Tapping the skills of others

BSF and IFAD also rely on the expertise of other groups.

Grass-roots groups work from the bottom up.

NGOs and other community groups, including local farmers' organizations and national microfinance institutions, play a crucial role in most projects. They know the local reality and have built a relationship of trust by working closely with community members.

Academics help solve development problems.

Universities and research institutes use projects as a testing ground to collect data and refine methods. The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium developed a method of involving local participants in project design to make sure proposed interventions truly addressed their needs. Their experience became the basis of a manual.

A living experiment

The Belgian Government uses BSF as a learning laboratory for development. BSF projects employ a diverse combination of partners, funding and expertise. By analysing the outcome of the projects, the Belgian Government gains valuable insights into which approaches and methods produce the best results.

Challenges for tomorrow

• Better monitoring will help the partnership strengthen its role as a knowledge storehouse, so it can improve its performance (including implementation, costs and follow-up) to achieve greater impact.
• Collaborating with other partners could help the partnership address key issues including better land rights and improving reproductive health.
• The BSF and IFAD partnership is a model that could be replicated. The best acknowledgement of its validity would be if another country created a similar partnership so that other regions could benefit.

Why such a fruitful union?

The BSF and IFAD partnership, hosted at IFAD headquarters in Rome , enjoys a unique synergy. The two partners share common goals, making it mutually beneficial. The accomplishments of each adds to the knowledge of the other. It is constantly evolving, thanks to an ongoing, open discussion about what works and what doesn't.