Agric sector workshop in Nigeria in 2016

Help Synergos build the inclusive partnerships this moment requires

The past year and a half have shown how deeply we are interconnected – both in our vulnerability and in our potential.

People and communities face threats to public health, from rising inequality, and from climate change. Many of these threats are interconnected, with nationalism, racism and social injustice contributing to and exacerbated by them.

This moment requires more than technical solutions. It requires new forms of leadership that build trust for collective action.

It requires moving away from ego, hierarchy, and fear to more inclusive forms of decision-making that get at root causes and support proximate leaders and communities.

Synergos builds inclusive partnerships to solve complex problems.

Over the course of more than 30 years, Synergos has supported innovative initiatives in more than 30 countries and regions.

Today our work includes creating partnerships on agriculture and employment in Ethiopia, Nigeria, supporting social entrepreneurs in the Arab World who are helping meet the needs of millions, and helping incubate a philanthropic collaboration to protect the Amazon rainforest in ways that slow climate change and engage local people, and initiatives in Bangladesh, South Africa, and around the world described below.

Bangladesh

Preventing child drowning and supporting early child development
Every day, 30 children between the ages of 1 and 4 die from drowning. the root cause of child drowning is a care gap. Parents struggle to provide enough time and attention for childcare during the day while they also have to work. With so much water close to the places children play, the result is too often tragedy.

We’ve created the Drowning Prevention Partnership bringing together government, businesses, community groups and national and international organizations to mainstream government support for daycare centers. This approach not only saves lives, put provides vital early childhood development benefits that help children grow to their full potential. In a growing economy in which early childhood development is rarely given strong national priority, this is important.

South Africa

Social connectedness and wellbeing of children and communities
A hidden dimension of poverty that greatly affects children who lose parents or live in poverty is the sense of isolation and lack of meaningful social connections. Social connectedness is the alleviation of social isolation, which is both a contributing factor to and a consequence of poverty.

Synergos has built partnerships national and regional nonprofits, government, and the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness to co-create and share social connectedness knowledge. This knowledge is being used to increase resilience, provide psychosocial support, and strengthen collaborative leadership in the children’s sector.

Global

Young people on Zoom call
Creating a network to promote dialogue
The Synergos Global Dialogue Initiative (GDI) is one of four active collaborative communities of Global Philanthropists Circle members. Created in early 2020 by a small group of GPC members, over 20 leaders from philanthropy and civil society organizations from 10 countries regularly convene to share best practices related to dialogue. This learning community discusses issues relating to strengthening democracy, building community cohesion and giving a platform to youth voices as well as many others.

An innovation in 2021 saw Synergos facilitate a collaborative effort among group members to train youth groups from North America, Africa, Middle East and Europe in the art of dialogue. Empowered with their new skills, the group designed and delivered impactful social action projects in their communities such as helping young people in foster care, renovating a derelict community space and giving food packages to people on low incomes.

We invite you to give to Synergos as we head into the new year.

Your support underwrites Synergos’ work starting and supporting inclusive approaches to complex problems around the world.

Synergos holds the highest rating from Charity Navigator: 4 stars. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed under U.S. law. (Download a PDF gift form.)