How can collaborative tools transform the effectiveness of programme planning in development and humanitarian organisations?
The Challenge
The programme faced challenges in ensuring all team members and partners were equally engaged and had ownership over the learning agenda, which is crucial to enable relevance and improve sustained programme effectiveness.
Background: In the field of humanitarian response, Terre des Hommes Burundi leveraged Propel to enhance stakeholder engagement through shared ownership and co-creation. This enabled the NGO to effectively formulate, track and measure its learning agendas within its complex programmes. It further enabled the organisation to consistently share the knowledge being gained through its learning journey.
Linking to Propel’s Theory of Change: This partnership showcases Propel’s capacity to integrate collaborative methodologies into programme planning, aligning with our Theory of Change's emphasis on enhanced organisational learning for decision-making.
Stakeholders involved: Diverse programme stakeholders included field staff, project managers, and local partners, all collaborating to shape the learning agenda.
The Solution
- Introducing Propel: The team introduced Propel as a platform to facilitate the collaborative creation of learning agendas.
- Implementation process: A workshop was conducted where Propel’s features were used to gather, discuss, and validate learning questions, ensuring that the programme’s objectives were clearly understood and agreed upon by all parties.
Impact and Results
- Successes: Enhanced team cohesion and commitment, resulting in stakeholders feeling more connected to the programme goals and outcomes.
- Visuals and media: Interactive features of Propel were utilised to create visual representations of the learning agenda, facilitating easier understanding and alignment among the TdH team.
Challenges and Adaptations
- Acknowledgment of challenges: There was initial resistance to adopting a new digital tool for collaborative planning.
- Adaptations made: Tailored training sessions and workshops were conducted to familiarise all participants with Propel’s functionalities, easing the integration process.
Learning and Innovation
- Lessons learned: The programme team experienced how integrating digital tools in the planning phase fostered a collaborative culture and aligned project goals.
- Innovative practices: The collaboration unlocked a model for co-creating learning agendas using digital platforms, which can be replicated across other programmes in NGO environments.
Scalability and Next Steps
- Scalability potential: The co-creation model used in this programme has significant potential for adoption across other country offices, promoting a unified approach to programme planning.
- Call to action: This case study is a beacon of encouragement to other programmes within TdH to adopt Propel for co-creating learning agendas to ensure stakeholder engagement and alignment.
Conclusion
- Summary of achievements: The successful implementation of shared ownership and co-creation practices marked a key step forward in programme development at Terre des Hommes Burundi.
- Reflective insight: Propel not only enhances programme relevance and effectiveness but fosters a deeper commitment among stakeholders to the success of a project.
Future Vision
Continued adoption of this collaborative model promises to further enhance strategic alignment and operational efficiency within Terre des Hommes.