Between 2016 and 2018, OTT supported the Latin American network of think tanks, ILAIPP, to strengthen the sustainability capacity of the network and of its members.
The project involved of:
- Direct support to the network’s facilitator and executive body to establish a formal host and develop a sustainability strategy
- Delivery of an online course on re-thinking funding models for think tanks in Latin America and a series of webinars
- Mentoring of selected activities by think tanks in the network
- Development of learning products to share with the network and with the wider public.
One of the components of the project consisted of live webinars delivered by international experts on specific sustainability-related topics of interest of the think tanks. Five webinars took place during 2017, with ILAIPP members as the main audience. A second round of four webinars was delivered in 2018, but this time participation was open to all think tanks within and beyond the Think Tank Initiative.
You can now watch these webinars below. Six webinars were conducted in English and three in Spanish. For the majority of the webinars, the international experts prepared a follow up article so participants could inquire more about the topic, which you can also find here.
Webinars
1. Approaching the private sector as a funding source, May 2017
Expert: Inés Castro Almeyra, Executive Director of Fundación Navarro Viola (Argentina) and former Fundraising Director at CIPPEC (Argentina)
Article: Approaching the private sector as a funding source
2. Designing a portfolio of services, June 2017
Expert: Hans Gutbrod, Coordinator of Transparify (Georgia)
Article: Developing a portfolio of services: unique, repeatable, profitable & willing to pay
3. Finding and engaging new funders for your think tank, July 2017
Expert: Marc-Andre Pradervand, fundraising director of Synapsis Foundation – AFS (Switzerland)
Article: Developing a fundraising culture in your think tank
4. Challenges and opportunities of working with governments, October 2017
Experts: Ángela Penagos, Director of the Colombia office of Rimisp (Colombia); Oswaldo Molina, Researcher at Centro de Investigación de la Universidad del Pacífico (Perú); and Juan José Rodil, Principal Researcher at CIPPEC (Argentina)
Article: Working with governments: lessons from Latin America
5. How to create a smart project budget for think tanks, November 2017
Expert: Amanda Jones, Programme Manager at Overseas Development Institute (United Kingdom)
Article: How to create a smart project budget for think tanks
6. Rethinking the business model, May 2018
Experts: Guillermo González, former Executive Director of Espacio Público (Chile); Julie LaFrance, Senior Program Specialist of the Think Tank Initiative; and Ana Patricia Muñoz, Executive Director of Grupo FARO (Ecuador)
Article: Rethinking the business model: the case of Espacio Público
7. Evidence informed fundraising strategy, June 2018
Expert: Chukwuka Onyekwena, Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (Nigeria)
Article: Towards innovative fundraising strategies for think tanks
8. Crowdfunding for think tanks, June 2018
Experts: Anita Gallagher, HIPGive; Carmen Vergara, Resource Mobilization Coordinator at FUSADES (El Salvador); and Michael Kleiman, Founder & Executive Director of MediaTank (United States)
9. Developing a virtual training offer from and for thought centers, June 2018
Experts: Heidi Arévalo, Guisela Mayén and Ana Lucía Blas of ASIES (Guatemala); Vanesa Weyrauch, co-founder of Politics & Ideas; and Mauricio Díaz Burdett and Jorge Henríquez, FOSDEH (Honduras)
All the webinars are available on OTT’s YouTube channel.