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Partnership Program - Needs and Offers
“Needs and Offers” (N&O) is a mechanism by which members of the Alliance can register their needs and other members can communicate their offers to address that need.
The aim is to link members with needs to those who may have a means to address those needs.
N&O has two key purposes:
• To encourage and assist members to review their operations, services, activities and objectives and identify issues or problems that limit their capacity or ability to progress and develop their support people living with ALS/MND.
• To facilitate identification of capacity or resources held by other members that can address issues or problems faced by members.
The Partnership Program has been operating for several years with mixed success. The Southern European Group were successful in organising exchanges and conferences; the Asia Pacific group organised a number of visits between culturally similar countries; Kathy Mitchell has undertaken a number of member visits and training supported by the Canadian Government, and there has been the recent visit and provision of aids and equipment between Iceland and Mongolia.
However, the Partnership Program has not been as successful as members would like. Members highlighted the need to establish one to one relationships but the Alliance attempts to create a “buddying” or “twinning” process have not been successful, mainly because such arrangements have existed in a vacuum – there was no reason or purpose for the relationship other than altruism and a “feeling good”.
Throughout the Alliance there has always been a strong emphasis on assisting other members. But there has never been a mechanism to find out what was needed.
N&O will centre on attendance at the Annual Meeting. Attendance is not required to participate and identify a need, make an offer, or create a relationship between members.
In September each year, the Alliance make a call for members to identify their needs for consideration at the next Annual Meeting. Members will be asked to identify up to four (4) key needs. Members will identify a short form of the need (less than 10 words), and a long form of the need (up to 100 words). These must be submitted to the Alliance Secretariat by an agreed date.
The Alliance Secretariat will create a separate page for each identified 10 word need, and include the name of the member, their Alliance representative and email contact details. The Secretariat will also create a page with the long form of the need.
The short form needs submitted will be displayed on a display board during the Alliance Meeting and a session allocated for the needs to be reviewed by those attending. Members who identify a possible capacity to assist in addressing the need will write their name on the need sheet. This is making an “offer”. Half of the time for the session will then be used for informal meetings between those with needs and those with offers to address those needs. The long form need will be available from the Secretariat.
There will also be capacity for needs to be written at the meeting and included in the session. Members identifying needs at the meeting will have to have a clear idea of the need so that fruitful discussion can occur.
After needs and offers are discussed, it is up to the parties to work together to achieve the desired outcome.
N&O is not about asking for or giving money. Requests for money will be included in the process, but Alliance Members have to recognise that we all have need for more money. This program is about identifying needs that might be addressed by working together, offering resources, sharing knowledge or experience. It is not about getting supposedly wealthy organisations to pay.
The resolution of needs may involve additional resources, and the Alliance Support Grant may be seen as a possible resource, as might the Sepulveda Grant, Government Foreign Aid or international philanthropy. The Member making the offer may be willing to provide funds – this is up to the parties to resolve.
Needs will be included on the Alliance website, as an ongoing reminder to Members, and forwarded to members on a quarterly basis. When a need is matched to an offer, the need will be removed from the list, unless the offer is unsuccessful and if the member wishes to continue pursuing the need.
Regular review of needs must be a part of this process. It is no point promoting a need if it has been changed.
N&O Reporting
A key element of N&O will be reporting of the process and outcomes.
Reporting will highlight the successes and issues in establishing a N&O process, and the stumbling blocks that exist. It will help others identify their needs and stimulate interest in developing offers.
Regular reporting by the partners in N&O activities will be required to both promote the process as an opportunity and to demonstrate the effectiveness, or otherwise, of the process.
International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations
September 2007