TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
Leaders Guide 6:
Strengthening the TPT Network
and Its Partnerships
TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
In this session, you will:
• Better understand the characteristics of a strong civil society network, one
that strives to be inclusive of the diversity that exists among young people;
• Increase your ability to outreach and engage with organizations and young
people who are interested in addressing poverty issues;
• Explore and evaluate the potential of partnerships to advance the work of
the TPT network in our country;
• Reflect on how your country’s youth organizations can both contribute to
and benefit from the TPT network.
TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
Civil society organizations (including youth organisations) play an
important role in a country’s development:
• representation (they may aggregate citizen voice)
• advocacy (they may lobby on particular issues)
• research and technical inputs (they may provide data, information
and advice)
• capacity building (they may provide support to other CSOs, such as
funding or training)
• service delivery (they may implement development projects or
provide services)
• social functions (they may foster collective activities and promote
social cohesion and inclusivity)
TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
Here are some commonly cited ‘keys to success’ of influential networks:
•
Clear governance agreements that set objectives, identify functions, define membership
structures, make decisions and resolve conflicts.
•
Strength in numbers lends greater political weight to a cause or policy issue.
•
Being representative is a key source of legitimacy and thereby influence.
•
Quality and packaging of evidence affects both credibility and legitimacy.
•
Persistence over a period of time is often required for policy influence.
•
People and leadership can be critical to achieving objectives.
•
Complementing official structures rather than duplicating them makes networks more
valuable.
•
The use of ICT (Information and communication technology) is increasingly vital for
networking.
TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
The TPT Network will be as strong as its
members choose to make it…
TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
Dialogue Questions:
•
A few characteristics of strong networks include having clear governance
agreements, being representative, providing strong evidence to back your
positions, and fostering good leadership within the group. Do you agree with these
qualities? What are some other characteristics of strong civil society networks?
•
The TPT Network’s Mission, as stated in its profile materials, is to provide
opportunities for youth participation in national development. How will your
organization and country team help fulfill this? Generate as man ideas as possible
in an open brainstorm.
•
One of the most common problems for youth organizers is getting other youth
interested and involved in events and projects. There are many different reasons
for this. What are some of the reasons your organization encounters? Discuss
some ideas to change this.
TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
Ideally, a partnership should assure three
principles:
Equity
Transparency
Mutual Benefit
TACKLING POVERTY TOGETHER
Youth Contributing to Poverty Reduction
(Template slide – to be used to add additional
material as needed).