200
address a long-term issue can help provide the external push needed to realize
long-term goals.
In some situations, partnerships may not be practical. If the need is immediate or
is one that can be achieved independently, a partnership might not make sense.
Similarly, an NGO may determine that a partnership is not the best way to achieve
a policy goal or social outcome. In general, if a company or NGO can accomplish
its goals on its own, there may be no need to partner.
24
For a private company, a PPP partner will have specific goals in their core areas
of focus. By better understanding these goals and the NGO’s motivations, a company can make sure that it is both meeting its own objectives and satisfying the
needs of its partner. Similarly, an NGO should look for corporate partners that share
similar social and environmental values (see Box 7.5). Ultimately companies will
need to demonstrate a business case for an initiative and NGOs can help frame the
benefits and costs such that the company can achieve both. Many PPPs start out as
pilot programs used to demonstrate new technologies or techniques and can be
scaled once the benefits are understood.
When working with smallholder farmers, the ownership of the final operating
model and business must be transferred to the farmer. This may be difficult to
achieve since the ownership also implies risk. Both the NGO and the private company need to be able to mitigate the risk during the pilot phases prior to the scale up
of the initiative. This may require additional farmer training, assumption of the initial technology investments, and modifications to the contracts and agreements to
allow more flexibility in operations. As the project moves from pilot to scale, the
PPP should allow for shifts in conditions to enable creative financing, supply contracts, and inclusion of additional commercial partners. All of these will be required
to achieve scale and replicability in other regions.
The Institute of Medicine – Building Public Private Partnerships in Food and
Nutrition Workshop is one of the best resources for agriculture-based PPPs (IOM
2012). These text and workshop materials cover the full range of governance and
operating rules for companies and NGOs to work together. The workshop covers all
aspects of how to choose business partners and how to manage expectations through
the initiatives.
Some corporations treat hunger relief and agricultural innovation in ways that do
not involve their CSR initiatives. By focusing on profitable economic and social
change, the initiatives try to provide an opportunity for seed financing, skills training, and expertise to be transferred to farmers and regional economic systems
(Kaplan et al. 2018). This approach is analogous to venture capital and startups. A
larger corporation realizes that single-use funding or shared expertise is not enough
to develop a sustainable economic and supply system for local farmers. They focus
on a well-thought-out business plan, coupled with seed capital and supply chain
partners (suppliers and customers) to ensure the sustainability of the new business
24 http://gemi.org/resources/GEMI-EDF%20Guide.pdf
D. Donnan
address a long-term issue can help provide the external push needed to realize
long-term goals.
In some situations, partnerships may not be practical. If the need is immediate or
is one that can be achieved independently, a partnership might not make sense.
Similarly, an NGO may determine that a partnership is not the best way to achieve
a policy goal or social outcome. In general, if a company or NGO can accomplish
its goals on its own, there may be no need to partner.
24
For a private company, a PPP partner will have specific goals in their core areas
of focus. By better understanding these goals and the NGO’s motivations, a company can make sure that it is both meeting its own objectives and satisfying the
needs of its partner. Similarly, an NGO should look for corporate partners that share
similar social and environmental values (see Box 7.5). Ultimately companies will
need to demonstrate a business case for an initiative and NGOs can help frame the
benefits and costs such that the company can achieve both. Many PPPs start out as
pilot programs used to demonstrate new technologies or techniques and can be
scaled once the benefits are understood.
When working with smallholder farmers, the ownership of the final operating
model and business must be transferred to the farmer. This may be difficult to
achieve since the ownership also implies risk. Both the NGO and the private company need to be able to mitigate the risk during the pilot phases prior to the scale up
of the initiative. This may require additional farmer training, assumption of the initial technology investments, and modifications to the contracts and agreements to
allow more flexibility in operations. As the project moves from pilot to scale, the
PPP should allow for shifts in conditions to enable creative financing, supply contracts, and inclusion of additional commercial partners. All of these will be required
to achieve scale and replicability in other regions.
The Institute of Medicine – Building Public Private Partnerships in Food and
Nutrition Workshop is one of the best resources for agriculture-based PPPs (IOM
2012). These text and workshop materials cover the full range of governance and
operating rules for companies and NGOs to work together. The workshop covers all
aspects of how to choose business partners and how to manage expectations through
the initiatives.
Some corporations treat hunger relief and agricultural innovation in ways that do
not involve their CSR initiatives. By focusing on profitable economic and social
change, the initiatives try to provide an opportunity for seed financing, skills training, and expertise to be transferred to farmers and regional economic systems
(Kaplan et al. 2018). This approach is analogous to venture capital and startups. A
larger corporation realizes that single-use funding or shared expertise is not enough
to develop a sustainable economic and supply system for local farmers. They focus
on a well-thought-out business plan, coupled with seed capital and supply chain
partners (suppliers and customers) to ensure the sustainability of the new business
24 http://gemi.org/resources/GEMI-EDF%20Guide.pdf
D. Donnan