Today, each of us can participate in changing the lives of the disadvantaged faster and more meaningfully than has been possible at any other time in history. But to make the most of this moment, we have to be more open‑minded about whom we partner with and more imaginative about how we come together to harness each other's knowledge and experience.

At the Dasra Girl Alliance (DGA), we have been able to build momentum around the issue of empowering adolescent girls in India by bringing together a government agency, USAID; a family foundation, the Kiawah Trust; and a corporate philanthropy, the Piramal Foundation. A first-of-its-kind multi-stakeholder initiative in India, DGA aims to build an ecosystem that empowers adolescent girls and improves health outcomes for mothers and children, ultimately improving five million lives over five years.

When we began in 2013, few in India believed that investing in girls could alleviate poverty across generations. Funders hesitated before supporting girl-focused programs, assuming diminished impact when the girls married. We also lacked national policies that specifically addressed adolescent needs. But combining the technical expertise of USAID, the global experience of Kiawah, Piramal's corporate rigor, and Dasra's on-the-ground experience has enabled us to raise more than $14 million for the sector, build the institutional capacity of organizations that have deployed $20 million to serve some 4.7 million people, and engage with thousands of stakeholders to build awareness and more partnerships for greater impact.

Such multi‑stakeholder initiatives are critical to achieving the ambitious targets within the SDGs. The combined force of several actors inspires action around an issue in a way that no single entity can accomplish. Through our work, we've learned what it means to build a movement around an issue, and our experience holds lessons that may be relevant for others seeking to address the new set of global goals:

1. A partnership is like a marriage; choose wisely. The success of a partnership is as good as the compatibility of the parties involved. Though each partner's priorities need not be identical, shared interests that mirror the collaboration's objectives are necessary. This is an obvious yet often underplayed fact. Just as critical is equal voice, being clear about what each partner is able to bring to the table, and designing roles and feedback loops accordingly.

2. Audacity and focus must go hand-in-hand. The intractability of the challenges we're tackling demands nothing short of audacity. And partnering with others enables us to dream bigger. Yet broad and all-encompassing goals are also difficult to measure. We must refine our objectives and exclude anything that dilutes focus. Bringing on heavyweight partners can be tempting, but exercising restraint in favor of decisions that serve the goals of the initiative are more lilely to pay off.

3. Adapting is more important than planning. Focus matters, but so does room for tweaking along the way. Change is inevitable, so it's best to design for it. This need not alter outcomes, but it may affect the approach. At DGA, we've found it beneficial to review our progress and revisit plans every six to twelve months to ensure that we're incorporating new information, improving effectiveness, and adapting while staying on track to achieve our goals.

Partnerships come in all shapes and sizes, and different solutions appeal to different stakeholders. Yet the lessons we're learning from cross‑sector multi-stakeholder initiatives, small and large, are valuable for others embarking on similar efforts. It's only through our collective experience with partnerships that new knowledge and approaches will emerge. With hard work and a little luck, someday we will no longer need to dream up a more prosperous world; we'll already be living in it.

Rachita Vora is manager of the Dasra Girl Alliance. You can email her at rachita@dasra.org.