On the whole, IICD's enabling partnerships are geared towards
enabling IICD to more effectively implement its mission to
strengthening the quality of IICD's work with its local partners. These
partnerships meet the additional knowledge, human and financial
resources needs of IICD at the programme (e.g. Country Programme and
Thematic Network) and/or project levels. Partnerships that cut across
core programmes are often formalised in strategic agreements between
IICD and the enabling partner organisation, called Memoranda of
Understanding (MoUs). Strategic enabling partners stem from the
private, public and non-profit sectors. Each of these sectors
represents key stakeholders in the ICT for development marketplace.
How do all these partnerships fit together? An illustration: Many of
IICD's project partners use distance education tools to achieve their
project objectives. Should our project partners express a need for
specialised distance education knowledge, IICD will work to find that
knowledge within the private, public or non-profit sector. In some
cases, IICD will establish strategic agreements with enabling partners
where a long-term advantage for local partners is foreseen.
IICD supports tri-sectoral partnership approaches; believing that
each sector brings with it a comparative advantage. These comparative
advantages are briefly highlighted below and are followed by links to
some examples of IICD enabling partnerships in practice.
Private Sector - Tapping into innovation
Public Sector - Ensuring a development
focus
Non-Profit Sector - Extending the reach
With nearly all innovation in ICT attributable to the private
sector, their contribution to ICT for development is essential to
ensure that the best quality tools are being applied at the lowest
possible prices. The depth of private sector ICT knowledge is their
core skill. For this reason, alongside the current portfolio of private
sector partners, IICD continually seeks strategic enabling partnerships
with the private sector. These strategic enabling partnerships are
likely to follow one of two forms: thematic twinning or the portfolio
approach. As a thematic twin, a company can become IICD's key source
for a specific ICT-supported priority development thematic such as
tele-medicine. The portfolio approach enables a company to work with
IICD across a broad range of activities that together form a mutually
agreed upon annual portfolio. Both approaches systematically enable the
knowledge of the private sector to become available on-demand to IICD's
network of local partners. And both approaches are structured to ensure
that the common needs of all parties are reflected.
Check out some of our private sector enabling partnerships by
selecting a link below:
There are among many developing economies, regions within countries
and countries as a whole that do not yet have the attention or interest
of the private sector. Many of such countries are socio-economically
disadvantaged due to a combination of political, social, economic and
environmental factors. These underdeveloped and underrepresented areas
and their populations are the primary interests of development
organisations operating in the public sector. The public sector is in a
strong position to work with national governments in terms of
macro-economic policies; helping to bring about more solid enabling
frameworks and pro-poor investments. It is precisely the public
sector's financial and knowledge investments in socio-economic
development that personifies its greatest added-value. IICD works with
many public sector development organisations in and outside of Europe.
IICD is actively expanding its partnerships with public sector entities
that support similar development approaches that emphasise local
ownership and demand responsiveness.
Select a link below to find out how IICD and the public sector
together foster ICT for development.
DGIS - Dutch Directorate
for International Cooperation
SDC - Agency for
Development and Cooperation
DFID - Department for
International Development
InfoDev
CIDA - Canadian
International Development Agency
GeSCI - Global
e-Schools and Communities Initiative
PSO - Capacity building in developing
countries
Non-profit organisations are another stakeholder group with which
IICD pursues enabling partnerships. Non-profits, comprised largely of
non-governmental organisations (NGOs), are characterised by their
extensive networks of grassroot-based organisations in developing
countries. Given IICD's mission, it works in many key development
sectors such as the environment and in which NGOs are similarly very
active. NGOs represent poorer communities and in this way, NGO networks
are a natural ally for IICD as they are a viable partner intermediary
for IICD to reach poorer populations. Additionally, NGOs interested in
the use of ICT as a tool to streamline and improve their reach look to
IICD, with its specialist ICT for development knowledge, as a strategic
partner. Presently, IICD has a number of enabling partnerships with
NGOs.
To learn more about IICD's non-profit partnerships, click on the
links below:
Cordaid
Hivos
Bellanet
Stichting Doen
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