1. How does the network benefit your organisation?
Woord en Daad has been a member of APF for 2 years. During that time the major benefit of the membership is found in connecting with professionals of other member organisations. Although one could easily think that this can also be realised without the membership, the organisations experience shorter connections, and the benefit of the network to jointly identify opportunities. The focus is on complementarity and looking for synergy.

2. Please give an example of a joint action, in which the APF network played a visible role.
Joint action is most visible in Zambia, where in the rice chain joint activities take place between Woord en Daad, SNV and ZATAC. In addition, our active participation in the finance (and multi- stakeholder) workshop also favours advocacy activities. In Uganda we set up a survey with the help of APF to attract Dutch investors to the country. Useful contacts were gathered swiftly through the APF network.

3. If you were in charge, what should the APF network look like in 5 years’ time?
The network should be enlarged by attracting more private sector players. An example could be the collaboration in Ethiopia where ICCO, Cordaid and Woord en Daad work together in financing SME in agri-business. Currently we witness that a number of members are not open for collaboration with the private sector, as they only support smallholders and not SMEs. Learning to speak each other’s language, and professionalising as NGO sector, daring to take risks would stimulate collaboration with the private sector and across themes.

4. How will your organisation contribute to the APF network in the next 2 years?
APF consists mainly of traditional NGOs. If APF wishes to innovate as a network, Woord en Daad will strongly support this and dares to take risks in collaborating with other members. APF members should be more attentive to seizing opportunities in order to move towards synergy with the private sector and with the development partners.

Contact: Maarten van Middelkoop

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