In line with our new vision, Agenda for Change recently approved a complete shift in our governance structure to ensure that the voices and leadership of countries are positioned at the level of agenda and priority setting which is essential for driving forward collaboration.
Meet our eight country collaboration representatives in our new video!
By Alec Shannon, Deputy Coordinator of Agenda for Change
Earlier this year, we shared our renewed vision for 2030 which is that we will work to make collective action for WASH systems strengthening the norm. Country collaborations[1] will play a leading role in achieving this vision, and we gave some examples in our last blog post of how we are supporting funding and technical assistance to catalyze this collaboration at the country level so far. At the same time, we promised to continue sharing our progress and challenges in strengthening and assessing collaborative systems strengthening efforts, including how we plan to implement this ambitious vision.
Country-level leadership is integral to the Global Hub
An important first step on our path to realizing this vision has involved a complete shift in our governance structure to ensure that the voices and leadership of countries are positioned at the level of agenda and priority setting which are essential for driving forward collaboration. With this in mind, we are sharing changes we have started implementing to support country collaboration across our Global Hub.
In our previous Global Hub structure (below), our focus and influence were mainly centered in and around the central or global level, which is also where demand for a lot of our activities came from (e.g., conference participation, publishing resources, holding events, etc.). Our structure was not dissimilar from other organizations in that we had a Steering Committee and an Executive Committee to drive decision-making and strategy, and the Steering Committee historically included a representative from each of the 14 members of Agenda for Change.
Our previous Global Hub structure included a lot of representation from the central/global level, and not enough from the country level.
In our new structure, country collaborations are now the central focus of our Global Hub and we have created a General Assembly to replace the Steering Committee. The General Assembly now includes both member representatives and representatives from eight country collaborations. In addition, we will ensure that there is an equitable representation of country collaboration representatives on a newly formed Executive Committee. Since this is an entirely new structure and process for us, we decided to start small and go through an initial learning and adaptation process with colleagues from these collaboration groups first, and eventually, we hope to offer the opportunity for other groups to join us.
In our new Global Hub structure, country collaborations are at the center of all our activities, and we have deliberately ensured their representation within a newly formed General Assembly and on the Executive Committee.
Joining Agenda for Change
We paused our membership process in 2020 to focus on ensuring that we had coherent governance and a quality experience for existing members. Now that we have completed our re-visioning and are clear on our path forward, we will be opening membership again soon; though, we have made some important changes.
One of the challenges we faced in past years was understanding which organizations are effective collaborators at the country level and therefore, which organizations are best poised to take our mission forward. Thus, we are changing the membership process and asking country collaborations to nominate potential members of Agenda for Change going forward.
“… we are changing the membership process and asking country collaborations to nominate potential members of Agenda for Change going forward.”
To qualify for membership in Agenda for Change, an organization – working in one country or in many countries – must be supporting or engaging in collaborative WASH systems strengthening approaches (e.g., providing funding, technical assistance, or market-based services) and be nominated for membership through an existing country collaboration. Organizations that appear to meet the full criteria after initial review will be invited to formally apply.
That said, any organization, whether a member of Agenda for Change or not, can collaborate at the national level – the more, the better! Our goal is to catalyze much broader national collaboration and we realize that going through our membership is not always necessary to do that. As always, we will continue to find ways to collaborate and share learning across the wider WASH sector.
For more information on changes to our Global Hub structure or new membership criteria, our updated Governance Framework is available for viewing and/or download in English, French, and Spanish:
Any questions or comments can be addressed to Alec Shannon, Deputy Coordinator of Agenda for Change.
[1] According to our Governance Framework, a country collaboration consists of two or more of our members who are working collaboratively to strengthen WASH systems in any country.
Alec Shannon (she/her) is Deputy Coordinator at Agenda for Change. She has been working in the WASH sector for more than 8 years and has provided programmatic guidance, technical assistance, and communications support to WASH, menstrual health, and community-led total sanitation projects throughout her career. She is passionate about shaking things up in development and finding new, creative, and inclusive ways of working.