During the past few weeks and months of the Coronavirus crisis, and till now, there are a lot of fundraising campaigns, and there is a great deal of generosity, which is essential for the functioning of NGOs.
COVID 19 is creating damages on all sectors and affecting refugees, IDPs, and the host community everywhere. One NGO will not be able to respond to all industries and will not be able to lead a full multisector reopens without support from other NGOs (local or international) at the same time funding from the international community, and private donors are increasingly directed toward alliances and networks that can provide a systematic and transnational response, not singular actors. That means NGOs will have to be part of more diverse partnerships to continue to be relevant and access resources.
COVID 19 prevention and response programs are not only health programs; they also include WASH, Protection, GBV, MHPSS, and all the other sectors. A standard model of coordination, mostly between INGOs, has limitations, and it will not be effective with COVID 19. We need to pay attention to partnerships. The Coronavirus prevention and response need more efforts from NGOs to work together as partners and have a collective initiative to promote collective humanitarian action.
There are different depths of partnerships, ranging from coordination of efforts to collaboration in designing joint positioning or programming, to a more formal alliance that could provide a platform to institutionalize interactions, creating a shared obligation.
The functionality of all types of partnerships, particularly for alliances, depending on the institutional culture and practices of each organization. Though the selection of partners is likely founded on the commonality of goals across the alliance, the ethos of each agency is similarly essential. For example, organizations that are more inclined to speak publicly on issues or rights violations could jeopardize the operational presence of other partners who rely on the acceptance of governments or parties to a conflict for access.
The ability to progress with a networked way of working relies on community building, which underpins the values and standards of work for the alliance. Every network and alliance needs to have a common framework, policy, and goals to be efficient: these conditions might be easier to establish with a likeminded organization but more challenging to build, representing the gauntlet of actors involved in the humanitarian space. As a result, the more diverse formulation of alliances will likely be slower to evolve as trust is built.
An example of that is the Alliance Urgences, which was founded at the end of January 2020, by six humanitarian organizations: Action Contre la Faim, CARE France, Solidarités International, Handicap International, Médecins du Monde, and Plan International.
The #AllianceUrgences members join forces in the face of the COVID 19 emergency. Engaged in the most sensitive areas of the planet, each with its intervention specialties, all complementary, and launch a joint appeal for the solidarity of the French towards people and communities the most vulnerable to the virus.
The start of Alliance Urgences proves once again how great the added value is of joint initiatives of different humanitarian organizations for one crisis.
“I think we will see more NGOs increasingly create alliances, integrating their structures for mutual benefit, building on shared interests and objectives. An acceleration of alliances between NGOs and new actors will create a networked way of working in the humanitarian system, creating interdependence and strengthening connections between actors.”
NGOs’ future alliances will more likely be between organizations with similar objectives (Local and International). However, I think organizational cultural clashes will continue to slow progress toward a fully networked response that means we will need to work based on the lesson learned and the best practices.
The types of partnerships and alliances will diversify. New models of networking will rise that use for-profit enterprises to invest in their programming, creating an alternate model of funding, to reach beneficiaries and to survive as bigger networks. Thus, the profit/non-profit hybrid system’s importance will grow.
But the question will be: Will alliances reach their own goals, or will traditional power structures limit the space for equitable relationships? I don’t have the answer, but COVID 19 is a difficult challenge for all of us, and we need to focus on equality and partnership principles more than competition and power.
Let us protect the most vulnerable wherever they are most at risk. We need a cross-sectoral system toward bigger networks and partnerships to deal with the current and future crises.
