CSO–Private Sector Partnerships: From Ad hoc Giving to Strategic Collaboration.
A convening held in Arua City in October 2025 brought CSOs and private sector actors together around a clear message: the era of sporadic corporate giving must evolve into deliberate, strategic collaboration. Participants reflected on how each sector brings essential strengths, CSOs with deep community insight and trusted grassroots networks, and businesses with capital, innovation, and operational capacity, and how combining these strengths can unlock solutions neither side could achieve alone. Speakers emphasised that meaningful partnerships are built on mutual understanding, clear communication, trust, and accountability, and that today’s interconnected challenges require long-term engagement rather than transactional support. The convening also modelled the spirit it championed, having been curated through joint leadership by West Nile Regional Civil Society Network (WECISNET), Uganda National NGO Forum, and CivLegacy Foundation, with ecosystem support linked to CivSource Africa, laying stronger groundwork for sustained partnership and community impact.