Leading processes for change

The EDP is a public benefit collaborative intermediary organisation that supports diverse stakeholders to harness each other’s energy, knowledge and resources for collective impact and change.

We design, facilitate and enable collaboration and change processes that improve interventions to address society’s most pressing development challenges.

How we work

The ‘EDP Way’ of leading partnering processes for change combines theoretical and systems knowledge with user-friendly tools grounded in practical experience. This approach helps partners develop capabilities to deal with complex societal issues which involve many stakeholders, diverging interests, polarised environments and uncertainty.

Our direct experience of working within diverse public sector authorising environments enables us to build state capacity through strengthening relationships between state and non-state actors.

We support our partners by

• Diagnosing systemic issues and designing inclusive, effective change processes
• Designing partnering processes and building partnering readiness capabilities 
• Convening bridging and implementation platforms that balance diverse interests in contested, low-trust environments 
• Creating safe spaces for action-oriented learning and experimentation to promote adaptive programming and delivery

We offer

• Knowledge-building activities and action learning
• Inclusive stakeholder engagement processes
• Systems thinking, joint problem identification & analysis
• Partnering frameworks & applied partnering processes
• Facilitated dialogues, learning networks and communities of practice
• Training and capacity building in adaptive and collaborative leadership 

Our track record

The EDP has ten years of practical experience in facilitating cross-sector collaborations around complex issues and challenges including agriculture and rural development; inclusive economic and social development; unemployment; urban management and spatial transformation; climate change and green economy management; resilience and adaptation; food, energy and water security and governance; transport and mobility; and community safety and cohesion.

EDP governance and funding

The EDP is an independent not-for-profit company (NPC), and is governed by the Companies Act 71 of 2008 and a Board of Directors, chaired by Ashoek Adhikari. The EDP is a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) number: 930050144.

The EDP receives funding from the Western Cape Government, the City of Cape Town, other municipalities within the Western Cape, the South African National Government and private donors.