Creating Alliances to Accelerate Commercially Viable Sanitation, 2015.
Toilet Board Coalition.
Five lessons on co-creating collaborative, sustainable initiatives
The lessons learned from the TBC co-creating approach will be of interest to sectors beyond sanitation, where investors or development players are facing a similar situation characterised by a lack of sustainable, investable businesses in spite of immense needs.
#1: START BY LEARNING FROM BEST PRACTITIONERS
It is tempting to build models that are tailored to companies’ expertise and resources. Whenever this was done, it did not really work. High potential models started by scanning the world for innovations, taking inspiration from best practices and filling gaps where needed.
#2: INVOLVE PARTNERS IN CO-CREATION EARLY ON
The TBC observed the importance of involving key partners early on in an open and iterative process, ideally with inperson meetings. Also, expectations need to be managed carefully as many endeavours do not actually lead to opportunities immediately so.
#3: DECIDE UPFRONT WHICH PARTNERSHIPS TO SUPPORT
Partnerships can bring a lot of value but building them is a complex and coordination-heavy process. Hence a formal decision is required upfront to invest sufficient resources into a long-term effort, which will not necessarily deliver immediate results.
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