Strategic Review: 2017-2021
The Commonwealth Foundation commissioned Collaborative Impact (CI) to undertake a Review of its Strategy 2017-2021 and to facilitate the design and drafting process for the next strategy. This report summarises the findings of the Strategy 2017-21 Review, undertaken by CI between August and December 2020.
Internal staff reflections and interviews with external stakeholder revealed the following about the Foundation’s vision and mandate:
- The Foundation’s vision should be anchored firmly to the Commonwealth: a vision of a Commonwealth that is truly of and for its people
- The Foundation is uniquely placed to contribute to the vision of an inclusive and people-centred Commonwealth.
The challenges to address in the next strategic period are:
- Maintaining focus and generating impact, while also responding to a broad mandate that generates high and sometimes conflicting expectations
- Delivering Foundation grant-making in ways that maximise impact and ensure support for nascent / relatively fragile civil society partners
The report also illuminated opportunities for further growth during the next strategic period:
- Embedding the creative and flexible approaches to programme planning and delivery that it adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic
- Making the Foundation staff team more flexible, responsive and dynamic
- Maximising the value of existing and new partnerships across the Commonwealth system
CI produced the following recommendations to shape the next strategy:
- Build on recent innovations to develop new ways of working and communicating
- Consider new means of programme delivery that offer the opportunity to increase impact and secure greater involvement of governors, including Civil Society Governors (CSAG)
- Consider how the Foundation’s grant making can be sharpened to increase its relevance and impact, including through a strategic focus on less well-developed civil society organisations and networks
- Consider how the Foundation can best leverage its unique ‘creative’ function to serve its vision and mission
- Consider how to strengthen the Foundation’s own capacity to lead and its intergovernmental role within the Commonwealth family
