Written by Wendy Chamberlain, Senior Advisor, Climate and Market Linkages, Trickle Up, and Taddeo Muriuki, Chief Government Relations and Technical Assistance Officer, Village Enterprise

A collaborative blog by Trickle Up and Village Enterprise

For NGOs that work to advance economic inclusion, like Trickle Up and Village Enterprise, government adoption is widely recognized as the most viable and sustainable pathway to scale our programs. 

Yet, conversations about scale too often focus on its promise rather than actual execution. Far less attention is paid to the practical realities of working with governments: navigating political cycles, aligning with budgetary constraints, and sustaining partnerships amid competing priorities. What does it truly take for governments and NGOs to work side by side to deliver lasting impact and scale? 

That question was at the heart of a joint exchange convened by Trickle Up and Village Enterprise during the most recent UN General Assembly. The event brought together practitioners and other stakeholders to discuss the realities and challenges of scaling economic inclusion programs through government partnerships. Government representatives were invited to share candid insights on their experience working with us, and what they look for in their NGO partners. Now, we’ll share lessons from both organizations, grounded in this conversation as well as our respective experiences working alongside governments.

Trickle Up has a rich history of collaboration with national and local governments in India and Guatemala, but we recognize that government partnership is deeply contextual, and that lessons learned in one setting are not universally applicable. To deepen our collective understanding, we initiated a knowledge exchange with Village Enterprise to draw from each other’s experiences working with municipal and national governments across geographies, and we discovered a few lessons worth exploring:

1. Working with governments is not a quick path to scale, but it is often the most sustainable.

Partnerships with governments and communities remain the most effective way to build long-term resilience for people living in extreme poverty. However, government partnerships should not be seen as an instant path to scale. It takes time, a deep and highly contextual understanding of public systems and political priorities, and sustained resources to commit to working alongside governments. 

From Village Enterprise’s perspective, the exchange with Trickle Up reinforced a central truth evident across the African countries where we work: government adoption offers the strongest pathway to scale—but only when the journey is grounded in honesty, patience, and a commitment to strengthening public systems rather than working around them.

2. The pathway to government ownership typically unfolds in stages.

This pathway often begins with early exposure and learning-by-doing, followed by deeper policy alignment and investments in systems strengthening, and ultimately leads to governments allocating their own resources for implementation. 

• In Kenya, Village Enterprise has worked with county governments to begin developing their own economic inclusion policies and budgets. At the national level, the State Department for Social Protection led the development of the Kenya Ultra-Poor Graduation Strategy with input and guidance from Village Enterprise—an important signal of long-term government commitment. 
• In Rwanda, Village Enterprise is supporting government teams as they lead the development of a national Graduation management information system (MIS) and train parasocial workers who will drive implementation at the community level. 
• In Guatemala, where Trickle Up has worked closely with municipal governments, several municipalities are allocating portions of their budgets to support economic inclusion programming. 
• In India, Trickle Up is bridging national and local priorities by partnering with local self-government institutions—such as rural Panchayats—to integrate economic inclusion strategies within rural governance structures.

3. Context matters

A central driver of the learning exchange was to deepen our understanding of how our approaches to government partnerships must vary by context. Too often, government partnerships are discussed as if a single, uniform model applies across settings. But in practice, success depends on a nuanced, deep understanding of the context, including the distinct priorities that exist at national and subnational levels. 

In this sense, partnerships with local governments are especially important, as they are closest to communities and often best positioned to drive meaningful change on the ground. At the same time, local engagement must be pursued in alignment with national priorities and policy frameworks to ensure coherence, sustainability, and long-term impact.

Building on Our Ongoing Dialogue 

Beyond these lessons, the exchange reinforced several critical principles that should remain front of mind in any partnership with government:

1. A clear, shared value proposition is essential. Governments and NGOs must have aligned objectives, and donor incentives alone are insufficient to sustain meaningful government engagement.
2. Funding realities must be considered up front. Developing government partnerships often takes longer than typical donor funding cycles and is not a rapid path to scale. Budgets for this work should anticipate longer time horizons and, in many cases, blended or multi-donor support.
3. Both sides must invest in the right expertise. Effective partnerships require staff who deeply understand the nuances and priorities of each partner.
4. Adaptability is non-negotiable. Government priorities can and do shift over time, so it is essential to remain responsive to changing political, institutional, and fiscal contexts.
5. Fiscal constraints cannot be ignored. Many governments face significant budget pressures due to debt burdens and competing demands. In this environment, NGOs play a critical role in strengthening the enabling environment—through improved policies, stronger systems, reliable data, and local capacity—so that government-led models can take root and endure, even within constrained fiscal space.
6. Trust must be intentionally built and maintained. Trust between governments and NGOs develops through consistent, day-to-day engagement with local and national counterparts, not solely through formal agreements or high-level commitments.
7. NGO flexibility accelerates ownership. When NGOs align with government priorities and remain engaged through the slower, less visible phases of implementation, partnerships deepen and government ownership grows.
8. Coordination across NGOs matters. When organizations align their approaches, share evidence, and speak with a more unified voice, it reduces fragmentation for governments and increases collective influence. Strong communities of practice help governments avoid navigating multiple models or competing expectations.

The importance of partnerships between governments and NGOs is well established, yet discussions often overlook the practical, day-to-day realities that ultimately determine whether these partnerships succeed. These realities are central to local systems strengthening and to building the policies, institutional capacity, and data needed for sustainable impact. 

The Trickle Up and Village Enterprise learning exchanges underscored that while government adoption remains the most durable pathway to scaling economic inclusion programs, it demands that NGOs approach the work with humility, patience, and a willingness to center government leadership at every stage. By continuing to surface honest lessons—from governments, NGOs, funders, and communities alike—we can strengthen the path forward. Government ownership deepens when programs are aligned with local priorities and when technical partners walk alongside governments, not ahead.

We look forward to continuing this shared learning journey, because lasting change is built through long-term collaboration and a collective commitment to learning together.

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