Our Partner Feedback Commitments

Being clear about who we are, what we stand for, and what our expectations on partners are. Introduce a comprehensive partner orientation pack. Build mutuality into our Partner Assessment process. Introduce our impact framework to partners. 

We introduced our new partner assessment toolbox for use by our teams from January 2025. It includes a distinct ‘Exploring partnership’ section in which both parties, CBM Global and a prospective partner, can learn about each other, seek alignment and agree what we could work on collaboratively. The capacity assessment part of the tool itself outlines clear criteria which we can support partners with to progressively meet. A ‘partnership quality assessment’ is included in each 3-yearly reassessment, to support a formal, mutual evaluation of how we have interacted as partners.

We are in the process of rolling out our impact framework that introduces a set of standard indicators in all new projects, which will help to measure and analyse results and impact across all projects we support. The framework is not formally introduced to partners in its entirety, but indicators are practically reflected in projects as relevant. 

Having simple processes & tools and clearly communicate about them. With input from partners, revise our partner assessment tool and our reporting routines. Introduce clear financial guidelines for partners. Ensure processes, tools and guidelines are adaptable.

Our new partner assessment tool was developed taking onboard the feedback we collected from partners in the 2022 partner feedback exercise. It is a single tool to assess any type of organization but with built-in flexibility to match our expectations in terms of organizational capacity to intended funding levels.

The development of financial guidelines for partners unfortunately had to be postponed to 2025 due to unexpected staff shortages in our Finance Team.

In our strive for simplicity, we revised our reporting templates in 2023 but concluded no major changes could be made to them without jeopardizing standards of good project management. We are currently reviewing our project design process, again with the aim to simplify where possible, while ensuring it is co-led with our partners and results in improved quality outcomes.

Learning together. Build a solid knowledge management framework, informed by partners, to improve partners’ and our own CBM Global capacity in learning and sharing.

Our focus to date has been on internal learning, so that our teams are increasingly equipped to support our partners. Our MEAL manager is currently developing a proposal for a knowledge management framework, which would include approaches to facilitate structured sharing of knowledge with our partners.

Helping partners build their capacity in jointly agreed areas. Ensure organisational strengthening action plans are co-developed, implemented and regularly reviewed. On an ongoing basis, actively identify ad-hoc opportunities for capacity building activities with partners, individually or collectively.

We identify jointly with our partners areas for organizational strengthening, through our partner assessments and as part of regular project monitoring activities. Our new Partner Assessment tool makes it easier to identify such areas, during an assessment or otherwise, and it includes an easy-to-use template for regular tracking of progress with agreed actions.

Our Country Teams routinely organize annual partner meetings which include capacity strengthening sessions on topics such as safeguarding, finance management, compliance, reporting standards, etc.

A growing number of projects are being undertaken with a dedicated focus on organisational strengthening for our (OPD) partners.

Strengthening our, and our partners’ feedback mechanisms. Ensure partners are familiar with our current mechanisms, and support partners in establishing their own mechanisms to receive routine feedback from programme participants and their communities.

Feedback is a standard agenda item on partner meeting agendas, whether annual, collective partner meetings, or individual ones.

Our Country Teams inform partners about the various feedback mechanism we offer, at the start of a partnership, at project inception, during monitoring meetings and at, annual partner meetings.

We have initiated work on providing guidance for partners to establish their own feedback mechanisms for programme participants and community members, with the aim to introduce such in 2025.

Striving for a balanced relationship with our partners. Ensure the full project cycle is undertaken jointly with partners. Take advice from partners involved in our Localisation steering group on the best approaches towards locally led development.

In 2023 and 2024 we conducted several internal learning sessions, including looking at good practice examples, which resulted in an internal guidance note on co-led project design with partners, which all teams are asked to implement.

Our Localization Steering Group, which included several representatives from OPDs from different countries, helped to shape a set of commitments we want to make towards being more locally led, which were subsequently approved by the CBM Global board. You can read about our localization commitments here. We have agreed on an internal plan of action to deliver on the commitments.

Living out our partnership principles. Ensure principles are reflected in our processes and procedures. Build understanding with our staff of the behaviours needed to support them.

Our partnership principles are reflected in our new partner assessment tool, in our programme quality framework and in various processes, such as the project design process with a focus on co-creation of projects with partners.

A training module for our staff on the partnership principles was added to our internal learning management system, 

Our partnership principles are furthermore also reflected in our partner feedback mechanism, and in the capacity strengthening plans we agree and support with partners.

Connecting partners. Actively make connections between the local, national, regional, and international relationships we have. Build joint advocacy aspects into our Country Strategy Plans. Pilot consortium programmes with multiple partners. Organise partner events that extend across national borders.

Apart from connecting partners within a given country via annual partner meetings, we see more and more examples of increased collaboration across partners, whether through learning exchange visits of partners within one country or across countries, creating regional hubs that bring partners operating in a specific region together to agree on joint project activities or referrals, through dedicated projects or by including activities in projects to bring OPDs together and provide them with opportunities to jointly participate in the disability movement agenda at the national level. We also find that our partners are proactive in involving other partners in their learning events, either as resource persons or participants.  

We have several pilots underway in various countries where multiple partners implement one integrated programme, each offering their own, complementary expertise for greater impact.  

Advocacy activities, specifically, feature prominently in our country strategy plans, in support of partner advocacy work. 

We have sought out opportunities for partners to participate in global events such as the Conference of the State Parties (COSP) in New York, the annual Conference of Parties (COP), and the Global Disability Summit meetings.