Network Strengthening
In close to 40 percent of our projects, Pact helps our partners to build networks with their peers. These networks serve various purposes. A network of civil society groups, who speak with one voice, is far more effective in promoting policy change than a disparate group of NGOs. Likewise, the quality of service delivery can be greatly improved if the various providers, whether in the public or private sector, collaborate in delivering a coordinated and comprehensive package of services. This is particularly important in communities heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS, where families face multiple challenges at once—economic, health and social discrimination. Strong networks can also enhance the economic power of producers, helping them by-pass middlemen and earn a better return on their products.
Pact utilizes a mapping software to help us better understand existing networks and to see how members of a network are interlinked. Once a baseline for an existing network is established, Pact seeks to assist our partners to define the appropriate functional network structure that links to their mission and the purpose they seek to achieve through the network.
Pact uses several different approaches to building and strengthening networks. We often work with cohorts of organizations within a sector or unified around a common concern. Our organizational development strengthening often precedes any explicit work to build networks. This process often involves multiple training events where the leadership and staff of peer organizations meet on a regular basis to learn together. These shared experiences serve to develop relationships that later serve as the basis for coordinated action.
Where this foundation exists, it is much easier to engage multiple organizations in defining their shared vision for action. A technique that we have found useful for this purpose is called the Theory of Change process. This involves a facilitated meeting of peer organizations, who together define a common goal and a logical cause-effect framework that serves as a road map to jointly achieving their goal.
A common vision is a critical step forward to building an effective network, but is not enough. Networks need mechanisms to keep them connected and moving towards their shared goals. These mechanisms can take many forms. They may be a small secretariat that facilitates the process and keeps all network members on the same page. Networks also need some means of maintaining communications among members. In areas where there is electricity and internet access, Pact helps partners build web-based virtual communications. In areas where this is not an option, links between network clusters can be achieved through regular meetings among representatives from each cluster. The WORTH program uses this approach. Pact helps our network partners choose and put into operation the right network mechanisms and communication systems to facilitate the network's steady progress to achieving its common goal.
Pact is beginning to use the network mapping software mentioned above to track the evolution of targeted networks over time and to assess the impact of our network strengthening investments.
