Partnerships: Practitioner Notes

Practitioner Notes are designed to offer practical recommendations for project partners thinking of entering into partnering arrangements.

• Benefits to NGOs of Tri-Sector Partnerships
  This note briefly surveys the benefits to NGOs and civil society organisations of working in partnership to reach the poor. It introduces the concept of tri-sector partnerships, where civil society is given a formalised role in partnership alongside the public and private sectors. It suggests ways in which both poor communities and NGOs can gain from such engagement, and deals with the concerns that partnering may arouse.

• Benefits to the Public Sector of Tri-Sector Partnerships
  This note explores the benefits to the public sector of working in partnership to serve poor customers. It suggests why the public sector should seek help in serving poor customers and introduces the concept of tri-sector partnerships. It suggests ways in which both poor communities and public institutions can gain from such engagement, and deals with the concerns that partnering may arouse.

• Benefits to Business of Tri-Sector Partnerships
  This note briefly surveys the benefits to business of working in partnership to serve poor customers. It suggests why private companies should be concerned with serving the poor and introduces the concept of tri-sector partnerships (TSPs). Reasons why private sector actors (whether large or small, international or local) should be interested in partnering with civil society and the public sector are discussed. Equally, circumstances where TSPs may not be the best option are suggested.

• Contracting NGOs
  Multi-sector partnerships often rely on NGOs to represent the interests of civil society. This practitioner note reviews the main issues, challenges and approaches associated with contracting NGOs.

• Conceiving and Managing Partnerships
  This paper aims to relate the BPD initiative to the existing body of research into partnerships. It provides a few guidelines on partnership formation, discussing the objectives of collaboration, setting-up governance structures, delineating roles and responsibilities and evaluating partnership impacts.

• Perceptions of Partnership
  Based on a series of sector-specific workshops bringing together practitioners from partnership projects on the ground, this note looks at perceptions of style and competencies of the three sectors. Understanding these expectations at the outset allows partners to move from the "generic" to the specific qualities of their proposed partners.

• Plotting Partnerships: Ensuring Accountability and Fostering Innovation
  This paper explores the way practitioners approach multi-sector partnerships in order to deliver services, based specifically on design features in water and sanitation projects. By plotting partnerships on two axes that balance Innovation and Accountability against Policy and Task Orientations, this report aims to reveal where opportunities for both delivery and influence are being missed.

• The Purists Partnership: Debunking the Terminology of Partnerships  
  This paper looks at the current rhetoric surrounding partnerships. Given that partnership language frames expectations, being honest about the challenges of multi-sector partnerships is the only way to ensure that partnerships are used most effectively.

• Community-Focussed Partnerships: Unpacking Sustainability 
  In Singida, Tanzania, WaterAid has recently started a project that looks to test some new ideas on both partnerships and on scaling up by working with the local government, local NGOs and local private sector to bring water and sanitation services to nineteen peri-urban communities. This note tries to capture some of that early learning.

• Partnership Accountability Unpacking the Concept
  This paper attempts to unpack the term accountability specifically with regard to partnerships. As a supplement to The Partnership Paperchase, the aim of this piece is not to be prescriptive but to promote a greater understanding of how different accountability mechanisms can be represented through more careful attention to partnership practices and documentation.