Nairobi, November 30th, 2020: Increased partnerships between non-governmental organizations and the private sector has been touted as the key to achieving more impactful development goals.
This is according to the findings of a recently released report “Private Sector Partnerships for Sustainable Development: A Guide to NGO/CSO – Private Sector Collaboration in Kenya” by Finnish Development NGOs – Fingo.
The report notes that by combining and providing complementary resources and skills, knowledge and expertise, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) -Private sector partnerships have the opportunity to drive innovation, impact and scale the positive gains that contribute to effecting change needed for sustainable development.
“Private sector partnerships provide NGOs/CSOs with an opportunity to drive social-economic interventions, improve approaches to solution creation and implementation and leverage on mutual strengths to accelerate impact. On their part, NGOs find these partnerships as a way to increase social impact for their communities by developing sustainable, scalable solutions,” states the report.
Expounding on the findings, the organization’s Expert on Innovation and Development, Ms. Emma Nkonoki indicates that symbiotic relationship between the private sector and the NGOs will contribute towards more impactful development in the country.
The report she adds, notes that such partnerships allows the two sectors to further their respectful goals with the private sector bringing in strong expertise across disciplines such as technology and innovation which allows the NGOs to implement their programs more efficiently.
On the other hand, the report, which bases its findings on four cases studies notes that NGOs provide the private sector with opportunities to unlock new markets, create new products and services as well as reduce risks in their value chains.
Despite NGO-private partnerships growing in Kenya, the report highlights and recommends urgency in developing partnerships that move away from traditional philanthropic activities to more strategic partnerships that can guarantee social impact, the attainment of national goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Further, the report recommends improvements in funding and relaxation of complex business processes which hinder the progress of partnerships. In addition, it recommends high level of accountability and transparency to ensure success of those partnerships.
The report was launched during this year’s Lake Basin Innovation and Investment Week that brought together stakeholders to discuss ways to spur economic growth of the Lake Victoria Basin. The event was graced by ICT and Innovation Principal Secretary Jerome Ochieng, Kisumu County Governor Prof. Anyang Nyong’o and Konza Technopolis Development Authority CEO, Eng. John Tanui among others.