Create a spark.
“What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you’ll never see.”
They say that even years after the death of a star, we can still see its light. Let your project live on after you. Funding will not last forever and neither will your leadership: you may be called to lead new projects or events in your life might end up bringing you a bit farther from your advocacy. Aside from planning for success, you should also plan for the future of your projects and advocacy. We should not let our work depend on our current team or on ourselves; we should also plan for what happens after us.
When ensuring sustainability, one must think of possibilities that have the highest potential of bringing long-term engagements between your project and your partner-beneficiaries.
For example, during our Panaghiusa Peace Camp and Grants Competition, we guided several youth organizations, one of which was the Lettuce Be Happy group who ensured the longevity of their relationship with their partner-beneficiaries with in-depth livelihood training and farming sessions. Their group also dedicated their time to researching on the different plants their partners could grow (aside from the initial lettuce) and on the marketplaces they would be selling their produce to.
The project’s higher chances of sustainability lies in the efforts they’ve made to ensure that their partner-beneficiaries do not depend on the organizing committee or external funding to continue their activities and expand to new markets, new plants, and to even spread their knowledge to organizations like theirs.
Another example would be KRIS’s partnership with Ambisyon Philippines (who were featured in our last issue) throughout different projects. As we were first developing our relationship, we discovered that our organizations had a lot of common advocacies and could collaborate on more projects than we initially thought. As of writing, we have been involved in multiple campaigns with one another and have been exposed to each others’ networks because of the bond we’ve formed.
Together Tip: We need to both fight for short-term, and long-term goals. While fighting for systemic and permanent change, we also need to get temporary relief for our partner-beneficiaries.