Technical Partners

ActKnowledge

ActKnowledge is an action research organization based in New York.  It aims to enhance understanding of the process and impacts of community programs and policies, ultimately to influence public policy.ActKnowledge works closely with community initiatives and provides research, technical assistance and capacity building.

Since the 1990s, ActKnowledge has worked with the Aspen Institute to fine-tune the ‘theory of change’ approach to planning and evaluation.  At www.theoryofchange.org organizations can learn more about the process of “backwards mapping” - linking long-term goals to the necessary intermediate and early stage changes to achieve them – and how to outline a “pathway of change” that expressly includes planners’ assumptions about the change process.

In the context of this partnership, The Aspen Institute's Roundtable is a forum in which people engaged in the field of  comprehensive community initiatives can meet  and discuss the lessons that are being learned by initiatives across the country and to work on common problems they are facing. The Aspen Institute developed and disseminated the Theory of Change approach and pioneered its application within comprehensive community initiatives.  The Aspen Institute continues to advise ActKnowledge and others on the implementation of the Theory of Change methodology.

The theory of change process has much in common with the way Keystone is promoting learning and accountability by civil society organizations. Theories of change are important for building effective relationships with stakeholders because they create a commonly understood vision of the long-term goals, how they will be reached, and what will be used to measure progress along the way

The theory of change process explains how to set indicators for measuring the effectiveness of an initiative so that organizations can recognize successes in real time and learn about the interventions.

ActKnowledge and Keystone are working together to incorporate the theory of change within the Keystone accountability model.  The Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change is involved as an expert partner to provide training and advice.

Contact: Helene Clark hclark@actknowledge.org

Mango

Mango’s mission is to strengthen the financial management of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). It is based in Oxford, UK, and was created in 1999. Mango meets an urgently felt need in the NGO sector, which recognizes the need to operate to high professional standards, with robust financial management.

Mango’s practical services help NGOs to achieve this. Working with NGOs around the world, Mango provides: highly rated training courses, carefully selected finance staff, and tools and guides to NGO financial management. They emphasise practical capacity building, helping NGO staff build up their confidence as well as their skills.  

For example, Mango’s Financial Management Health Check is a tool devised to assess the quality of financial management in an organization. It involves answering a simple set of questions that cover all the key areas of NGO financial management.

Also, Mango has launched the global campaign Who Counts? to advance financial reporting to beneficiaries. The campaign provides simple tools and advice, showing how making information accessible to beneficiaries can strengthen NGOs’ impact.

Keystone and Mango

From an early stage in the design of our tools, Keystone has sought to build from Mango’s expertise in financial management and reporting. In practical terms, we have integrated sections of Mango’s Financial Management Health Check into our comprehensive reporting framework, while providing the link to the full Health Check tool for organizations to be able to engage directly with Mango.

We continue to work together by engaging more closely in the organization of meetings and learning dialogues and joint peer review of our work and methodologies. In the context of Mango’s Who Counts? Campaign, we aim to pursue joint field research with grassroots organizations piloting Keystone, in order to advance how financial accountability can be enhanced by proactive stakeholder dialogue processes that drives positive feedback loops between strategic planning, learning and reporting.

Contact: Alex Jacobs ajacobs@mango.org.uk