The "Business-NGO: Partnership for Success" Project
Being aware of cross-sector partnerships as a global phenomenon and the need of their development in Serbia, SMart Kolektiv has launched the "Business-NGO: Partnership for Success" project, with the aim of improving cross-sector partnerships by the means of strategic incorporation of the business sector and the development of new financing models in the non-governmental sector. The project is mostly directed at the non-governmental and the business sectors, but also at the governmental sector and certain public segments.
The "Business-NGO: Partnership for Success" project is financed by the EU, realized by the European Agency for Reconstruction and put into practice by the Consortium of the Center for the Development of the Non-Profit Sector and the Center for Democracy Foundation within the "The Foundation for the Support of the Serbian Civil Society" program.
Within this project, SMart Kolektiv has been conducting a research about the attitude and experience of, primarily, NGO and business representatives, which will serve as the basis for further discussions and the creation of a study about the possible development of constructive NGO-business partnerships in Serbia.
Beside that, here are some of our activities from September 2006 to September 2007 :
- Issuing the practical Partnering Toolbook. The presentation of the publication was held on April 24, 2007. The electronic issue of The Partnering Toolbook can be found here.
- Education. Beside specially designed trainings aimed to raise the awareness about corporate social responsibility and cross-sector collaboration, SMart Kolektiv has promoted yet another way of learning by the means of this project; it has mostly comprised direct experience sharing, research visits to successful partner organizations, public discussions, forums, etc.
- Initiating the concrete local partner project. Educational activities - local forums and cross-sector dialogue, in the first place - ought to result in several common partner projects among NGOs and businesses with the aim of improving local communities. These projects, as well as other associated activities, are followed by the campaign for the promotion of partnerships in Serbia.
- The first national business/NGO forum gathers business and NGO leaders, as well as other important stakeholders from Serbia, the region and Europe relevant for the sustainable development sector, cross-sector collaboration and corporate social responsibility.
- Finally, SMart Kolektiv considers it highly important to identify and reward successful cross-section partnerships and it has established a yearly award for the most successful partnerships in Serbia.
If you are interested in some of the activities in the project or wish to share your organization's experience or success with partners from other sectors, feel free to contact our Partnership Team :
