Alignment & Synergy
In many countries, it continues to be challenging to organise and coordinate effectively and to get an impact from projects and programmes (be humanitarian aid, development, or research). Of course, it is the safest way to execute a project all by oneself with a single stakeholder and stringent control mechanisms. However, that is not realistic in practice because of the effects of scales and influences of other domains. Therefore, it is logical that such a project has a limited result in time and space (impact).
Currently, multiple donors are funding many organisations to execute various projects. However, despite all the funds provided and the goodwill of the actors, if we are honest, development projects in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the world, including developed countries, did not match the expectations. As illustrated below, people increasingly recognise that these projects are all too frequently executed in isolation, even in the same territory. The consequence is limited impact and waste of time and money. To give two practical examples, farmers were confronted with multiple, sometimes even conflicting, messages and baseline studies executed in the district in the same year by two organisations.
Actual situation: work in silo's
Work in isolation
Exchange within a domain
Alignment & Synergy in action
Exchange within a domain
Exchanging between domains
Possibilities to get more out of ongoing projects
The first step to change the situation described above is to have people working on the same subject exchange ideas, technologies, etc., as depicted above in the second schema. This exchange of information also builds capacity. It opens up and changes existing mindsets so that participants truly understand that sharing information is worthwhile, potentially synergistic and will not threaten their autonomy.
Subsequently, when people lift the barrier between projects, organisations, or even countries, they will be able to see the struggle similar projects are experiencing. Next, results can be shared and compared to better understand why one thing works in one place and not in another while it looks so similar at first sight. Unfortunately, reporting the lessons learnt is not yet a common practice.
If one goes a step further, projects can work better together. Projects must first define their needs to increase their impact and outputs, which can help other projects to allow that collaboration to work out in practice. These needs or outputs include teaching materials, seeds, methodologies, data, etc.
The third schema above symbolises how one can identify options for Alignment & Synergy (A&S) of activities between projects with different characteristics. Sharing this detailed information contributes to A&S as it helps to determine what the various stakeholders want to gain from the envisaged collaboration. Consequently, all partners can increase their impact.
When parties see that others are working as hard as they are and pursuing the same or very similar goals, exchanging results and carrying out activities will become much more comfortable and manageable. It provides the possibility to discover options for A&S and optimise the strengths of all involved, which helps to focus even more on impact creation. This potential overall triple impact may exceed the sum of the individual impacts.
Alignment & Synergy Facilitation
Facilitating the process of creating A&S leads to better integration of disciplines as well as valuable cooperation between the various stakeholders. Subsequently, they will jointly increase sustainable development and implement the integrated development plan(s) designed for that territory more efficiently.
However, in practice, some obstacles do exist. The first challenge is to overcome the fear that another party will walk away with your idea, your potential job, your new (….), etc. Another issue is that donors want to claim a victory that their project was the best, the fastest, etc. That implies that the process may take some time before one sees tangible results.
We believe that collaboration is, in its essence, the key to development. Of course, it takes courage to show the weak part of yourself, a project, or an organisation, but another can support you in overcoming that. Consequently, a winning team emerges that will create an impact more than one can do alone. Therefore, Trimpact facilitates A&S workshops.
Alignment & Synergy in Practice
We highlight two projects we have carried out, one in Mali and one in Burundi.
Mali
While elaborating on the integrated and sustainable development plan for the Sourou Valley (PDIDS) in the Fifth Region of Mali, Trimpact also carried out the A&S analysis. The analysis included identifying all current actors in the Sourou Valley (155). Secondly, we made an inventory of their projects (location, subject and outputs) and their status (40 implemented, four planned, and four closed). Next, we determined the potential contribution of these projects and those in neighbouring areas to implementing the PDIDS.
Work in isolation
The assistance of a party can be direct with activities in the Sourou area (on the Malian side of the Sourou Valley and transboundary) or indirect via transfers of knowledge (e.g. lessons learned) or technologies from projects in the Sourou Valley in Burkina Faso, or locations outside the Sourou Valley.
The table to the left illustrates the second part of the analysis. On the X-axis, you find the locations (three prefectures and Burkina Faso) and the 17 development strategies identified. On the Y-axis, you see the acronyms of the projects. For the complete analysis, please download the A&S report in French.
It is evident that with at least 155 organisations working in the Sourou (each of them having its own funds and executing actions), coordination and A&S within the framework of the PDIDS are urgently needed to avoid wasting financial means and time and also to (re)gain people’s trust because some are confused by the number of interventions.
We presented, of course, this analysis to the Interministerial commission that was involved in the project. They recognised the need for such an approach but had to admit that the ministries were not yet that far.
Burundi
As part of the PAPAB project, the donor gave Trimpact in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MINAGRIE) the mandate to promote the A&S between PAPAB and other projects in the province Cibitoke in Burundi using the online Development Synergy and Alignment Tool (DevSAT®) developed by us. During the second phase, they added five other provinces as well as training the various local parties (including businesses) in the use of DevSAT.
Together project work
The various workshops helped participants better understand the challenges and issues of the different stakeholders in increasing A&S (and to have feedback and recommendations on the use of DevSAT). Exercises during these workshops demonstrated how projects can support and profit from one another. Representatives of state structures from provinces, municipalities, and NGOs expressed the need for an overview of the projects to create A&S between them. Afterwards, some participants started to create opportunities for and bring A&S into practice to avoid wasting money and time using the tool.
DevSAT facilitated the development of options for increasing A&S in the sense that one or more projects can benefit from the deliverables when made available by another project.
The figure to the left shows an example of such a visualisation with project locations (orange markers) that could benefit from the deliverables of the PCDC project (green marker). As a side activity, the tourist chain was plotted within DevSAT to demonstrate how local businesses and farmers could be coupled with hotels and other tourist attractions.
The work using DevSAT as a tool to enhance A&S underscored the existing possibilities for working together better to enhance product lines and co-create triple impact.
Going forward
The innovation in A&S, made possible with DevSAT, calls for a change of mandate for projects in co-creation with other stakeholders, such as enterprises, to increase the combined impact. Consequently, projects should have the mandate in addition to delivering only products and services to their 'own' target groups also to other stakeholders. In this way, the impact of all organisations working in Alignment & Synergy will be visible and measurable.
For further reading about A&S with the above and other examples, reference our book 'Co-creating Alignment & Synergy, How to realise the Vision of restoring the Earth together'. It can inspire you to co-create A&S in and between most groups and organisations in your area.
