Relationships determine response and commitment. Strong relationships, including interpersonal relationships, help ensure loyalty and commitment as well as ease of communication among activists. In turn, these can lead to a better work ethic and more efficient program management. 

Staff members in Sadaka Reut emphasize the significance of relationships for building trust and for scaling up. Several staff members in the organization note the importance of a culture of communication where all issues are discussed – something that is particularly significant for groups or movements working with individuals from different social identity groups. A family dynamic, with strong personal camaraderie, can also help facilitate greater comfort with sharing professional successes and challenges.

A key part of strengthening relationships is building trust, both among social change activists and with external groups and potential organizational members. Activists emphasize that trust can also attract other individuals, potential partners, and funders to the work. Bronagh Hinds notes that in the Northern Ireland context, work she did co-facilitating sessions among groups including former paramilitaries served as an investment to build trust that could be leveraged later for political and other support. Claire Bailey, of Northern Ireland’s Green Party, also explains that building trust and legitimacy over time with community members is necessary in order to then acquire votes for political initiatives. Building trust is also important for connecting across conflict lines. For example, civil society activist Avila Kilmurray notes that in Northern Ireland, back channel discussions across conflict lines required dealing with individuals who “could be trusted to keep their mouths shut” and who “weren’t going to go off and give interviews to the media,” but who could connect to individuals on the other side without putting their colleagues at risk. 

In the Israeli context, one staff member at a feminist organization notes that the organization works to build trust with men, “because in the decision-making processes the men are the leaders.” By obtaining men’s trust, these groups are better able to meet their objectives of providing opportunities for women to become independent and to enter political spaces. Similarly,  Khadra Al-Sanea, Amal Alnasasra, and Amal Abu-Syiam of the Lakiya Weaving Collective, a Bedouin organization in Israel, emphasize the importance of building strong relationships with men who support the Collective’s work. They note, “When you have the permission and the backup of the men, you can work with the women, and this is a major strategy that [we] use to have the men’s trust.” In other words, it is important to build strong relationships not only among core activists but also to build strong relationships with key allies whose support creates the space for organizations to grow and thrive.

Challenges you may encounter using this tool

• There may not be equal commitment to the work across key stakeholders or organizational leadership. This imbalance can make it challenging to collaborate, which can be exacerbated during periods of scaling.

• Some organizational leaders may not remain embedded in the work, thus straining relationships. 

• The larger the initiative, the more challenging it can be to build relationships across all those involved.