Our Approach
At Wellspring, we make sure that our approach reflects our vision of bringing together the best of private, public and social expertise to tackle development challenges differently. And to attract the best we know we need to promote a working environment and approach where we are passionate about the application of democratic principles in all we do, aiming to be Accountable, Transparent, Inclusive and Participatory.
But what does this look like in practice? Well, it means our work must be:
Tailored to local realities: contextualized, reflexive and tailored based on political, economic cultural & conflict analysis.
Rather than
One size fits all: centered on the tired old application of standardized technical tools and formulaic approaches
Lead from within: through a strong focus on the deve
lopment of endogenous capacities, ownership and leadership within government, civil society and the private sector
Rather than
Expert knows best: where policies and practice
s are externally driven, leveraged by funding and adopted by ‘partners’ in name only and often without much conviction.
Collaborative: where approaches, initiatives and disciplines are integrated and complimentary in the service of institutional development and the management of change
Rather than
Stuck in competitive silos: where policy and technical professionals protect their territory and actually end up marginalizing practice areas, limiting their impact and effectiveness
Do no Harm: where national capacities for dialogue are developed, built on shared connections that bring stakeholders together, reducing destructive competition and conflict and building common understanding and consensus.
Rather than
Do more of the same: where repeated attempts at ineffective, unreflective, unsustainable practices actually serve to strengthen and institutionalize resistance to growth and change, below the surface veneer and rhetoric.
Our Focus
At Wellspring, we focus on a number of key areas: democratic governance, conflict transformation, SME and social enterprise development, aid effectiveness, and sectoral development.
