Partnerships for development are a type of collaboration that reduces fragmentation between organizations and encourages the creation of synergies. They are based on trust, equity and mutual understanding to achieve a series of development objectives.

However, managing and implementing such partnerships is not easy, since they necessarily involve sharing risks and benefits, engaging in a shared and equitable decision-making process, and transparent relationship management, which causes different organizational cultures to collide. This means that partnerships often fail to create the expected synergies and face significant inefficiency problems due to lack of coordination, internal management or communication.

Aware that this type of collaboration is key to achieving sustainable development and creating systemic change that allows communities to be self-sufficient, W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has been supporting the creation of partnerships in the Highlands of Chiapas and in the Yucatan Peninsula. Its approach is based on bolstering local leadership – both on the individual and on the community levels –  and on promoting the articulation of local capacities with the goal of creating partnerships for development.

To help partnerships collaborate more effectively, achieve their objectives and ultimately have a greater long-term impact, the WKKF began a collaboration with GlobalCAD ​​in 2015 to manage training and mentoring programs focused on partnership management.

In the following report – written in Spanish – we share the learnings, experiences and best practices of this collaboration with the aim of promoting the growth and expansion of partnerships for development:

Strategic Report: Partnerships as Drivers of Development in the Mayan Context and in Mexico