Partner

Few effective social change initiatives occur because only one organization or entity conducted all the planning, strategy, execution and evaluation activities.  Organizations that seek to create societal change need to align with a diverse set of stakeholders who bring with them open minds and a strong work ethic.  The challenge: finding them.

Who benefits from Partner?

This service is suited for organizations with a need to develop a shared perspecitve among stakeholders in a partnership or initiative, thereby leveraging the very best from all participants. The may include organizations concerned with:

• social change and society development
• environmental projects and programs
• urban and rural development programs
• educational programs or university strategy

Example

Take, for instance, the challenge that the regional government of Dalarna was facing, trying to align the perspectives of community stakeholders who were all contributing good arguments for change but lacking someone to put the pieces together. OpenEye united their perceptions into one diagram that visualized the key barriers to growth in the region and how the barriers could be best addressed.  As a result, the municipalities within the region developed and committed to a strategic plan on how to interact with public and private service providers. The plan addresses not only how to improve levels of service, but more importantly how to maintain service in the area over time.

Features of Partner

4-8 facilitated meetings in workshop format, convened generally at your site with an OpenEye coach, a process leader and work group derived from within your organization, along with a panel of expert stakeholders.

We facilitate a democratic process that builds partnerships on genuine needs as described and depicted by credible actors from the field. By focusing on genunie needs from the field, organizations can steer discussions away from reliance on opinions and beliefs, and assumptions. This provides burgeoning partnerships with objective material via which prioritization of opportunities can be made and dead ends avoided.

What is the deliverable from Partner?

When the meetings are completed the working group receives a documentation including

• a  compelling graphic diagram depicting the needs from the field as described by the stakeholders
• a list prioritizing the needs in terms of which are the most suitable objectives for your program
• a visual description of every actor’s contribution to the prioritized objectives
• a set of indicators to determine success on program level as well as guide grantees in tracking their own success, and
• a guide for implementation that supports monitoring, evaluation, and organizational learning.

How do I use the deliverable from Partner?

The above described material is useful for presenting a logical depiction and rationale for a set of objectives and each partner's contribution to them. The material is intended to be the base for strategic decisions,  negotiations and stakeholder agreements. Furthermore, the documentation is effective for presentations, printed material, web pages and to assure that everyone from the partnership can tell the same story about the program’s visions and aims.

The process

Our services are customized for each client’s unique situation and requirements. However, to give you a better understanding of the time and commitment involved, the following process outline is suggested.