Building Partnerships & Collaboration | Tostan Community of Practice with Godfrey Okumu

A Tostan Community of Practice session on Building Partnerships & Collaboration, led by Godfrey Okumu, Technical Program Advisor at Tostan. Recorded 30 July 2026. Communities are our number one partners, and the way we work with them should be the way we work with donors, governments and fellow practitioners. In this refresher session, Godfrey shares practical principles for building strategic partnerships in community-led development, drawing on Tostan's experience, including partners it has worked with for over 20 years, and participants share their own partnership stories. In this session: • An icebreaker: one partnership that changed your work (communities, governments, funders and networks) • Why strategic partnerships matter: efficiency, innovation, shared resources and risks, learning, and co-creation, starting with communities • What makes partnerships fail: misaligned expectations, mismanaged leadership dynamics, power imbalance, unclear roles, neglect after signing, and lack of accountability • Key elements: shared goals and vision, complementary strengths, clear communication and governance, mutual trust, accountability, aligned values, precise roles and integrity • The partnership lifecycle, "From Contact to Collaboration": scoping or mapping, approaching, negotiating, formalising, maintaining and reviewing • Practical tips: get a team green light before advancing, negotiate on a written concept note, start small, put the person in charge in the MOU, keep leadership in the loop, celebrate joint success • Participants review one of their own partnerships and name the weakest link • A story of what happens when the wrong person is assigned to manage a partnership • Q&A on exit strategies: scope of work, timelines tied to deliverables, review clauses and addenda • A closing recap of the key principles CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome and why this session 1:21 Icebreaker: one partnership that changed your work 13:36 Session objectives 15:41 Why does building strategic partnership matter? 18:02 Benefits: efficiency, innovation, co-creation and communities as partners 20:35 What can make a strategic partnership fail? 25:11 Key elements for building strategic partnerships 29:37 The partnership lifecycle: where do you start? 33:03 Stage 1: Scoping or mapping 35:13 Stage 2: Approaching and building trust early 36:13 Stage 3: Negotiating and co-creating (start small) 37:00 Stage 4: Formalising with a concept note and an MOU 37:38 Stage 5: Maintaining, open communication and celebrating success 39:08 Stage 6: Reviewing, addenda and a clear exit strategy 40:22 Exercise: find the weakest link in one of your partnerships 42:05 Participants reflect on their own partnerships 50:08 A funder as a partner: the Oak Foundation 53:03 When the wrong person is assigned to manage a partnership 56:47 Q&A: exit strategies and what to put in an MOU 62:18 Be candid: partnership is a mutual relationship 63:16 Key principles recap 65:21 Closing and next steps English and French captions are available (CC). / Sous-titres en anglais et en français disponibles (CC). Tostan Community of Practice brings together practitioners who have taken part in Tostan's community-led development training to share learning with one another. #Tostan #Partnerships #CommunityLedDevelopment