Expanding the NGO-to-Business Partnership Model in Canada

By Elizabeth Dove

Can value for both business and developing country communities be realized with integrity?

Partnerships between international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and businesses are fairly new and somewhat uncomfortable territory in Canada. Such collaborations are usually philanthropic and/or volunteer contributions by business, in exchange for bragging rights on good deeds done. Even on this modest partnership plane, there is a great deal of heated discourse from within the Canadian development sector around the appropriateness of INGOs working with business.

There is, however, a small but growing number of Canadian INGOs positioning themselves as having a service to offer business that will create value for both the core business of a company and meet the mandate of the NGO. Examples include World Vision Canada’s work with extractive companies to ensure project alignment with local government and community development and Socodevi's work to improve the capacity of Van Houtte coffee producing communities in Honduras.

Another such entrepreneurial initiative is the business brokerage service of Uniterra. Uniterra is a co-venture of the INGOs World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and Center for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI). As it has developed into Canada’s largest overseas volunteer-sending program over the past 10 years, Uniterra has established strong business relationships and networks in the countries it works with throughout South and Central America, Africa and Asia. Opportunities to facilitate partnerships with overseas businesses to benefit local communities evolved naturally.

Playing matchmaker between business and opportunities in the developing world

As an audience assembled on June 27 at the Ryerson CSR Institute in Toronto to give input on the Uniterra Partnership Brokers value proposition were told, the rich hydrating properties in the French cosmetic brand L'Occitane are the result of a partnership CECI and Uniterra brokered 16 years ago. Sylvain Matte, senior advisor for Uniterra Strategic Partnerships, told those gathered about how two generations of women have now benefited from the skills, revenue and empowerment created by the partnership between L'Occitane and the shea nut women’s co-op in Burkina Faso.

Uniterra went on to illustrate other partnerships that have benefited local businesses and local communities that they have brokered, such as the partnerships they are currently facilitating between a juice company and Malian mango producers and one between a mining equipment company and a their new local representatives in Senegal who are getting skills training through exchanges of staff.

Uniterra has several strengths it plays to in the role of matchmaker: staff on the ground, many of whom are local and so fluent not just in the language but the culture; a long history and talent for facilitating strategic partnerships between organizations, listening for points of similarity and divergence; experience in assessing capacities of organizations to develop new skills; expertise in adult education training techniques to skill up individuals and organizations where there are gaps.

Barriers for INGOs in working with business

As Dr. Kerrighan Webb, event host and director of the Ryerson’s CSR Institute, noted: INGOs are sitting on business opportunities they haven’t realized. “All of these contacts, on the ground knowledge and connections can be used for everyone’s benefit,” Webb said.

So what’s holding INGOs back? Over the 50-plus years of INGOs working to improve the lives of those in the developing world, business hasn’t been a traditional partner – INGOs are usually working in the space between community organizations and varied levels of government because all have stated goals around improving the health and livelihoods of the local people. The key goal for business is revenue growth which has historically come at the expense of the livelihood (abysmal wages), rights (land acquisition) and environmental health of the poorest, putting business then at odds with the goals of INGOs. Business isn’t top of mind as a development partner for many INGOs for this reason alone. Of course alongside that revenue goal, more and more companies are now actively seeking ways to use their core competencies to achieve corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals around improving lives and the environment. But their language, metrics and value set creates a kind of sectorial cultural barrier that INGOs often are ill equipped to cross, if they were inclined.

Indeed, in polishing their offering, it became apparent that Uniterra would have fine-tune their already impressive business acumen and work on their positioning. Several audience members offered that, to be truly resonant, Uniterra must hone in on a few sectors and unpack the needs of each, using sector-specific language. Tea and mining, it was pointed out, have different gaps and metrics. The Uniterra staff also showed timidity characteristic of the NGO sector in answering a question about their value-add over competitors. The staff acknowledged this was a skillset they need to build.

But to Webb’s point, Uniterra has an advantage a number of INGOs do not: They see the opportunity. They see that their core competencies and assets have value to business – both in the developed and developing world – and that they can better meet their mandate to create economic opportunities for women and youth in the developing countries by harnessing their strengths and packaging them for Canadian business.

Shaking up the INGO model to meet mission, fiscal realities

This realization didn’t come overnight. It has after all been 16 years since they played matchmaker between L'Occitane and the shea nut co-op. But time has made evident the sustainable results of the partnerships Uniterra has brokered: thousands of jobs created; leadership roles and empowerment for women; access to technology, credit and business development services for entrepreneurs, farmers and family businesses; and vocational and entrepreneurship training for youth. Uniterra has found that, with integrity, they can create partnerships where both big business and small communities thrive. All of this is achieved along with business partners meeting their goals around revenue generation, new supply sources, expansion and improved community and employee relations.

Matte concedes that the push to market test the expansion of the “Uniterra Partnership Brokers” model, at events throughout the country like the one at Ryerson, has come from both the convergence of community impact analysis and fiscal pressures:

“We strongly believe that a better synergy between aid, trade and private investment can contribute to more sustainable development. The Canadian government has made it clear that long gone are the days when INGOs can expect renewed funding based on the historical levels. We are being encouraged to innovate our delivery model and diversify our revenue sources. At the same time the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), like many other major donors, is encouraging business to consider ways they can become more involved in improving the conditions in the developing world. The timing is right for Uniterra to take our model of working with business to a new level.”

As demonstrated by private sector representatives at Ryerson, there is an appetite for this kind of partnership that delivers both solutions to business and community development. It will be interesting to see how other Canadian INGOs position their assets to meet their mission in current donor funding and CSR environment.

Image credit: Flickr/whiteafrican

Elizabeth Dove is a specialist in strategically engaging the public, companies and government on sustainability and social change. She has worked as senior staff and consultant for initiatives that support the arts, child welfare, public health and particularly international development. Using a results-oriented approach focused on tangible measurable benefits, Elizabeth helps bridge the cultural differences between sectors to create collaborations that meet shared goals. She is an Associate at Open Spaces Learning, a Canadian change management firm helping companies realize business and social impact. She is also a Strategist at Dove Consulting which consults with Uniterra on its business platform. Twitter: @EDove5, @openspaceslearn.