The following article was written by Kenneth Fullerton of PlaNet Finance. Contact information can be found at the bottom of the page.
The third South African Results Based Accountability (RBA) Community of Practice (CoP) meeting took place in Johannesburg on Friday 24 April 2015. For the nine people in attendance, representing six different organisations operating in the sustainable development sector, the CoP provided yet another platform and opportunity to discuss RBA and share ideas. Three of these organisations attended a CoP meeting for the first time.
Despite all of the CoP participants agreeing on the potential and of the benefits of RBA, all are currently at different stages of implementation. Some are leading the way and ingraining the RBA methodology into their organisational structures, and others are exploring how to do so. Some are interested in learning more about RBA and its potential benefits before implementing it within their own organisations. As such the CoP, once again, proved to be an excellent platform for sharing ideas, asking and discussing questions and learning from, and about, others. As Laureen Rwatirera, Senior Consultant at Accelerate Performance and CoP participant, noted “RBA brings precision to your passion”.
A key element of the CoP discussion focused on the value of partnerships and collaboration and whether they are viewed as being important and meaningful or not. It was evident to the CoP group members that not all are partnerships are the same. As such, the group discussed more general aspects, issues and challenges, which are common to many partnerships, focused on overcoming sustainable development challenges. These included:
- How to identify suitable stakeholders and/or partners
- How to engage with suitable stakeholders and/or partners
- How to manage partner relationships
- How to maintain focus of shared partnership objectives
- How to successfully handle partnership administration and organisation challenges
- How to engage and maintain volunteers
- How to identify, engage with and maintain (potential) project and/or partnership funders
- How to learn from existing or past successful partnerships
Discussing RBA and the importance of partnerships.
Participants shared different examples of partnerships that had been successful and others that were not so successful. With the next RBA South African conference occurring in the first quarter of 2016 , it is hoped, that successful local examples of partnerships being formed and RBA being used to deliver positive results on the ground can be showcased there. As such, a key objective of the South African CoP meetings is to learn from other experts, organisations, and past experiences, and to encourage new meaningful engagements. The South African NPO register on the Department for Social Development’s website can also be referred to in order to identify organisations working in a particular development field.
Charlotte Tervit and Eustacia Morris of Accelerate Performance.
The next local RBA CoP is also scheduled to take place on the morning of Friday 19 June 2015. Anyone interested in attending can contact Charlotte Tervit of Accelerate Performance at charlotte@accelerateperformance.co.za for further details. Suggestions for discussion and agenda items and themes are also welcome to be received from interested participants. One such idea for a future CoP, is on how to use RBA with funders and donors and how to effectively manage their proposal guidelines, expectations, and criteria.
Ken Fullerton
kfullerton@planetfinance.org
29 April 2015
