25Nov
Initiative · under Organisational System Strengthening
Local Coalition Accelerator
Coalitions that outlast the project that funded them — with shared governance, pooled capability and a joint funding proposition rather than a consortium agreement that expires.
InitiativeShared governanceJoint funding proposition
Why coalitions and not consortia
A consortium is an arrangement for a grant. A coalition is an institution.
Local organisations are routinely asked to partner for the duration of a project, then to compete for the next one. The structures built in that arrangement — the shared systems, the joint reporting, the trust — dissolve when the grant closes, and the next project starts from zero.
The Local Coalition Accelerator treats the coalition itself as the thing being built. Members agree governance that outlives any single grant, pool capability so that no one organisation has to hold every system, and develop a funding proposition they take to donors together rather than separately.
That also changes the power dynamic. Five organisations with shared governance and a joint proposition negotiate differently from five organisations bidding against each other.
At a glance
- Sits under
- Organisational System Strengthening
- Unit of work
- The coalition, not the organisation
- Test of success
- It survives the funding that started it
- First coalition
- Khulna, 2026
Coalitions & partners
Who is in a coalition
Coalition membership and partner logos to be supplied as each coalition formalises its governance.
Khulna coastal coalition
UUK
SMS
CPS
DBJS
BUF
Five member organisations, formalised 2026.
Supporting partners
Start Bangladesh Hub
Partner to confirm
Partner to confirm
Outputs
What a coalition leaves behind
Four outputs, each of which has to exist as a document or a system rather than an intention.
- 01
A governance agreement
Signed terms covering decision rights, dispute resolution, admission of new members and what happens if a member leaves. Written while everyone is getting on, not when they are not.
- 02
A shared systems map
Which organisation holds which capability for the coalition — finance, safeguarding, MEL, procurement — so no member has to build everything, and no capability is missing.
- 03
A joint funding proposition
One articulation of what the coalition offers, taken to donors collectively. Not five proposals with the same annexes.
- 04
A learning record
What held and what did not, documented for the next coalition rather than lost when the accelerator cohort ends.
Local knowledge is primary knowledge
What's coming up