Community of Practice on Shifting the Power

Partos will kick-off its new Community of Practice (CoP) on Shifting the Power through an online event. In this CoP we aim to find practical solutions for achieving more balanced power relations in international civil society partnerships for development. The CoP will be facilitated by The Spindle, the Partos innovation platform.

This CoP will seek to engage with various stages of power imbalances within current development partnerships, and runs parallel to the new Strategic Partnership (SP) programmes that are financed as part of the Subsidy Framework of the Strengthening of Civil Society policy of the Ministry (2021-2025). Together with partner organisations, we will reflect on the challenges in the practice of shifting the power. What innovative solutions can be found to address this issue of power imbalance, and what resources are already available on this topic?

This approach provides huge opportunities for learning that will benefit not only the Strategic Partnerships, but also other partnerships involving international, national, and local NGOs and CBOs.

How does this CoP Work?
We will host the community online by means of MS Teams. We will brainstorm on five thematic focus area that we consider relevant for achieving power balanced Strategic Partnerships. Participants may post ideas, provide feedback on ideas, ask questions, suggest relevant resources, etc. Contributions can be short or long, depending on the energy participants want to put into it. Each two-week online brainstorm session will be concluded with a brief summary. Once all sessions are completed, a larger online session will be organized to present findings and define next steps. We will address the following thematic topics:

1. The Organisation of Funding Streams
2. Risk Assessments and Risk Sharing
3. How NGO partnerships can support community-led development
4. Experiences with introducing/using the Power Awareness Tool (a tool to look at power in decision-making)
5. How to develop decision making structures in partnerships when the partnership is not yet complete

Would you like to join this CoP? If you would like to partake in this discussion, be sure to join us on the 17th of November for the kick-off meeting! It’ll take place from 13:15-15:00 CEST on ZOOM, and all those interested in joining this CoP are warmly invited to join. We are eager to engage with a diverse audience within this CoP, and especially encourage partners and civil society actors from the Global South to join this conversation along with their Dutch counterparts. If you are interested to participate in this Community of Practice and join this event on the 17th of November, please send an e-mail to heinz@partos.nl.