Akvo partners

How can I participate in Akvo?

There are many ways in which people can participate in Akvo, depending on your situation. If you are an NGO, you may want to become a Support partner or Field partner, and use the Akvo platform for your work. If you are looking for funds, you might like the Akvo Marketplace. If you are a water and sanitation expert, you may be able to help us improve the knowledge on Akvopedia. If you are an IT specialist, you may want to help build the Akvo software platform, which is a joint open source effort. If you have money, you may want to fund a project.

All the options of participating in Akvo are listed on this webpage.

What are the benefits of becoming an Akvo partner?

The benefits of becoming an Akvo partner are:

  • By showcasing your projects on the Akvo Marketplace, you reach an audience around the world of potential donors.
  • By using Akvo widgets, your project can appear on many other websites, such as partner organizations, school websites, etc.
  • On the Akvo website, each project gets its own mini-website for showcasing the project, the background, photos, video’s, and project updates.
  • Publishing visually appealing reporting and feedback to donors becomes easier using Akvo Really Simple Reporting.
  • Because all details of the project are published on the Akvo website, the project funding and progress is transparent.
  • Information in Akvo can be re-used in many flexible ways.
  • Partners gain from having a single transparent database for projects, where many efforts can be viewed and compared, side by side.
  • The freshest, state-of-the-art technology is always available to you. Akvo.org improves every month.
  • Easy access through a web browser - no need to install any software.

Who can become an Akvo partner?

Organizations that work with small-scale water and sanitation projects in one of the following ways:

  • Implement projects with local communities
  • Support local organizations with capacity building, knowledge transfer, or other support activities such as monitoring, education, etc.
  • Fund projects

How do I become a partner?

Depending on the size, location and activities of the organization, organizations may either become a Field partner, a Support partner or a Funding partner. See the relevant section for what these types of partnerships entail, and for the procedure of becoming a partner in each case. The criteria, roles and responsibilities, and procedures are listed in full on the Akvo partner rules page.

What is a ‘Field partner’, and how do I become one?

Akvo Field partners implement the international development projects listed in Akvo, in collaboration with the local community. The Field partner has a local office. Organizations can become a Field partner with Akvo through the recommendation and support of a Support partner. The reason for this is that we feel that the quality of projects benefits significantly from the involvement of an experienced Support partner, which supports the field partner in carrying out the project.

The best way to start is to contact one of the Akvo Support partners that you already have a link to, and ask them if they are willing to function as Support partner for your organization. The current Support partners are listed here. Please refer to the full list of criteria, roles and responsibilities, and process to become a Field partner (Akvo partner rules page).

What is a ‘Support partner’, and how do I become one?

Akvo Support partners are organizations which support the Field partners in different ways. They can supply knowledge, information, implementation support, training, and contacts. They are responsible for monitoring of project implementation and approving the project plan, and can help with writing project implementation plans, troubleshooting, networks and connections. Support partners should be well-connected within their relevant field of international development. Please refer to the full list of criteria, roles and responsibilities, and process to become a Support partner (Akvo partner rules page).

What is a ‘Funding partner’, and how do I become one?

If you want to donate money to a project in Akvo, you can become a Funding partner. This can range from individuals and groups of individuals to companies, NGO’s, government organizations, and other types of organizations. If you are an individual, you can simply donate money by clicking on the ‘Donate’ button of the project, and follow the steps there. If you represent a company, or want to make a large donation, please go the Sponsor page.

Can a single organization be both Support partner and Funding partner?

Yes, this is possible, depending on the nature of the organization. Some organizations both distribute funds to Field partners, and support local projects.

Can a single organization be both Field partner and Support partner?

This is not recommended. However, in some cases large organizations with a long track record may have offices in multiple countries. In such cases, a local office could function as the Field partner, and the main office would be the Support partner. An important criterion is that the partner has a local office where the project is carried out, because it needs to be able to work with the local community on an ongoing basis.

How are the responsibilities divided between Akvo and the different partner organizations?

Akvo provides a stable and secure platform which is used by the partners to facilitate communication and reporting and to secure funds for projects. Akvo collects money donated to projects and distributes it to the proper recipients. Akvo facilitates the collection of up-to-date knowledge on water and sanitation technologies on Akvopedia. Akvo actively builds a network of trusted partners which act as Support and Field partners.

The Field partner is responsible for producing a good quality project plan, is responsible for the implementation of the project together with the local community, and for providing regular project updates.

Support partners from the Akvo trusted partner network invite Field partners to contribute projects. Support partners back projects that they think are of good quality, and they can help putting good projects together. The Support partner and Field partner jointly put the project into the Akvo system. The Support partner provides support and monitoring of project implementation.

It is up to the Support, Field and Funding partner to agree on what level of monitoring and reporting is required. Some smaller project may only require Realy Simple Reporting (RSR), while larger projects will require higher levels of monitoring. The level of monitoring should be part of the project description, so people can decide what they want to donate money to.

Please refer to the full list of criteria, roles and responsibilities, and process to become a Support or Field partner (Akvo partner rules page).

How many partners can work together on a project?

In principle, many partners can work together on a project. There is no maximum, although a smaller number of partners is more manageable. At the minimum, the Field partner and Support partner should be different, except in very special cases (see: "Can a single organization be both Field partner and Support partner?").