F1ID 4095 - Rethinking Partnerships for Greater Development Impact

This course seeks to provide the future leaders of development actors the strategies and mindset necessary to maximize the impact and sustainability of their initiatives through cross-sector partnerships.

There is a broad consensus that donor agencies, civil society organizations and companies need to increase the practice of cross-sector partnerships to achieve more sustainable impact. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development, for example, emphasises the value these partnerships can bring in terms of “mobilising and sharing of knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources”, and a specific Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) has been set up (SDG 17 “Partnerships for the Goals”).

The course will be articulated around 3 mains questions:

• Why building cross sector partnerships has become more and more important in the context of global cooperation?
• What do we mean by cross sector partnerships?
• How can those partnerships be managed?

A specific highlight will be given to the role the private sector can play in such partnerships to provide market-based solutions aligned to the social goals of the development actors.

At the end of the course students will:

• Have a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem of potential partners they could leverage in their future responsibilities
• Be able to evaluate partnerships and the way partners interact
• Have applied their knowledge by studying specific partnerships

Through case studies students will put this knowledge in practice to develop their own recommendations to real-life challenges faced by development actors and develop key competencies in project management, teamwork and written and oral communication.

Additional requested information: (eg mainly theoretical or mainly practical or a mixture of the two): A mixture of the two, both theoretical and practical

• Focus on practical cases and live interaction with renowned experts mixed with the review of theory frameworks
• Group research project

Learning Outcomes

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem of potential partners they could leverage in their future responsibilities
• Analyze the motivations and ways of working of the variety of partners at play – be it development agencies, private sector actors, finance institutions, NGO etc…
• Be able to evaluate partnerships and the way partners interact
• Apply their knowledge by studying specific partnerships

Professional Skills

• Understanding stakeholders
• Project management: intensive work on practical case studies where students will be asked to provide actionable recommendations to a series of institutions involved with the course
• Creative thinking to devise new solutions in the case studies
• Oral and written communication, specifically using the format of executive summaries and short presentations

None

Individual evaluation: grade on executive summary given after session 4.

All other grades given at the end of semester

(i) Oral participation 10%

(ii) Individual evaluation 35% : Each student to write 1 executive summary to be submitted session 3 and present a 3 minute-pitch on a specific topic. Presentations will be done throughout the semester at the beginning of each class (split between 40% oral presentation and 60% final paper)

(iii) Group research project 55% (split between 40% oral presentation and 60% final paper): Group project proposal with presentation during sessions 11 and 12

• Attendance: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 2,5 hours a week / 60 hours a semester
• Research and Preparation for Group Work: 40 hours a semester
• Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 24 hours a semester