The Influence of Strategic Partnerships on Resource Mobilization at Vso Kenya

Abstract

The decline of donor funding has necessitated most NGOs in Kenya to look for alternative ways of fundraising. Covid-19 pandemic created a worldwide crisis that saw many countries who were mostly associated with bilateral and multilateral funding to shift focus to the dire humanitarian and economic needs of their own countries. NGOs in Kenya have over the years back- stopped various government services by bridging gaps in education, health and economic livelihoods in various regions in the country. The challenges of insufficient fundraising by NGOs have therefore pushed most of these organizations to seek alternative means of fundraising hence the need for creation of new partnership for better resource mobilization. Conversely major multinational corporates around the world such as General Motors, IKEA furniture, Ford Motors among others are also working to reduce their carbon foot prints hence through their CSR initiatives they form foundations that can fund NGOs initiatives. The study was carried out in VSO which is one of the NGOs operating in Kenya since 1969 and had formerly been known as “VSO Jitolee” until April 2016. The organization has since carried out various changes in its structure of operations. Their major projects were funded by UKAID and EU but since 2020 the funding has declined considerably causing a reduction in their project’s portfolio in Kenya. This study was to determine the influence of strategic partnerships on resource mobilization in VSO by evaluating three major aspects of partnerships: (1) partnerships to create strategic alignments and synergy (2) partnerships to create diverse funding streams and (3) partnerships for cost sharing. The study utilized descriptive research design and data was collected majorly from primary source by use of structured interview guide with 12 respondents majorly in managerial level. Data analysis was done through content analysis to determine how through the three themes, strategic partnerships has influence resource mobilization based on the interviewees’ responses. The findings of the study concluded that VSO has employed strategic partnerships in its resource mobilization which has assisted the organization to have diverse funding streams and not only depend on UKAID funding, but an example was also given of a project funded by IKEA foundation which VSO had to partner with Takataka Solutions (a private enterprise in Kenya) to acquire this funding. The findings indicated that NGO-Private enterprise partnership does not only create synergy in fundraising but also enables both firms to have diverse funding streams and to be able to share in costs based on their different capacities hence better utilization of the mobilized resources. This study concluded that there exists an association between diverse funding streams and resource mobilization for VSO Kenya. It is through the application of diversified funding methods such as corporate sponsorships, grant application from various foundations, government grant and contracts applications and onboarding individual contributors that VSO was able to diversify their funding sources and increase their resource mobilization. Leveraging CSR programs from businesses with the aim of securing financial contributions and in-kind support which promotes better resource mobilization of an organization. The study recommends that there should be more of NGO and corporate partnerships to create more impactful projects that will be more beneficial and sustainable even after the end of the projects. The study also recommends that even NGOs among themselves can be able to create partnerships to have synergy and to avoid replication of their interventions.