Four years into our partnership, Together for Impact, some of its most meaningful outcomes may not be the activities and results captured in reports, but rather the openness, trust and willingness to learn and work together that have developed along the way. Danida Fellowship Centre’s lead on the partnership collaboration, who took up the torch six months ago, shares what she has learned about collaboration, relationships and the value of creating space for dialogue and joint learning.
By Kristine Vadskær, Danida Fellowship Centre
The morning mist still lingered between Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro when we gathered for the mini review of the Together for Impact partnership between MS TCDC and Danida Fellowship Centre. Nestled between two great mountains just outside Arusha in Tanzania, the MS TCDC training centre feels like a place designed for reflection. There is a calmness to it that invites people to slow down, listen, and learn.
There is quite a collection of people sitting around the room. Most of them are colleagues at MS TCDC working in programme, finance, administration, management and the front office, but there are also a few colleagues from Danida Fellowship Centre who have travelled to MS TCDC to join the shared training that is about to begin. On the screen, joining us from Denmark, are some other colleagues at Danida Fellowship Centre. Together, we represent many different roles, responsibilities, and experiences in a partnership that has now lasted four years.
I entered this collaboration as Danida Fellowship Centre’s lead on the partnership only this year. In many ways, I came as an outsider looking in. My task was simple enough on paper. It was about creating a space to reflect on where the partnership stands today, and pinpoint what works well, what could work better, and where we want to go next. The framework I had prepared for the meeting included questions about learning, collaboration, administration, communication, ownership, and the future. I wanted us to talk about the practical dimensions of the partnership, but also about something more difficult to capture, namely trust, relationships, and the human side of working together across continents.
At first, the conversation moved carefully. Perhaps that was not surprising. Four years is a long time. In both organisations, people have managed programmes, welcomed new colleagues, navigated crises, adapted to changing priorities, and responded to events far beyond their control. So much has happened that it is not always easy to remember what we have learned together along the way. But gradually during the meeting, something shifted. People began sharing stories about shared initiatives, participants whose feedback had stayed with them. Stories about late adjustments, unexpected challenges, and moments where colleagues stepped in to help one another. And then, the room became brave enough to talk about the difficult things too.
North–South partnerships are not only built on shared ambitions, but they are also built across different systems, procedures, and institutional realities. MS TCDC has its ways of working, Danida Fellowship Centre has its ways, too. Finance systems do not always align. Budget processes sometimes create frustration. Documentation requirements can feel heavier on one side than the other. Timelines that seem straightforward in one office can look very different in another office.
Learning how to work together means learning how to understand not only each other's ambitions and visions but also each other's constraints. Again and again, participants returned to the same. The most valuable aspect of the partnership is not funding, projects, or outputs alone. It is the relationships that have been built over time and the willingness to learn from one another. Several participants spoke warmly about the openness, flexibility, and trust that characterise this collaboration. There was a shared sense that the partnership is strong enough to hold difficult conversations.
As I left the MS TCDC training centre a few days later, I found myself reflecting on how unusual and important the Together for Impact partnership is. Four years in, it is easy to focus on activities delivered, budgets spent, and indicators achieved. Yet, what I witnessed was something deeper. Two learning institutions continuing to learn how to work together. Not despite their differences but because of them.
And perhaps that is the real story of North–South collaboration. Not that it is always easy. It rarely is. But when people remain curious about each other's realities, are willing to listen, and committed to growing together, those differences become a source of strength rather than division. Four years in, Danida Fellowship Centre and MS TCDC are still learning together. And that may be the partnership's greatest achievement so far.
Read the July 2026 newsletter about the Together for Impact partnership between MS TCDC and Danida Fellowship Centre.
