Strategic alliance with other organisations

Date interview: January 1 1970
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upscaling Inclusiveness enlargement Connecting Civil Society organizations Challenging institutions Adapting

This is a CTP of initiative: INFORSE - Ecoserveis (Spain)

Strategic alliance with grassroots citizens organizations like ABD. 

Co-production

The alliance with ABD is quite casual. It was in 2013 when after a talk Cristina, who is part of Ecoserveis, starts talking to Nuria Salas. They see the synergies. ADB is strong on the social part, the contact to the people. Ecoserveis is strong in the energetic part, they have the knowledge. A project was generated: the poverty group. 

Related events

They got money from La Caixa foundation. They create a network of volunteers for information points to help people with knowledge. A complementary relationship was generated. With time the relationship matures. ABD has access to resources on its own, because of their size. Then ABD begins to offer services with energy poverty. This serves to strengthen the projects of formation and insertion. They made a Temporary Union of Companies to manage the service of points of attention to energy poverty. Ecoserveis has 10%. Others are taking responsibility for management.

Contestation

There is much discussion about the role and future of Ecoserveis. Ecoserveis is an NGO created to help the people affected, to protect the environment, and to promote the rational use of energy. It generates benefits for society. The members of Ecoserveis want to focus on what they know how to do and are good. Maintain the core. This is why they shy away from big projects that might entail managing more money but that might require other expertise than that Ecoserveis has now. 

Anticipation

Permanent interaction with social groups in arranging all sorts of activities and projects like the Day of the Earth, seminars and talks might have helped the conception and consolidation of this alliance.

Learning

The most important learning is the need to maintain the focus and the contribution of Ecoserveis according to its capacity and size. It is tempting to go bigger and have a larger impact, but they know that it is achievable by collaborating with others instead of expanding the managing capacity.