By Benjamin Bellegy, Executive Director, WINGS
We live in an era of overlapping, interconnected crises—climate change, inequality, weakened democratic institutions, and biodiversity collapse—rooted in complex systems that no single actor can address alone.
That’s why multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) are not just a smart approach—they are a necessity. In addition to being critical vehicles for collaboration, MSPs, if done right, center communities’ agency and ensure the equitable involvement of local actors. And as traditional aid structures shift and contract, philanthropy is being called on to step forward, define its role, and work in new ways across sectors.
At WINGS, we have long believed in the power of collaboration to drive systemic change. Recent regional studies conducted with our partners – Africa Venture Philanthropy Association (AVPA) in Africa, Sattva Consulting in South and Southeast Asia, and Latimpacto in Latin America – reaffirm this belief with clear evidence and practical recommendations.
The Philanthropy Transformation Initiative, a co-created and collaborative global initiative, urges us to shift our mindsets to enable change, align behind our values, and act with the future in mind. Through collaboration across sectors, organisations can leverage each sector’s unique expertise, resources, and networks to meet the pace, scale, and urgency of the moment. WINGS works to strengthen multistakeholder partnerships by building the ecosystem for cross-sector collaboration, shaping policies and regulations that enable effective partnerships, and co-creating knowledge, tools, and frameworks for philanthropy and government stakeholders.
Why Do We Need Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships Now More Than Ever?
- By aligning goals across sectors and pooling resources, MSPs can deliver integrated solutions that support social, economic, and environmental transformation. They can address systemic change when they include policy change, community voices, and are organised around solving root causes, rather than focus on service delivery alone.
- They mobilise and diversify resources. By blending philanthropic, public, and private finance, MSPs de-risk investments, unlock additional capital, and enable long-term sustainability.
- They foster trust, innovation, and local ownership. Grounded in inclusion and local knowledge, MSPs build trust, legitimacy, and culturally rooted solutions. They also create safe spaces for experimentation and adaptive learning.
Best Practice in MSPs and Findings from the Regional Mappings
The three regional studies conducted by AVPA in Africa, Sattva Consulting in South and Southeast Asia, and Latimpacto in Latin America outline hundreds of examples of MSPs across a vast range of issue areas, geographies and actors. Collectively, the studies identified 164 MSPs, ranging from $1 million to $10 billion in size. All three studies show a growth in MSPs over the last decade, in particular connected to the emphasis placed on such collaborations under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and in particular SDG 17.
The studies identified many examples of best-practice MSPs, particularly those that center communities. One such MSP is the Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MARFund), a regional environmental fund that focuses on preserving the Mesoamerican Reef, which spans Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Key stakeholders include international donors, environmental organisations, philanthropy like the Oak Foundation and Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, and regional governments. Established in 2004, MARFund has effectively managed key marine protected areas, engaged local fishing communities, and exemplifies cross-border conservation, uniting four countries to protect complex ecosystems collectively.
In India, the Aspirational Bharat Collaborative, anchored by NITI Aayog and Piramal Foundation, fosters hyper-local collaboration to improve health, education, and livelihoods, targeting the bottom 100+ million population to support India’s vision of becoming a developed nation by 2047. It is a great example of how MSPs with civil society, government, and local stakeholders effectively address critical challenges like maternal and infant mortality, education gaps, and low income levels.
The Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) in Senegal is a significant example of a large-scale MSP involving international partners, philanthropy like the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and communities in Africa. Launched in 2023, it aims to boost renewable energy in Senegal’s electricity mix to 40% by 2030. Senegal’s JETP is the first to integrate civil society directly in decision-making compared with earlier JETPs.
Key Recommendations to Make MSPs Thrive
The three studies identified clear, consistent recommendations across regions to ensure MSPs achieve their potential, including:
- Build Support Ecosystems for MSPs: If we want to accelerate the movement, we can’t count on individual initiatives and need to invest in building the collective infrastructure, or support ecosystem, that will support them. Multi-actor coordination mechanisms, platforms, and spaces for dialogue, strong philanthropy networks, capacity building, tools and trainings, are all critical if we want not just to scale up a few big blended finance partnerships, but scale out multiactor collaborations at all levels.
- Expand and Diversify Funding: Blended finance and adaptive, long-term funding models are key. We need flexible approaches that support innovation and strengthen financial resilience.
- Advance Policy and Regulatory Environments: Policymakers must create legal and policy frameworks that encourage collaboration and innovation, and reduce regulatory fragmentation.
The Role of Philanthropy: Catalysing Systemic Change
Philanthropy has a unique role in catalysing change. It can fund the bold ideas others won’t, convene unlikely allies, and invest in the infrastructure that helps partnerships thrive. It’s time for philanthropy to fully step into this role—not alone, but in deep partnership with other sectors.
Calls for philanthropy to play a more active and intentional role in facilitating multistakeholder partnerships are growing from both the public sector and wider civil society. At the Financing for Development conference in Seville, UNDP’s Tom Beloe stressed philanthropy’s strategic importance at WINGS’ co-led side event, highlighting the need to discuss philanthropy’s role to have a more central place within the agenda. This point was reinforced by Erika Gerretsen, Director of the Directorate-General for International Partnerships at the European Commission from the European Union, and national agencies from Spain, Indonesia, and Colombia. All recognised philanthropy as both a source of catalytic capital and a non-financial partner with networks, expertise, and convening power.
Their shared message was clear: the focus must now shift to how — creating coordination spaces, investing time in engagement, understanding the philanthropy and civil society ecosystem, improving regulatory frameworks, and building capacity for more strategic, structured collaboration. The research WINGS supported in Africa, Asia, and Latin America proves that the tools and knowledge exist—what’s needed now is the collective leadership and courage to act.
A Call to Action
The three research studies outline concrete ways in which philanthropy can partner effectively in such MSPs. These range from acting as a convenor to providing patient, risk-tolerant capital to support experimentation and early-stage innovation to ensuring that marginalised groups and Indigenous communities have a voice in decision-making and access to resources.
On our side, WINGS commits to providing more tools for policymakers and foundations to understand each other, build the capacity for partnership, identify cases and best practices of MSPs, and—coming soon—release an Enabling Environment guide and playbook that will help address many of the studies’ recommendations. To build on the momentum of FfD4, WINGS will organise a conversation with partners from the public and private sectors on the sidelines of this year’s UN General Assembly in New York and continue to encourage our field to rethink its role in development finance and the broader aid architecture, and to innovate.
Partnering across sectors is difficult; we must center the right values to truly aim for systemic change. For philanthropy, this means embracing its catalytic potential, its unique ability to take risks, elevate communities’ voices, and build bridges between sectors. For all actors, this means committing to shared purpose, humility, and long-term collaboration, and being open to adjusting expectations when needed. When it comes to partnerships, it can no longer be about ‘what’s in it for me’, and has to become about ‘what’s in us, together, for real change’. The global context of uncertainty, disruptions, and deep crises urges us to move beyond individual efforts. It has become our moral obligation to unlearn and engage in new, sometimes uncomfortable, ways of working. This shift will be so much easier if we invest collectively in the ecosystems that will help us build these partnerships. Momentum is growing from all sectors, and needs are crying. It is time to bring our strengths together and build the just and regenerative future our world urgently needs.
Contact Us: If you would like more information on MSPs or to discuss how WINGS can partner with you, please email ecosystems@wingsweb.org.
Benjamin is the Executive Director at WINGS. He has previously led international programmes in fields such as civil societies’ strengthening, sustainable development or post-disaster reconstruction. He has managed international programs at Fondation de France, worked for the International Cooperation Agency of Monaco and for several NGOs in Ethiopia, Tunisia and Canada.
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