Choosing partners for illuminAid’s work in developing nations

Over the past fifteen years, IlluminAid has established its mission of bringing video production and innovative learning practices to the poorest billion people in the global community. The nations in which we have recently worked — Mali, Paraguay, Malawi, Burkina Faso, and most recently, Togo — allow us to leverage our expertise as we partner with other organizations that directly serve the poor. Those various organizations partner with us to help them advance their public health, humanitarian, gender and equity, sustainable agriculture and universal education goals. In effect, helping these organizations meet their goals becomes our goal as well. At the same time, we’re helping to build the next generation of technologically sophisticated workers who can take learned skills into various economic sectors and entrepreneurial settings in these countries.

Our most practical challenge (beyond figuring out how to move our equipment through customs and who to hire as our local video trainers and follow-up consultants) is making the hard choice of who to partner with in the delivery of our services. The world is flush with thousands of non-government organizations (NGOs) funded and staffed by well-meaning donors, including idealistic individuals, wealthy foundations, national governments and the full range of religious organizations. It’s not unusual to have dozens of NGOs working in a given country and injecting millions of dollars in aid money per year into what they hope will be high-impact and sustainable projects. More glamorous but less effective are the individuals who simply develop a “Me, Inc.” NGO and show up in a local setting, hoping to make a lasting difference with their hard work and a focused commitment.

To put it bluntly, not all NGOs are created equal, and their effectiveness in the communities they serve doesn’t always correlate with the production values behind their websites — or the funds that they’re spending. IlluminAid wants to partner with organizations that have a plan on how they can leverage the skills and training capacity that we bring to the table. We want to explore relationships with organizations that have solid funding for their endeavors, but we are also willing to talk with those that need some financial assistance exploring ways to get started on the purchase of video equipment, training and long-term support. But when we approach a given organization (we initiate thousands of contacts each year to national and local offices around the world), eventually, hard-headed and realistic choices need to be made about who to work with. The organizations that express an interest in our services have criteria that they use to assess our strengths and our ability to deliver the training capacity that we promise. At the same time, we’re looking at our potential partner and asking, “Is this a relationship that can work for the people we want to serve?”

We make that final decision based on a combination and weighing of the following criteria:

First, what sort of third-party evaluation does the umbrella organization get from independent assessors such as Charitynavigator.org, which provides guidance on charity and NGO mission, function and stewardship of donations? NGOs need to be transparent and honestly represent their goals, successes and failures. Truthfulness and disclosure are cornerstones of a healthy relationship in our work, and we work hard to gauge an organization’s reputation among local peers and other international partners before we invest time and financial resources.

Second, how long has the organization been effectively working globally and in the focused region?

Our greatest successes have come from working with organizations that have been in the developing world for 40 or more years, that have offices and field projects with direct oversight from local community members and that are on good terms with their governments and community leaders. Such organizations have a concrete and significant track record that can be examined. They’ve honed their vision and mission to focus on the things that need to be addressed in the most effective ways. They have decades of deep partnerships with local communities or have established a great track record in a shorter period of time by implementing high-impact practices. Their survival is grounded in and a product of trust, understanding and collaboration.

Third, does the organization know how to listen and work with illuminAid? The process of signing a contract is a dance of sorts: Both sides need to figure out what they want, whether they can accomplish their goals, and whether the relationship will be fruitful and enjoyable. That requires lots of listening to each other and framing recommendations as discussion points rather than inflexible demands. The results of such collaboration are always stronger than if contracts are one-sided.

Fourth, how professional is the organization in its interactions with the illuminAid staff and our local video trainers? Do they sign on to comprehensive contracts? Are funds changing hands in appropriate ways and at the right time? Is logistics planning for our trip moving on the necessary schedule? Is their work as in-country hosts freeing us up from dealing with mundane, trivial issues and giving us the freedom to concentrate on the content of our instruction and the implementation of our training goals?

When the criteria outlined here truly guide our partnerships, we’ve had great fortune accomplishing our work in partner communities. We’re looking forward to another dozen such partnerships in the coming three years and look forward to your support and advocacy of our work!

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