Promoting effective north-south NGO partnerships : a comparative study of 10 European NGOs

Partnerships between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based in the 'North' and the 'South' has become a key part of international development processes. The starting point for this research has been to explore the purpose of partnerships between Northern and Southern NGOs. The question to be asked is: Why is partnership seen to be necessary and what benefits can it bring? Individual NGOs have access to distinct resources and may have very different organizational strengths and weaknesses. They must therefore interact with other NGOs whose particular organizational characteristics complement their own. Where a partnership leads to an optimum division of roles and responsibilities between different types of organization, it can be said to increase the cost-effectiveness of NGO interventions. Such partnerships can potentially enhance the legitimacy and transparency of NGOs, helping to sustain complex programmes by encouraging a sense of shared ownership.

This paper deals with the comparative advantages of the two sets of organizations.
It is the complex combination of the organizational nature of partnership with its intrinsically relational dimension that lies at the heart of the advantages of partnership. This research explores the way in which Northern NGOs approach partnerships and how they internalize the concept in terms of policy, practice and organizational culture.
In practice, partnership is difficult. Mainly because of the inherent problems that organizations face in working together in close collaboration. One should think of the cultural, geographical, financial and capacity differences between European NGOs and Southern counterparts in Asia, Africa and Latin America. One should strife towards a culture of negotiation. In the process, organizations should give up something of their own identity in becoming partners. This is possible because partnerships are based on policy dialogue between strong autonomous organizations. Partnerships tend to be formed around project funding systems. Very rarely have they been developed around the specific needs of partnerships between organizations.