The Anaya Institutional Partnership Method
How a connection becomes a working partnership.
Our work follows six steps. They describe what already happens in every engagement, not a theoretical model.
Step 1
Identify the divide.
Which parties would benefit from working together, but wouldn't naturally end up in the same room?
- Name the divide in plain terms.
- Be specific about why they don't connect: different networks, languages, levels of trust, or no channel at all.
For an international platform entering an African market, such as Quitch, the divide is usually plain: the platform and the institutions it could serve share no network, no procurement language and no channel to meet.
Step 2
Map stakeholders.
Who influences, who decides, and who can block?
- Find the formal decision-maker and the informal influencers.
- Separate those who can say yes, those who can say no, and those whose support makes a yes easier.
With Fundaflix, schools and government run on different clocks: principal-level decisions move fast, provincial relationships take sustained building. Different maps, different timeframes.
Step 3
Qualify alignment.
Do the incentives on both sides actually align, or is something structural in the way?
- Ask what each side really needs.
- Tell a commercial obstacle (solvable with better pitching, pricing or relationships) apart from a structural one (a technical, regulatory or capability gap that no relationship work will fix).
This is the step most consultants skip, and it's the one that matters most. We diagnose whether the real blocker is commercial or structural before anyone wastes time or credibility.
Step 4
Build connection.
How does the relationship actually get built?
- Sequence introductions deliberately, starting with the likely internal champion.
- Earn credibility before spending it.
- Keep momentum, because “long silences are where good opportunities quietly die.”
On the EU-funded EDSE programme, this meant sustained coordination across nine provinces and multiple government and NGO stakeholders over the life of the programme, not a single introduction.
Step 5
Structure the partnership.
Pilot, programme, commercial agreement, or something more formal?
- Match the structure to the stakes: a pilot for an unproven fit, a full agreement once results exist.
- Build in sensible protections.
- “A good relationship poorly structured commercially still fails.”
Step 6
Hold and scale.
Once the partnership is real, how is it sustained and grown?
- Keep holding the relationship after signature.
- Look for the natural next step: a second opportunity, channel or stakeholder.
- Know when a relationship is mature enough to hand over day-to-day.
With Semaphore, this meant 16 months of sustained institutional relationship-holding across South African schools, not a single campaign.
Stalled partnership? It usually broke at Step 2 or Step 3.
Tell us where it's stuck.