The nature and type of partnership working in community action projects is wide-ranging: no single approach is appropriate for all.
However, there are some guiding principles and issues to consider when planning new initiatives:
- Be open to exploring new partnerships, particularly with community and voluntary sector organisations, as well as statutory/public sector partners.
- Invest time in building these partnerships and testing joint working opportunities before launching into larger-scale projects.
- Ensure appropriate due diligence is carried out in line with the scale of the project and the risk (seek advice from your council's finance/legal experts or use tools such as those published by the Charity Commission).
- Use community action investment to stimulate new partnerships and collaboration within the market – this is likely to lead to longer-term and more sustainable solutions.
- Ensure that partners are actively engaged in the governance, planning and monitoring arrangements and are able to take accountability for delivery.
Questions for developing strong partnerships and collaborative working
- Which external partners need to be engaged?
- What role do these other stakeholders have in the project – for example joint funding, commissioning or delivery, or monitoring and evaluation?
- Will the partners form part of the governance arrangements? If so, how?
- How will the partners be engaged in the project on a day-to-day basis – communication channels, formal groups, workshops?
- How regularly do discussions with partners need to take place?
- Does the partnership align clearly with the vision and objectives of the council?
Resources and links
- M Schoen, S Moreland-Russell, K Prewitt, B Carothers (2014), ‘Social network analysis of public health programs to measure partnership' in Social Science & Medicine issue 123
- OECD (2011), Together for better public services: partnering with citizens and civil society