Collaboration beyond traditional spaces. Alianza Shire takes part in the 10th IECAH State Conference
On Thursday 28 November, Mario Fanjul, Head of Spanish Development Cooperation in Ethiopia, represented Alianza Shire at the 10th State Conference of Institute for Studies on Conflict and Humanitarian Action (IECAH, in Spanish).
Under the theme “The value of working together in crisis response: beyond coordination”, the conference aimed to look at initiatives that demonstrate how the humanitarian sector needs to work with other actors who are not traditionally part of the humanitarian spectrum, and to analyse the main challenges and opportunities that such collaboration presents.
The conference was held in two sessions. The first session took place at La Casa Encendida on 27 November, and the following day an online session entitled “Collaboration beyond traditional spaces” focused on specific case studies, such as the Alianza Shire.
In his speech, Mario Fanjul, after describing the work carried out by the alliance partners in Melkadida and its concrete results, shared with the participants some reflections and lessons learned after ten years of working together.
He explained that partnerships should not be a fad and that it is essential to define the roles and interests of the different partners honestly. He also stressed that “working in multi-stakeholder partnerships that go beyond traditional spaces requires establishing decision-making mechanisms” and “defining the level of involvement and the real scope of each member”.
He also noted that “working in alliance is an exercise in generosity” and that “sometimes it is necessary to give up space” and recognise “how we are all contributing to the same goal”.
Finally, he highlighted a key element of working in collaborative models, stating that “multi-stakeholder alliances are spaces for generating innovative solutions, but especially for meaningful innovation”.
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