They enable organisations to leverage each other’s strengths, resources, and networks.

The size of the global philanthropy ecosystem is estimated at 4 trillion USD, 4% of global GDP, yet only 0.2% is received by African nonprofits directly. The funding landscape is structured in a way that African organisations receive small short-timed grants which neither make the desired impact nor allow them to invest in internal systems

According to the MoFund Africa, “The size of the global philanthropy ecosystem is estimated at 4 trillion USD, 4% of global GDP, yet only 0.2% is received by African nonprofits directly. The funding landscape is structured in a way that African organisations receive small short-timed grants which neither make the desired impact nor allow them to invest in internal systems.”

Realising this makes the case for joining forces, noting that accessing funding, technology, and other expertise for African nonprofits would be unattainable or extremely difficult independently.

This collaborative advantage is crucial in addressing multifaceted issues that require a range of skills and approaches. In any case, these multi-stakeholder partnerships are essential for tackling complex issues such as climate change, education reform, the effects of armed conflict and economic development, which require coordinated efforts across various sectors.

Furthermore, partnerships encourage the sharing of best practices and innovative solutions, leading to more effective and efficient approaches to development challenges.

The Power of Partnerships

Many African nonprofits feel and know the power imbalance that exists in their spaces and sectors. However, the benefit of partnership-building lies in its collaborative nature with undertones of a desire to wrestle power back to them. After all, they are embedded in the communities and in most cases, have some of the most innovative development solutions to problems affecting them.

Scholarship abounds on the value of partnerships transcending mere financial transactions, aiming instead to establish symbiotic relationships where both parties benefit.

For African nonprofits just like any other in the world, this means engaging with a diverse array of partners including corporations, peer organisations, governments, international NGOs, and local communities. Each of these entities brings unique resources, expertise, and networks, which can be leveraged to achieve greater impact. In this light, the following are some of the benefits of partnership that we have experienced firsthand.

1. Diversifying revenue streams

We are told ad nauseam that one of the primary advantages of partnership-building is the diversification of revenue streams. Furthermore, it is said that reliance on a single source of funding is fraught with risks, particularly in volatile economic climates.

The answer, in line with this thinking, is that by cultivating a broad spectrum of partners African nonprofits can buffer against financial instability.

However, Kevin L. Brown’s thought provoking pieces are quite succinct with the powerful tagline, “be fundable and be findable!” This means ensuring that your nonprofit’s impact is well communicated consistently through a diverse range of channels. In this way, when opportunities for accessing funds arise, your track record will speak for you. Afterall, everyone wants to partner with a winning team.

2. Enhancing impact

The potential for enhancing impact is perhaps one of the most compelling arguments for partnership building. When diverse organisations come together, the potential to address complex issues increases manifold as each partner leverages on the other’s strengths.

For example, a local organisation in Zimbabwe partnered with an international organisation to build 2 school blocks in Silobela, a rural area in the Midlands province.

The community provided labour while the two organisations procured materials. Another example is seen in Nigeria where a nonprofit was able to partner with a social enterprise to provide water and sanitation facilities in a community, catering for a primary healthcare centre and a school simultaneously. Without this partnership, neither organisation would have been able to undertake the project alone.

3. Potential for systemic change

The saying that there is strength in numbers shines through in the social change sector and advocacy for development. Coalition and movement building are important for mounting pressure on government agencies for policy change, ramping up public support and influencing behaviour within communities.

Inversely, local organisations that choose to work alone in order to perhaps, monopolise funding or take credit for outcomes, end up doing themselves a disservice. The fact is that nonprofits are meant to be in the business of change, not maintain the status quo for funding sake!

Yet, social change is highly unlikely if there is a lone voice calling out on the streets. It is rare for one organisation to have enough reach to inspire action at the various levels that change may be needed. Multiple voices spreading the same message and exerting pressure on the powers that be is more likely to yield the needed or desired results.

4. Building Technical Strength

The ever-widening technological gap between the Global Minority and Global Majority can be bridged through partnerships. Too often, it is assumed that in the conversations around technology, African nations have to look to European countries or the United States for talent and technical capacity-building including skills transfer.

However, there are home-grown solutions that are addressing local issues and there is a plethora of African talent living on the continent that have become conversant with emerging technologies and innovative techniques. A valid example of this in Nigeria is where organisations like HumAngle, CJID, Connected Development and BudgIT with technical capacity in artificial intelligence, VR technology and other innovative tools have either launched fellowships to strengthen the capacity of other changemakers or worked with other local actors to deepen their impact.

Where We are Getting it Wrong

Partnership-building is not new to most development actors on the Continent. However, an observable trend is that some of these partnerships tend to be skewed in favour of the one who seemingly has financial muscle thereby making them tokenistic in outlook and deeds. Power imbalances in the development space are also local.

More often than not, we see the bigger names accessing large grants and deigning to ‘work with smaller organisations’ in a bid to reach the grassroots. In principle, this is good, but when carried out with an air of superiority, such partnerships become futile as the agency of the smaller organisation is hardly respected by the larger one.

There needs to be a shift in perspectives as connections with communities themselves is the prize and organisations should be willing to pursue equitable partnerships that preserve the dignity and agency of smaller entities.

This problematic perspective creates a labyrinth of gatekeepers and bureaucracy, and partnerships with such power imbalances end up being self-serving with perceptions and risks thought to be so great that handholding is required.

On the part of smaller organisations, partnership must come to mean more than funding. It should evolve to include in-kind resources, expertise and even time. Luckily, the funding space has evolved in recent times to also involve capacity-building (although these capacity-building endeavours are sometimes desensitised from the local context of the organisations) and more organisations are taking advantage of that.

This notwithstanding, the mindshift that must occur is one where local nonprofits begin leveraging peer learning. The way projects are designed, executed and even gaps can serve as great learning resources to bolster the technical capacity of local NGOs.

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If such lessons are properly documented, partnering organisations can share them with one another, and go a step further to jointly publish such, providing rich insight on how to engage local communities, programmes that need to be boosted for greater impact and pitfalls to avoid.

In addition, joint thought leadership of this kind favourably positions the partners for funding and as implementing partners when opportunities arise. This will also help organisations to build horizontal relationships, and not only vertical ones, serving as a support to one another, and taking into consideration the firsthand understanding they have of one another’s challenges.

Establishing the Right Partnerships

There is no magic bullet to achieving this. As such, we believe an overview covering themes such as putting one’s house in order, willingness to collaborate as opposed to competing, finding strategic matches, and being diverse and inclusive in one’s search among others can yield good outcomes that result in sustainable win-win partnerships.

Conclusion

Ultimately, we need to change the lens through which we see partnership! Partnerships represent the bedrock upon which sustainable development can be built, and offer a pathway to greater impact, systemic change, and sustainability.

By embracing equitable partnerships, nonprofits can harness the collective strength of diverse stakeholders, ensuring that their work not only survives but thrives in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. It is time for a paradigm shift–one where competition gives way to collaboration and shared goals toward a future we all seek.

Angela Umoru-David  is a creative social impact advocate whose experience cuts across journalism, program design and corporate/development communications, and aims to capture a plurality of views that positively influence the African narrative.

Tafadzwa Munyaka is a nonprofit/social change professional with crosscutting expertise in fundraising, program management, and child rights advocacy.

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