Partnerships, Trump’s State of the Union, 40 years on from the Iranian Revolution, and the NZDF celebrates diversity

+ Trump's SOTU

At last week's State of the Union Speech, President Trump launched the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, a government-wide project led by his daughter, Ivanka Trump.

The initiative involves the State Department, the National Security Council and other agencies. It aims to coordinate current programs and develop new ones to assist women in areas such as job training, financial support, and legal or regulatory reforms.

OK - that's the good news. Recent actions tell a different story.

"Trump has twice tried unsuccessfully to slash USAID's budget by a third, and his "America first" foreign policy has sought to limit the United States' role as an international leader," write Catherine Lucey Associate Press

But we'll take the good news, and it's positive to see businesses getting behind women in developing countries.

"As part of the launch, USAID and Pepsi Co. announced a partnership aimed at women in India, and USAID and UPS an agreement designed to help female entrepreneurs export goods."

+ Domestic or international private investment?

Talking of businesses like Pepsi and UPS, how effective is the private sector in financing development? 

International private investment certainly has a big role to play in financing development, especially under the SDGs. But as a recent report by Eurodad [PDF] explains, it has not historically been a major source of finance in poor countries - public finance and domestic private sector investment have been more significant, according to the report. Even with a substantial push from governments, it is unclear whether the necessary flows of international investment will actually materialise.

"Domestic private investment is large, stable and rising, accounting for over 25 per cent of GDP in developing countries, which is why mobilising such investment has been a crucial development financing strategy," says the report.

"All these points underscore why domestic strategies for managing private investment are critical for ensuring high-quality investment and protecting against risks, yet such strategies have not been the focus of discussion around private investment at the international level."
 

+ Update on MFAT 'Partnering for Impact'

Sharon Bell updates us on the latest from the sector reference group working with MFAT on the new negotiated partnership model. 

Six INGOs were selected as potential agencies to pilot the new Partnering for Impact mechanism, and they met with MFAT at the end of January. Belinda Gorman from Partnership Brokers Association (PBA) led a morning workshop on partnering before we heard some more detail from Phil Hewitt from the Partnerships team.

(Belinda will be facilitating the member's Partnership workshop in a couple of weeks)

INGOs were initially invited to submit an expression of interest in participating in the Negotiated Partnerships pilot scheme. There will be an update on the MFAT website this week, announcing those members who have been chosen to take part in the pilot. 

The NGO reference group met with MFAT and Coffey again this week to hear more specific details and continue discussions about the processes for the Negotiated Partnership and Contestable Fund.

As always, you are welcome to provide any feedback or questions to any member of this group:

Angela Wilton/Oxfam - Angela.Wilton@oxfam.org.nz
Denison Grellmann/ADRA – denisongrellmann@adra.org.nz
Phil Newman/Tearfund - pnewman@tearfund.org.nz
Rosemary Fenton/UNICEF - rosemary@unicef.org.nz
Sharon Bell/Circuit International – sharon@flexile.co.nz

With thanks to Sharon for the update.

+ Please make submissions to MFAT by Friday

New Zealand NGOs have been invited by MFAT to provide information on their value proposition, approach to engagement with local NGOs and programmatic approaches.
 
New Zealand NGOs wishing to provide the information should send their completed document (maximum 5 pages) to partneringforimpact@mfat.govt.nz by Friday 15 February.
 
The information will be used to inform the design of MFAT’s new approach to partnering for impact with NGOs including the negotiated partnerships and contestable fund mechanisms. More information can be found on the MFAT website. An update will be provided on the new approach on the website later this week.

+ Partnerships workshop next week

Talking of partnerships, don't miss out on the chance to work wtih Belinda Gorman, one of New Zealand's leading experts on how to make partnerships work.

There are still some places left.

The workshop will provide you and your organisation with the following:

• Understanding of multi-stakeholder collaborations
• Opportunity to explore partnering challenges and good practice principles
• Chances to consider what it takes to partner effectively
• Frameworks and concepts, and the opportunity to share different experiences
• Introduction to the concept of ‘partnership brokering’
• Ideas for action

Register here. 

+ New CID research on private sector partnerships

"The INGO sector is having to respond to a rapidly changing international environment as well as seeking to address sector capacity and capability issues, new technologies, engaging with multiple stakeholders and fostering collaborations.

In addition, the sector is grappling with the implications of localisation, changing supporter behaviours and the drive towards greater transparency and a focus on outcomes. The typical INGO business model of a stand-alone INGOs acting as a broker between NZ based funders (both private and public) and locally based partners is unlikely to survive this disruption," writes Chris Clarke, former CEO of World Vision, in this latest piece of research for CID.

"There is increasing acceptance across the NZ INGO sector that INGO/Private sector organisations (PSO) collaborations can be good for development including:  

• Access to specialist knowledge
• Access to capital 
• Means of diversifying risk
• Potential to scale new technologies and approaches
• Potential of sustainable employment for communities.

Nonetheless, INGO/PSO uptake has been slow for a number of reasons:

• Limited knowledge of each other’s activities/interests 
• Differing understanding of risk including timeliness, reputational risk etc.
• No readily accessible source of knowledge re. collective activities of the NZ government in country (i.e. Health, Corrections, MFAT, Police etc.)
• Due diligence on potential partners is hampered by a lack of information or independent source of verification."

To read the full paper go here.

+ How do you know when your NGO needs to change?

You never really know when the best time to reinvent and change is, but you certainly know when that time has passed.

NGOs have a fixed model and way of doing things, but there are some important questions NGOs need to be asking about how they work. 

• With greater competition for funding and rising demand for our work, are we really making the most of our resources?
• Are we too set in our funding models of grants and donations, to notice innovation like social investment and crowdfunding?
• How is digital impacting our work?
• Are we on top of the "quality" infrastructure we need to deliver this? 

Cass Business School in London and Bond are running courses on Building financial sustainability and re-imagining organisation.  Cass has developed a framework to identify what NGOs need to assess when it comes to change. The RISE Framework recommends organisations should focus on: 

• Reimagining their work
• Impact
• Sustainability
• Efficiency

"We need to inspire people to make brave decisions if they are to help their organisations adapt and evolve for the future."

+ Iranian Revolution 40 years on

40 years ago yesterday, the Iranian Revolution (A.K.A Islamic Revolution) shook the world, when Iran's monarch Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was overthrown and replaced with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini.

Had the revolution not taken place,  "We'd be looking at a different Middle East," says Gary Sick, a professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (and former US National Security Council analyst on Iran).

A recent paper by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change 'Ideology and Iran's Revolution: How 1979 Changed the World' looks at the context of this change, and outline the immediate impact and longer-term consequences of Western policy short-sightedness, which has often reinforced the very trends it seeks to undermine.

It argues the year 1979, rather than 1989, should be regarded as the pivotal year of our contemporary age, when the narrative shifted from simply a Cold War frame of reference to an Islamic Revolution. The events of 1979 in Iran triggered a process of geopolitical realignment that remains to this day, argue the authors.

+ NZ Defence Force celebrate diversity

The term 'safeguarding' could have a different meaning in the operational world of strategic security and defence. Definitions aside, it is notable the progress that New Zealand Deference Force (NZDF) has made in regards to ensuring diversity, particularly in protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) identities.

NZDF are about to begin a year celebrating 'Pride 25', marking 25 years since LGBT+ personnel were welcomed to serve openly.

Following the passing of the Human Rights Act in 1993, the NZDF moved to incorporate the Act into its policies, and in early 1994 openly homosexual men and women were able to join and serve.

Chief of Defence Force Air Marchal Kevin Short says “Pride 25 aims to remember those who had to once serve in silence in our Navy, Army and Air Force, to celebrate how far we have come, and to inspire our latest leaders across our Defence Force to continue efforts to make the NZDF a diverse and inclusive military."

In terms of safety of LGBT+ personnel, NZDF was named in 2014, as the world’s most inclusive military in the  LGBT Military Index, as compiled by Netherlands think-tank the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. Apparent acceptance of diversity in sexual orientation has not always translated to a culture of safety from sexual harassment and assault, however. It has not been all positive news since then, and in 2018 NZDF's workplace culture was still described as one of "impunity and cover-ups".

In response to this, NZDF has said that results of their Operation Respect programme to tackle inappropriate and harmful sexual behaviours will be published annually, along with compulsory training on 'sexual-ethics' in the workplace, as part of their continued drive to ensure that discrimination, harassment, bullying or sexual violence is addressed. 

+  CID Member of the Moment: Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA)

VSA sends skilled Kiwis overseas to share their experience and knowledge directly with local people and communities.

We work with our partners overseas to make sure that all our assignments are locally identified, locally relevant, and locally delivered. Our goal is to transfer skills and knowledge so that the changes achieved during an assignment remain after a volunteer returns.

A recent success has been the opening, in January, of a new facility for Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency (LNWDA) in Bougainville. LNWDA was founded during the Bougainville Conflict to offer support and services for women affected by violence – Bougainville has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world. VSA has worked with them since 2007 – in 2008, their building burnt down and since then, they had been working out of temporary facilities.

Volunteer Christine Ramsay went on assignment in 2017, when a new building was meant to have been completed. It was still under construction, so Christine, along with Helen Hakena, LNDWA’s CEO, approached VSA for support with funding to complete it. VSA’s Foundation, along with generous public donations, funded the completion of the new building which offers safe house facilities, space for counsellors and legal advisers to work with clients, and conference space, which will provide an income.

In this video, Christine and Helen talk about the project.

+ New CID Members

CID welcomes a new Associate members to our whānau:

Partners Relief and Development

Partners Relief and Development's vision is for free, full lives for children affected by conflict and oppression. As a local and global organization, they​ seek to achieve this through sustainable development, strengthening families and emergency relief.

+ 2019 CID Talks

CID Talks will be restarted later this month.  Please get in touch if you would like to suggest ideas for a CID talk.  

+ Natalia's maternity leave

We are very happy to announce that Natalia Karacaoglu our wonderful Office Manager, Events and Communications Coordinator, is having a baby.

We wish her and her partner Joel all happiness and can't wait to meet the new arrival.

That means we are looking for someone to come into the CID team and fill the role for a year while Natalia takes maternity leave.

If you are interested please get in touch with us directly for more information - office@cid.org.nz.