Eight lessons on powershift

From the outset, JISRA aimed to strengthen the ownership, influence, and leadership of in-country organisations. An integral part of this ambition was for consortium partners to progressively rethink and adapt how they shared decision-making, resources, and leadership throughout the partnership. Through co-creation, inclusive governance structures, contextualised planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning (PMEL), and continuous reflection, the programme sought to create opportunities for local actors to shape priorities, implementation, learning, and decision-making. At the same time, shifting power within a large, multi-country consortium proved to be a continuous process rather than a one-off design choice. Throughout implementation, new questions and tensions emerged around participation, decision-making, accountability, representation, organisational systems, and the translation of participation into meaningful influence.

Drawing on five years of JISRA implementation, this guide brings together eight lessons on working towards a power shift. The lessons are based on reflections from all partners, programme documentation, learning events, evaluations, and other knowledge products developed throughout the programme. Rather than presenting power shift as a completed project, each lesson highlights a learning from JISRA's experience and concludes with ‘Food for Thought’ reflection questions. Together, these reflections are intended to support others in designing, implementing, and continuously reflecting on powershift within (future) partnerships and programmes.