Building Strategic Partnerships

Agenda Why partnership? Partnership strategy activity Example Advantages Disadvantages Partnership strategy activity In this training, we’ll look at why partnerships are important, discuss advantages and disadvantages of forming alliances with other groups, look at a couple of PIH Engage-specific examples, and then brainstorm potential partnerships together as a group.

Why Partnership?

Why Partnership? Partnership: organizations working together towards a common goal Amass power through allies. Allies: groups who won’t join PIH Engage full time, but support our work Willing to join us in specific actions (Next) Simply put, a partnership consists of two or more organizations working together towards a common goal. The purpose of partnerships, of course, (Next) is to harness more power than our group would otherwise have. Power readily awaits our group in the form of allies. (Next) Allies are individuals or groups who won’t wish to join our organization full-time. However, interests overlap constantly in advocacy, and there are almost always allies to be activated in some way to support us. Smart advocacy involves mobilizing people through already existing structures, and it’s quite possible to scale up the impact of our tactics with effective partnerships.

Advocacy Example Appropriations Letter-writing campaign Increase TB funding (USAID) Our organization: 20 letters +10 organizations x 20 letters =220 letters to our target Establishes basis for future partnership Partnership=Power Advocacy is primarily where organizational partnerships are valuable. (Next) For example, let’s consider a letter-writing campaign during appropriations season in which we are advocating for a certain increase in (Next) TB funding for USAID. (Next) Our organization has 20 members, say, which amounts to twenty letters. Twenty points of contact are not very many for a member of Congress. But if we reached out to ten other organizations of the same size who are also interested in health and human rights (Next), we could present to them the importance of increased TB funding, and at their meetings, they could be guided through the process of writing a letter. Very quickly (Next), we could be handing over 200 letters to our members of Congress, which would be a much more powerful ask than if our group performed the tactic alone. (Next) Engaging other groups in this simple tactic also establishes a basis for future partnership. Does it make sense how inclusion of other groups can be directly related to how much power we have? (Next)

Advantages Win what can’t be won alone! Pools people and resources More people/time = more tactics Partnerships can help us win what can’t be won alone: whether we are attempting to win asks from members of Congress or raise funds, our work requires massive amounts of time and effort to succeed. Partnerships can pool people and resources to win important victories. With more people to mobilize, our group can perform more tactics.

Advantages Build an ongoing power base Effectively be larger, more members etc. Another advantage is that we build an ongoing power base: for advocacy, our aim is for our members of Congress to understand that we’re powerful. Partnerships are the quickest ways to mobilize great numbers of new advocates to get behind our cause. Groups that can mobilize hundreds of people are more powerful—and thus more worth listening to—than small groups of a handful of advocates.

New roles for new members Advantages Develop new leaders New roles for new members Developing partnerships can also be a way to open up space for new leaders to fill in with greater responsibilities.

Disadvantages Distract from focus Inequality of power Divert time and resources Inequality of power Lack of autonomy in decisions Partnerships are bad and to be avoided if:   They distract from the focus of our work. If maintaining the partnership diverts time and resources to the point of being ineffective, then that partnership should not be pursued. Likewise, we should never enter into a partnership with another organization if there is an inequality of power between our group and the partner organization. We should get an appropriate proportion of say in each decision making process. Let’s look at some successful partnerships PIH Engage teams have created.

Who has some examples?

Strategizing Partnerships Activity

Identifying Tactics Campaign Peaks Letter-writing to members of Congress Meetings with members of Congress Public forum/panel Demonstrations Ask the group for answers. First, which of our campaign peaks would most benefit from the support of another organization? Examples of campaign peaks are letter-writing, meetings with members of Congress, holding a public forum or panel, or organizing a demonstration. What does our group have planned that we can include other organizations in? Pick one campaign peak, or tactic, before moving on. You will use this campaign peak for the rest of the activity.

Identifying Partners What other groups care about: Health Human Rights Social Justice Medicine/Technology The list goes on! What organizations can we call on to join us in this campaign peak? As an organization interested in health as a human right, we can find common cause with many other groups in our area. Myriad organizations care about health, human rights, social justice, and medicine. After a number of potential partner organizations are identified, split your team into groups of two or three. Assign each group of two or three a single potential partner organization.

Considering Partners Why/how might this organization… 1) want to partner with us? 2) not want to partner with us? 3) bring new strengths to our group? 4) be a liability for us to partner with? 5) Who will be the point person for initiating the partnership? Now, have your small groups come up with answers to these questions. Here are five questions we should answer for each potential partnership. After these questions are answered for each organization, we’ll convene together as a group to decide whether or not to pursue each partnership. 1) Why might this organization want to partner with us? 2) Why might the organization not want to partner with us? 3) What strengths would the organization bring to our group? 4) How might partnering with them be a liability for us? 5) Who will be the point person for initiating the partnership? After your small groups have had the time to create answers to these questions, convene together as a large group to discuss what each group came up with. Use these answers to decide whether or not to partner with the organization. At the end of this activity, your team should have determined at least one potential partner to work with for a campaign peak.