*EPF411 10/09/2003
Byliner: Foundations Work With Other Donors to Aid Developing Countries
(Experts provide advice on building partnerships) (1610)

The Bush Administration believes that partnerships between donor and developing countries, international agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders must be a critical component of a global strategy for countries seeking to fight poverty and provide economic opportunities for all their people. The United States remains and will continue to be the largest bilateral donor to the developing world.

Once enacted, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) will increase U.S. core official development assistance by 50 percent over three years, to a total of $15,000 million annually starting in fiscal year 2006. MCA is predicated on the importance of partnerships in leveraging resources for development, since the development record of the past few decades shows that enduring growth and prosperity are built less on official development assistance than on open markets, increased trade, sustainable budget policies, and strong support for individual entrepreneurship.

Governments and civil society need to work cooperatively to allow the private sector to act as the engine of growth and job creation. A variety of private sources -- non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private voluntary organizations, foundations, corporations, the higher education community, and even individuals, many through remittances -- now account for 80 percent of total capital flows to developing countries. A U.S. Commerce Department study two years ago showed that, since the 1960s, private capital flows to these countries jumped from $15,000 million to $326,000 million annually.

In country after country, there are many examples of how new alliances -- and the leveraging of private sector and other non-governmental resources -- are forging a better future for families and communities. The article that follows serves as a brief guide to how public-private partnerships are formed, the basis for their success, and how countries that wish to benefit from partnerships can best form and sustain them.

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Foundations and Partnerships
By Christopher Conte

(Christopher Conte is a freelance writer based in the Washington, D.C., area.)

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the world's biggest contributors to international development programs. Yet it spends fully 80 percent of its health-related spending not on projects it dreams up and finances on its own, but rather on projects involving alliances with many donors.

The reason is simple: by combining its funds with contributions from other organizations, the foundation can have a much greater impact than it ever could have if it acted alone. Considering the magnitude of the issues it is tackling -- it aims to vaccinate 30 million children against common diseases worldwide, for instance -- its interest in partnerships is easy to understand. But the Seattle-based foundation isn't alone in its desire to work with others. Everywhere you look today, multilateral lending institutions, governments and private foundations are finding they can accomplish more together than they ever could separately.

In one partnership, for instance, Atlantic Philanthropies, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Open Society Institute and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund have formed the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe to strengthen civil society in the formerly communist countries of eastern and central Europe. Separately, four leading donors -- the Carnegie Corp. and the Ford, Rockefeller, and MacArthur Foundations -- have agreed to provide a total of $100 million to promote higher education throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

"In the last 10 years or so, we all have begun to realize that the problems we are trying to address are so huge and overwhelming that no single institution is going to be able to have much of an impact by itself," explains Rob Buchanan, director of international programs for the Council on Foundations.

While partnerships involving donors are as varied as the issues they tackle, people with experience in the field say they have learned a number of lessons about alliance-building:

-- Clearly define the goals of the partnership.

In a study of health alliances, McKinsey & Co. found that successful ones carefully define their goals and scope. Potential partners should make sure that proposed alliances truly will create "added value." Alliances can add value in a number of ways. Many, like a global alliance for tuberculosis drug development, help prevent costly duplication of effort by dividing up the work that needs to be done. Others allow for achievement of economies of scale; the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), for instance, uses its partners' collective buying power to obtain bulk rates. Still others allow partners to share risk; partners in the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, for instance, have pooled their capital to invest in research.

-- Make sure the partnership is structured appropriately.

Some partnerships fail because participants don't spend enough time developing a system of governance that ensures their objectives will be achieved. There is no one "correct" structure for a partnership, however. Partners must consider what structure is appropriate to help them achieve their particular goals.

In their Africa higher education partnership, Carnegie, Ford, Rockefeller and MacArthur wanted to maintain the freedom to pursue their individual objectives while making sure their efforts were complementary. So they decided on an informal structure in which each funder operates independently but works with others to achieve overlapping objectives, such as fostering continent-wide learning networks and opportunities to collaborate. In the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the partners were more eager to develop a common "brand" that would raise the profile of the effort and possibly attract new funds for it. So they organized their partnership as an independent charity.

-- Focus on civil society.

Donors almost always require that projects in foreign countries include local partners. But while it's easy to find a local organization to co-sign a grant application, funders should insist on a true commitment, not just a pro forma one. A partnership in which U.S. companies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) include local partners in training activities, share space and other facilities with them, and invite them to participate in planning and evaluation, for instance, is more likely to be effective than one where the relationship is more arms-length. Not only will the U.S. partner receive invaluable guidance from an organization with intimate knowledge of the target communities, the local organization more likely will be able to continue the project after the funder has moved on.

"It's incumbent on panels that review proposals to know enough about the situation on the ground, and look past the letter of the proposals," says Paige Alexander, vice president for programs at the International Research and Exchanges Board.

-- Be a catalyst.

Because donors often are more neutral on sensitive issues than advocacy groups, and less subject to political pressures than government agencies, they often are in a good position to convene the diverse groups that must cooperate in solving complex social issues. While operating a grant program to reduce child abuse, for instance, the Children and Youth Foundation of the Philippines learned that service providers and law enforcement agencies rarely coordinated their efforts. So it began bringing police departments, social welfare agencies, jail department administrations, prosecutors and local NGOs together to discuss common concerns.

-- Streamline reporting requirements.

Funders must ensure that the organizations they back are accountable. But they also must be careful not to overwhelm their partners with burdensome reporting requirements. NGOs, in particular, wish funders would review reporting requirements to make sure that they don't ask for more information than is really necessary. And they say funders should be clear about their expectations concerning how projects will be evaluated, and how the evaluation will be funded. "It's very important that our donors and governments coordinate among themselves so excessive burdens are not put on recipients," says Mary McClymont, president of InterAction, a U.S.-based alliance of NGOs. "You get better development if donors are coordinating so that duplication, repetitive or redundant administrative burdens are not placed on recipients."

-- Get help.

Despite the tremendous need for international philanthropy, many foundations are overwhelmed by the logistical challenges of planning and monitoring grants to faraway places. But prospective donors can get assistance, from trade associations, international pooled giving vehicles, organizations that offer technical assistance, and affinity groups of organizations that share common interests. "There are lots of great resources available now," Melissa Berman, president and chief executive officer of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors recently told the Council on Foundations. "The barriers to international giving are not as great as they might appear to be at first blush."

Resources

The Council on Foundations' U.S. International Grantmaking Project offers a primer for organizations new to the field, as well as resources on legal, operational and accounting issues (http://www.usig.org/Default.htm).

Grantmakers without Borders, a network of foundation officials, has compiled an "International Grantmaking Resource Packet," which includes lists of funders' networks and web addresses for key organizations (http://www.internationaldonors.org/advicegm/index.htm).

The Synergos Institute, a New York-based nonprofit organization, offers on its Web site "Building Bridges Across Sectors," a chapter from the "Foundation-Building Sourcebook" that explores the role of foundations in building partnerships involving civil society, government and the business sector (http://www.synergos.org/globalphilanthropy/00/fbsprogram8.htm).

The World Bank's Comprehensive Development Framework spells out principles to guide international development efforts. It says partnerships between governments, donors, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders, built on transparency, mutual trust and consultation, can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of aid. Separately, the Bank maintains a Web site devoted to encouraging interactions with foundations (http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/PROJECTS/STRATEGIES/CDF/0,,pagePK:60447~theSitePK:140576,00.html).

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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