Partnering

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1 THE PARTNERING CHALLENGE THE RATIONALE FOR PARTNERING In 1992 the UN Conference on Environment and Development - the Rio Earth Summit - placed partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society as central to achieving global sustainable development. This has been echoed by successive summits on population, urban development, gender, social development and - most recently and most vigorously - at the Rio follow-up summit held in Johannesburg in 2002. But why ‘partnership’? The hypothesis underpinning a partnership approach is that only with comprehensive and widespread cross-sector collaboration can we ensure that sustainable development initiatives are imaginative, coherent and integrated enough to tackle the most intractable problems. Single sector approaches have been tried and have proved disappointing. Working separately, different sectors have developed activities in isolation - sometimes competing with each other and/or duplicating effort and wasting valuable resources. Working separately has all too often led to the development of a ‘blame culture’ in which chaos or neglect is always regarded as someone else’s fault. So partnership provides a new opportunity for doing development better - by recognising the qualities and competencies of each sector and finding new ways of harnessing these for the common good. What does each sector - whether the public sector, business sector or civil society - bring? The ‘core business’ of each sector leads to quite different priorities, values and attributes. These can be summarised as follows: SECTOR CORE BUSINESS MAIN ATTRIBUTES PUBLIC SECTOR The rule of law by: • Creating frameworks for economic, political and social rights and generating political commitment to development • Developing regulations and standard - setting mechanisms as well as adherence to international obligations • Providing public services to ensure basic needs and rights are met ‘Rights’ driven, the public sector provides access, information, stability and legitimacy BUSINESS SECTOR Investment and trade by: • Creating goods and services • Providing employment opportunities, innovation and economic growth • Maximising profits for investors to ensure further investment that will allow the business to continue to innovate ‘Profits’ driven, the business sector is inventive, productive, highly focussed and fast CIVIL SOCIETY Social development by: • Creating opportunities for individual growth and creativity • Providing support and services for those in need or excluded from mainstream society • Acting as guardians of the public good ‘Values’ driven, civil society is responsive, vocal, inclusive and imaginative 3
BOX 1 12 PHASES IN THE PARTNERING PROCESS 1 SCOPING Understanding the challenge; gathering information; consulting with stakeholders and with potential external resource providers; building a vision of / for the partnership 12 SUSTAINING OR TERMINATING Building sustainability or agreeing an appropriate conclusion 2 IDENTIFYING Identifying potential partners and - if suitable - securing their involvement; motivating them and encouraging them to work together 11 INSTITUTIONALISING Building appropriate structures and mechanisms for the partnership to ensure longer-term commitment and continuity 3 BUILDING Partners build their working relationship through agreeing the goals, objectives and core principles that will underpin their partnership 10 REVISING Revising the partnership, programme(s) or project(s) in the light of experience 4 PLANNING Partners plan programme of activities and begin to outline a coherent project 9 REVIEWING Reviewing the partnership: what is the impact of the partnership on partner organisations? Is it time for some partners to leave and / or new partners to join? 5 MANAGING Partners explore structure and management of their partnership medium to long-term 8 MEASURING Measuring and reporting on impact and effectiveness - outputs and outcomes. Is the partnership achieving its goals? 6 RESOURCING Partners (and other supporters) identify and mobilise cash and non-cash resources 7 IMPLEMENTING Once resources are in place and project details agreed, the implementation process starts - working to a pre-agreed timetable and (ideally) to specific deliverables REMEMBER These are guidelines only. Each partnership will follow its own unique development pathway. The important thing is to be aware that each of the ‘phases’ outlined above is important and should not be neglected if the partnership is to remain balanced and on course to achieve its goals.
Page 1 and 2: the Partnering toolbook
Page 3 and 4: table of contents 1 THE PARTNERING
Page 8 and 9: In addition to these general attrib
Page 10 and 11: MUTUAL BENEFIT? If all partners are
Page 12 and 13: 2 BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS IDENTIFYING
Page 14 and 15: RESOURCE MAPPING Prior to formalisi
Page 16 and 17: 3 PARTNERING AGREEMENTS SECURING PA
Page 18 and 19: GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY Even
Page 20 and 21: 4 MANAGING THE PARTNERING PROCESS O
Page 22 and 23: PARTNERING SKILLS Successful partne
Page 24 and 25: GOOD PARTNERING PRACTICE USING LANG
Page 26 and 27: KEEPING RECORDS Keeping good record
Page 28 and 29: 5 DELIVERING SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS MA
Page 30 and 31: 6 SUSTAINING PARTNERSHIPS PLANNING
Page 32 and 33: BUILDING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY How
Page 34 and 35: So partners need to address whether
Page 36 and 37: 7 SUCCESSFUL PARTNERING DEFINING SU
Page 38 and 39: • The partnership has made a usef
Page 40 and 41: NOTES 37
Page 42 and 43: NOTES 39
Page 44 and 45: References The Partnering Toolbook

Partnering

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