Working with Partners

Within East Dunbartonshire there are already a number of local partnerships, which have been developed, for example:

Community Planning
Learning Strategy
Children’s Strategy Group
Joint Forum

Why work in partnership

Over a number of years Government Policy has been encouraging organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors to work in partnership as part of their commitment to “joined-up action”. The theory is that partnership working can achieve something worthwhile through joint working that is better than the efforts of individual partners. In days of scarce resources it is seen as a way of saving time, money and duplication of work.

Much of the voluntary sector, being more flexible, radical and invovative in its working approach, finds partnership working easier than do statutory agencies, but this has been gradually changing over the years. The statutory agencies are finding out that there are many benefits from partnership working, which in some cases can mean a reduction in their workloads. It can also benefit all parties involved when there is a sharing of information, knowledge and skills. However, there are still a number of problems to address, the path to partnership working may not always be a smooth one and gains will not be automatic.

Advantages of partnership working

“Partnership working has the benefit of maximising the opportunities for voluntary sector members to contribute their experience and ideas to the development and implementation of public policy, thereby making public policy more sensitive to the needs of communities.”

(Scottish Compact Good Practice Guide on Partnership Working)

Wider perspective and range of interests than single organisations would have.
Access to resources (staff, equipment, facilities) of a range of organisations.
Necessary for some and advantageous for most funding applications.
Opportunity to influence decisions at a higher level and to represent views of smaller organisations.
Better understanding of the work of partnership organisations.
Collaborative approach.
Bigger voice if partnership approach is adopted which could mean raising the profile/ respect of organisations.
Can lead to smaller organisations feeling more included in decision-making process.
Opportunity for the exchange of ideas.
Enhanced levels of co-ordination and co-operation between agencies.

Partnerships can be important in approaches to complex issues that require a multi-agency approach.

Reasons for partnerships

Partnerships may be formed for the following purposes:

As a forum for strategic discussion.
To pool resources for delivering services or carrying out projects.
To bid for funding.
To create a network around a specific project or community.

What prospective partners should consider

Will membership help my organisation to achieve its aims and objectives?
What can be achieved better by working with others?
What do we want out of partnership working?
What and how much are we willing/able to put in?

Establishing the ground rules

At the very start it is important to establish the following:

Shared mission and common approach.
Confidentiality.
Common purpose and aims.
Clear timetable for meetings, action and feedback.
What commitment each partner can commit.
Public accountability.
Agreed working practices.
Mutual respect for the culture of other organisations.

Without establishing ground rules, confusion may arise regarding the function and nature of the partnership.

A successful partnership will…

Set measurable and realistic targets for improvement and evaluating outcomes.
Develop delivery-focused policies.
Identify the gains of partnership working for each agency involved.
Structures should be established early on, this can be time consuming at the beginning but worth having in place.
A statement should be draw up at the beginning of the common purpose of what the partnership will achieve and what the role of each partner will be. Partnerships should be inclusive with all partners co-operating as equals.
Information should be exchanged as much as possible, so that there is a good spread of information and also so that gaps can be identified.
The outcome of the partnership should always be the partnerships priority.

Barriers to success

Partnerships may be ineffective for the following reasons:

Lack of financial empowerment.

Lack of understanding to the purpose.

Lack of commitment.

Having inappropriate representation (either agencies or individuals within agencies)

Barriers to joined up working can be related to the structure, the process or may be cultural. Cultural barriers are the most important. This occurs when partners cannot understand other agencies perspective. The major challenge of any partnership working is learning to work together.

What the voluntary sector should seek from partnership working

If you are involved in a partnership with the private or statutory sector you should ask for a clear indication of the amount of time and degree of involvement expected of your organisation.

If you have been invited along after the formation of the partnership you should be allowed time to get to know what has been happening before all the key decisions are taken.

There should be recognition by all agencies of the many demands on organisations with limited resources. The added dimension that you can bring to a partnership, and the different working culture you operate in should be emphasised, and taken on board by other agencies.

Resources should be made available to you so that you are not unfairly burdened with, for example, administrative duties.

Partnerships within the voluntary sector

Voluntary organisations may form partnerships to provide complementary services to clients.

Partnerships take time to develop and will only work well if the needs of the clients are put ahead of those of the partners. Partnerships involve building relationships between organisations, and more importantly, between the individuals within those organisations who will be working closely together. Those involved must be prepared to work together towards a common purpose rather than for the benefit of their own organisation. This obviously creates difficulties and may lead to a conflict of loyalties. Working collaboratively is arrived at through negotiation and compromise. We must accept that other organisations will have different values and try to understand these and accommodate them, whilst not denying those held by our own organisation.

Funding partners

There is a lot of pressure on voluntary organisations to seek partners to access funding opportunities. If this is the prime reason for forming a partnership it is likely to form a poor base for working together. The partners should have more in common than a need to access funding. If you are invited to join a partnership because your type of organisation enables the fund seekers to tick the relevant box on a funding application, think very carefully before agreeing. It may be tempting, but you may need to ask yourself a number of questions as to whether this is what is best for your organisation, is it in line with your aims and objectives and what you will – or will not be – able to contribute to the partnership.

If on the other hand, organisations have been working together for some time they may wish to form a closer, more formal liaison in order to make a funding bid that fits all of their aims and objectives. This is the ideal situation in which a partnership bid should be made, and one that is more likely to succeed.

Who should the partners be?

You have to think very carefully before inviting organisations to form a partnership. Firstly you have to consider why you are forming the partnership and who the client group will be. Secondly you have to consider if the organisations you are inviting will be of any benefit to the partnership and what they can contribute. Thirdly you have to consider what resources can be applied to the partnership if any, to encourage smaller organisations to become involved, and lastly you have to consider what time organisations will have to give to the partnership. This will ensure that you can provide that type of information when asking organisations along. It is also useful to involve those who have some power to help so that you can ensure your aims and objectives can come to fruition.

Equal partners

Some partners will be bigger than others in terms of staffing, financial resources and power. This should not belittle the contribution of smaller organisations that may be able to contribute more in terms of innovative thinking, enthusiasm and community support.

Representatives from smaller organisations will benefit from training to enhance the skills they will require to work within partnerships. It is possible that they may be able to access this training, or capacity building through other members of the partnership, enhancing the value the organisation gets from being a partner. Representatives from larger organisations may also require training in partnership working.

People make partnerships work

In practice it is people who belong to partnerships rather than organisations. The individual chosen to represent your organisation on a partnership is the one who will negotiate, network, consult and use their various skills to help the partnership work. If the individual is unsuitable for any reason, this will reflect on your organisation and the ability of the partnership to operate. The person chosen to represent your organisation should be committed to the aims and objectives of the partnership and willing to take an active part. They will require support and backing from the rest of your team.

Focus on results

A partnership needs to be able to measure outcomes and success in order to appreciate its own values. This involves the setting up of a monitoring and evaluation procedure. Otherwise the partnership can become directionless and lacking in purpose

Evaluation of Partnership Working

Input

Commitment in terms of time, ideas, money, facilities and in-kind support. Evaluating inputs is mainly a monitoring process, contributions can be reviewed.

Process

Analysis of:

Where the inputs are going and whether they could be used more effectively.
Group commitment.
How the partnership involves the community.
Decision-making.

Outputs

Short-term impacts of what the partnership does or produces. These will be evaluated against the aims and objectives set by the partnership.

Outcomes

Long-term effects of the partnership’s activities. These will generally have to be measured through the wider community.

Exit strategy

Partnerships are often time bound, and consideration should be given to exit strategies from the process, ensuring that this is managed effectively. Some partnership may have to end suddenly, if for example there is withdrawal of funding from a partner organisation.

How East Dunbartonshire CVS can help?

EDCVS have staff that can help your organisation to prepare a constitution, write an action plan and give advice on applying for charitable status.
We have Grantfinder in the office. Contact us to make an appointment and you will receive help in using the database.
We have a number of funding books that you may browse.
We can give advice on capacity building i.e. strengthening your organisation to make you better placed to apply for funding e.g. procedures, administration and finance.
We can suggest funders who are most likely to fund your type of organisation.
We run seminars and training on various topics of interest to voluntary organisations.
We may be able to help you find statistics to back up your funding application, or advice you where to obtain them.

19 Donaldson Cres, Kirkintilloch Glasgow G66 1XF Tel: 0141 5780291 Email info@eastdunbartonshirecvs.org.uk