Most organisations these days talk about how effective partnerships are central to the strategic development of their work and projects, yet many cut corners on the strategic development of the partnership arrangement itself.
Developing and sustaining effective working relationships requires a high level of commitment and a great deal of hard work if effective outcomes are going to be attained for all parties involved.
Some research shows that in the field of working with young people up to 70% of partnerships fail in achieving their outcomes for all those involved. Therefore it is a process that needs to be intrinsic to the planning stage and be given as much thought as other aspects.
If you have the time, if the project is right and if you have the correct partner(s) the benefits to working this way are numerous. These are covered in the following section. However, before moving those just take a step back and think about what is meant by partnership for you and which type of partnership would suit the work.
There are four main types of partnership:
All of the above are valid and workable types of partnership. If partners on a project have a different idea of what the partnership structure is, it is unlikely to succeed. Resentment and problems will emerge as the project moves forward with this different understanding of how it will work.
There are many benefits to both service users and organisations when organisations successfully work in partnership with others. Benefits include:
Working alongside others should assist partners to meet not only their own organisational objects but shared targets for the work or in a specific geographic area through:
There are essentially two ways to go about this. One is to join an already established partnership and the other is to start from scratch to form your own. It maybe that partnering with one of the already established organisations such as Community Safety Partnerships – which generally include, Schools, Youth Service, Health and Police as well as a range of local voluntary organisations -will meet your needs. However you will be bound by their mission statement and objectives which might not suit what you are trying to achieve.
Before beginning to look for partners you need to be very clear about what you plan to do and what you are looking for a partner to contribute. E.g. If you are looking to deliver a range of VAWG awareness raising programmes in Schools and Youth clubs what is it you need from those organisations?
Using networks you are already a part of is one of the most effective ways of finding new and appropriate partners as your regular networks are likely to consist of people you trust and respect. You will also already have some knowledge of the organisations objectives and ethos.
If your project involves working with a particular client group and is a new piece of work that has not been carried out before in your area you are more likely to have to develop a partnership from scratch.
When you have identified the partners you need to work with, the next step is to approach them. If you are hoping to partner with a large organisation, you need to consider who the best person to approach would be. E.g. If you want to work with a school on a VAWG project it is likely to be more productive if you communicate with a Director of Safeguarding or a Head of Pastoral Care. These people are more likely to be enthusiastic about your work. These people can then engage others within the school as appropriate.
Think carefully about how you will present your rationale for working together; don’t just list the reasons why it would benefit you!
For a partnership to be successful all partners need to be fully engaged and committed to the work and all involved need to:
All areas have Local Strategic Partnerships or Community Safety Partnerships are generally more successful because one organisation is not left with doing everything and the responsibility is shared. Having access to a range of ideas and sharing financial costs means that they may be able to address issues that they have previously avoided. Therefore in addition to the above list, partners will be able to:
Once you have considered all of the above it’s time to get started. In summary of the above what you need to do is:
You can download a AVA Partnership agreement checklist