Structuring and Managing Collaboration with Lead Firms

This document presents discussions of the FIELD Facilitation working group that shared experiences and identified best practices about how projects can best work with lead firms (LFs) to accomplish their goals.Development organization (DO) credibility is a key prerequisite for success in working with LFs. The document provides guidelines to help DOs overcome any skepticism or uncertainty that LFs may have when collaborating with them. To establish credibility with the LF, DOs should focus on:

• Program development, and establishing collaboration;
• Professionalism;
• Confidentiality;
• Understanding of private sector and business principles;
• Track record;
• Transparency and neutrality;
• Empathy.

The DOs should then develop and negotiate a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with LFs. Care must be taken to ensure that the MOU should use standard contractual-type language and appropriate terminology, and have the necessary components. Finally, collaboration between DOs and LFs often includes a cost share component where the DO helps to offset some of the costs and mitigate the risks that the LF faces in making investments. These cost-share agreements should be structured so as to ensure sustainability.