Becoming a partner

Since its establishment in 1980, the Liliane Foundation and its network of partner organisations have expanded tremendously. The number of children assisted by Direct Child Assistance has increased and totalled 88,000 in 2010.

Concentration policy
Growing conflict between the effort to deliver high-quality assistance and the continuous growth of the network of partner organisations, has necessitated the development of a new policy. In order to maintain quality of assistance the Liliane Foundation designed a concentration policy which is based on the conviction that quantity should not be at the expense of quality.

To enhance the manageability of the network it was decided to:

• Give the National Coordination Teams more responsibilities and autonomy;
• Move away from the ‘traditional’ collaboration with mediators and work with partner organisations instead. The mediator still takes part in the working structure.

The collaboration with partner organisations in countries without a National Coordination Team remains, however, difficult.

Poverty level as criterion
The main criterion for the concentration policy is a country’s poverty level. The level of poverty is measured by:

• The Gross National Product (GNP). This is a standard for the average wealth of a country. The Liliane Foundation uses GNP as a precondition in determining its involvement in a certain country. However, GNP is not the only criterion. The average wealth of a country says nothing about the welfare of the most disadvantaged groups in society.
• The Human Development Index (HDI). This index looks at life expectancy, education and living standards. The HDI provides a broader understanding of the extent of poverty and development in a country. For the Liliane Foundation the HDI is the most important criterion in the decision on concentration of assistance. It serves as a rough measure for the initial selection of countries.

Other criteria
Besides the level of poverty, additional criteria are:

• The spending capacity of the partner organisations based on a programmatic approach; 
• The history of cooperation with a network of competent and trustworthy partners; 
• The cooperation with other actors in the development sector committed to children with disabilities. This will lead to complementarity and synergy, and therefore effectiveness and efficiency of assistance.

Application
Organisations that are interested in becoming a partner of the Liliane Foundation can contact the National Coordination Team in their country. The contact details are listed on the world map.