Partnership is a core concept in development cooperation today. For the purpose of this Guide, it refers to a relationship between civil society organisations where both parties are involved in the design and management of a particular intervention.

The need for both partnership and local ownership is articulated in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.¹ Since this document was adopted, several European donors have adjusted their development cooperation policies and grant selection criteria to support North-South partnerships. This presents both opportunities and challenges for civil society organisations in their pursuit for financial and donor support.

For the majority of grant programmes described in this Guide, only European nationally-registered organisations are eligible to apply. While Southern organisations cannot directly apply for these grants; they are not necessarily barred from accessing the funds because they can submit joint proposals with other organisations.

For several of the grant programmes, partnerships offer an advantageous opportunity for both European and Southern-based organisations. In Belgium, for example, partnerships of this kind are explicitly encouraged, and in practice they have received higher funding. For other donors, such as Greece and Finland, there is even a requirement for applicants to include a partnership with a local organisation who is either responsible for local implementation, or who can ensure the sustainability of the project beyond the involvement of the Northern applicant.

It is important to note that partnerships are more than a short-term strategy to gain one-off funding. Instead, they are envisioned as long-term relationships based on shared values and mutual accountability. Capacity building is an essential component of partnership, and helps to provide both Northern and Southern civil society organisations with access to knowledge and skills, organisational development, opportunities for networking, and strategies to advocate and engage with government at several levels of decision making.

Even when forming a partnership is not an eligibility requirement for funding, doing so may serve to establish useful or necessary contacts with government or civil society representatives both in the North and the South. This can assist in avoiding procedural difficulties or other obstacles during project implementation.

If a proposal does include a partnership between Northern and Southern organisations, the local project partner should be involved in the project design as early as possible and the responsibilities of the project partner and the applicant should be clearly defined. In this context, it is recommended that there be a written Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the organisation directly funded and its implementing partners abroad. This will provide a clear management framework to ensure that all partners are aware of their respective roles and responsibilities.

A good starting position for investigations into possible partnerships may be the multiple NGO Platforms in Europe², whom serve as entry points into sometimes large and extensive networks of national NGOs.

 

¹ The Paris Declaration was signed into force on 2 March 2005. 

² Contact information for these platforms can be found here.