Partnership Working

What is partnership working?

Partnership working is basically when two or more organisations or individuals are working together to achieve a common goal. A partnership can be formed between a number of individuals, agencies or organisations with a shared interest. There is usually an overarching purpose for partners to work together towards a range of specific objectives. Partnerships are often formed to address specific issues and may be short or longer term.

Partnerships vary enormously in size and remit and partnership working can be both formal and informal. Some partnerships are set up on a statutory basis, whilst others form voluntarily, such as those to meet local needs. Often informal partnerships develop on an ongoing basis to support effective delivery of services or common aims.

The key principles of partnership working are, openness, trust and honesty, agreed shared goals and values, and regular communication between partners.

There are several different types of partnerships:

Official partnerships set up by a number of organisations.
More bottom-up partnerships initiated by non-profit organisations or groups.
Short-term alliances created around a particular project or programme.
Informal partnerships to support ongoing delivery of services and aims.
Other forms of collaboration to share information and offer mutual support that may be better seen as networks.

(A Short Guide to Partnerships - David Wilcox www.partnerships.org.uk)

A network can be defined as a formal or informal, self-supporting association of people and organisations who have agreed aims. Members can communicate directly with others in the network and can share resources and exchange knowledge, ideas and services for individual and mutual benefit.

Why work in partnership?

Community well-being, health, nutrition and sustainable food are all areas where co-operation is needed from many partners, both at a local level and a strategic level. Working in partnership will frequently achieve more than when organisations work in isolation. Partnership working is increasingly acknowledged as a way of: generating solutions to problems that single agencies cannot solve, improving the services that users receive, and enhancing the coordination of services across organisational boundaries.

Partnership working is now also a requirement of almost all renewal and regeneration initiatives. Many funding bodies prefer to awards grants to organisations that are working in partnership with others and for some funding streams it is a requirement.

Why should local authorities work in partnership?

The Government has chosen partnership working as a key means through which much of its policy programme is to be delivered both at a local and national level. Local government is now engaged in a wide range of partnership working. Partnership working is becoming central to the work of local authorities and is increasingly bringing public, private and voluntary sectors together. External partners particularly welcome a new transparency in local decision-making processes and the positive input of members to partnerships.

Local Area Agreements (LAAs)

The importance of local authorities working partnership has been stressed in numerous reviews and reports, including the Hampton Report. Partnerships are seen to be the key to delivering public services at a local level, and play a key part in the Local Government White Paper and the Local Government Association (LGA) work

Local Area Agreements (LAA) will play a key role in future local government service provision. An LAA is a three year agreement, based on local Sustainable Community Strategies, that sets out the priorities for a local area agreed between Central Government, represented by the Government Office (GO), and a local area, represented by the local authority and other key partners through Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs).

The primary objective of an LAA is to deliver genuinely sustainable communities through better outcomes for local people. LAAs also have the secondary objectives of:

Improving Central and Local Government relations
Enhancing efficiency Strengthening partnerships working
Offering a framework within which local authorities can enhance their community leadership role

LAAs are structured around four blocks (or policy fields): children and young people, safer and stronger communities, healthier communities and older people, and economic development and enterprise.

LACORS have produced guidance on developing LAAs in relation to regulatory services, and the FSA are currently working on similar guidance focused on the complete food remit.

What are the benefits?

Partnership working can have a wide range of benefits including some or all of the following:

Sharing ideas and pooling resources.
Gaining access to the skills of others.
Delivering services in a joined up way.
Developing new and innovative approaches.
Mutual support to maintain enthusiasm and commitment.
Providing additional momentum to get things done.
Learning to see things differently, through others’ eyes.
Ability to access funding and comply with Government requirements.
Opportunities to reach a wider audience.
Achieving a shared vision.
Increased negotiating power.
Greater impact through increased reach.
Reduced costs through sharing of common functions.

What are the problems?

Partnership working can be costly, and so partnerships can only be justified when their achievements outweigh the resources that they consume. It is important to identify potential issues from the outset to ensure that the aim and remit of a partnership arrangement can aim to address these from the outset. Some of the main problems are:

Competition between organisations: Although some competition between organisations can be motivating, excessive competition can result in an unwillingness to co-operate and potential duplication.
Authority: It is important that all staff involved in partnership working have the necessary authority to take decisions. Lack of authority slows up decision making and frustrates progress
Purpose: The broad ranging responsibilities of partner organisations can mean that the specific purpose of the partnership can be forgotten. Also partnerships can often be overtaken by events and lose sight of their main function
Communication: Too much and too little communication can lead to problems. Too many meetings can put partners off attending. Too little communication can result in duplication of effort, lack of understanding and mistrust amongst partners
Funding: There is a danger that some organisations get involved in partnerships simply to access funding or to meet statutory requirements.
Culture clash: When different organisations work together it can be difficult to adapt to each other’s style of working. Also each organisation’s expectations of partnership working may be different, which can lead to conflict when attempting to establish priorities and goals
Time: The partnership working approach often takes longer to produce results than most organisations anticipate. For example, it takes time to develop trust between partners which can slow up the process of making decisions and using resources.

(Adapted from: Top 10 Partnership Killers, Improvement Network)

How to make partnership working more effective

It is essential to invest in building partnerships and making them work well.

Key issues include:

Defining role and purpose - what is the partnership actually supposed to do?
Agreeing membership - who should be on the partnership and how are they selected?
Establishing protocols - what structures and procedures underpin the partnership.
Behaving properly - setting standards for behaviour and language to build trust and respect
Sharing power and engaging minority interests - making sure the 'big boys' do not dominate
Capacity building - supporting community based organisations and skills development.
Communication and accountability - letting those outside the partnership know what’s going on.

(How to Build a Partnership - http://www.renewal.net/toolkits/BuildPartnership/)

Levels of participation

There are different levels of participation involved with partnership working depending on what is to be achieved. These range from the following:

Supporting
Acting together
Deciding together
Consultation
Information

There is clear difference between “forming a partnership” and “working in partnership”.

Forming a partnership means that you will generally be deciding and acting together, and that each partner will be providing ideas and options and determining what is best. A formal partnership may require partner organisations to produce contracts, memoranda of understanding, or other legal agreements.

However, you may want to work in partnership with others without setting up a formal partnership, which may just involve sharing information, consulting other groups or supporting projects through providing funding or resources. Even with an informal agreement to ‘work in partnership’ though it would be beneficial to have some sort of written agreement either noted in minutes or through an exchange of letters.

Those involved in a partnership may want to consider inviting contacts from wider organisations on relevant occasions to observe discussions or provide specific advice.

Questions to ask before setting up a partnership

Is the problem that the prospective partners want to solve one that needs, or could benefit from a partnership approach?
Do the prospective partners have a clear and shared vision of the benefits that the partnership is intended to achieve?
Is this vision realistic in the light of the resources and opportunities likely to be open to the proposed partnership?
Will the anticipated benefits outweigh the likely direct and indirect costs of a partnership?
How will the costs and benefits be measured?
Could the benefits be achieved in a simpler or more cost-effective way?
Are the partners all willing to devote the necessary time and effort to make the partnership succeed?
Do the partners all know what role they will play, what resources they will contribute and how they will account for the success of the project?
Are the partners willing to consider changing their other activities to fit in with the partnership’s objectives, where this is appropriate?

Factors that may suggest a partnership might not be the best approach

Agencies have no shared objective in relation to this topic.
Agencies will not make a commitment to shared overarching aims.
Where there is a hidden negative agenda.

(Adapted from: A Fruitful Partnership - Audit Commission 1998)

What organisations should be involved?

When working in the area of promoting and increasing access to safe, sustainable and nutritious food there are a wide range of organisations that could be involved in partnership working, from a variety of different settings, including the public, private and community sectors.

Partnerships could be based around a particular theme or geographical location. For example it may involve similar organisations from across a region working together e.g. trading standards authorities from across the East Midlands. Alternatively, it could involve different types of organisations from within a smaller geographical area working in partnership, for example:

Environmental health officers
Health promotion workers
Trading standards
Local producers
Restaurants
Schools
Cookery groups
Retailers
Allotment growers
Community food initiatives

Organisations will need to consider their individual local circumstances and the specific aims of a partnership when evaluating which partners should be involved. The involvement of different partners will also depend on the size of the area that the partnership is intended to cover. For example a small community group may be involved in a partnership in their town but may not feel it appropriate to get involved with a partnership that covers the whole of the county, particularly if they have limited resource and finance.

The diverse range of organisations that could be involved means it is necessary to ensure that meeting times and venues are set to accommodate different members’ needs. It may also not always be necessary for partners to meet regularly in person and you may be able to form a “virtual” partnership through regular communication via e-mail and discussion forums.

How to get started

If you are interested in working in partnership on a specific project or setting up a more formal partnership the first stage would be to contact other organisation who you think would share your aims. If you would like to involve a wide range of different sectors it may be worthwhile organising some sort of partnership networking event (with lots of tasty, nutritious food provided) and invite along any organisations and individuals who are involved with food in the local area.

From this large pool of potential partners you will need to identify which organisations are able to be involved on an on-going basis through some sort of consultation at the event. You will then need to arrange further meetings at which the mission statement, aims and terms of reference for the partnership will need to be agreed, along with details of meeting frequency, priorities for action, funding requirements, etc. Working in partnership requires a long term commitment from those involved as this setting up process will take several months in itself, even before any projects are actually implemented.

Case Studies

Brighton and Hove Food Partnership began in 2003 when the PCT and the Sustainability Commission from the City Council came together to discuss the need for a group to independently address food issues and to bring together the diverse elements of the food, health, environment and economic sectors and encourage a more sustainable food system throughout the City. For more information view their case study http://www.foodvision.gov.uk/pages/brighton-and-hove-food-partnership

Many of the other projects featured on the Food Vision website that have also involved some sort of partnership working, in particular those in the Food Partnerships and Strategies section http://www.foodvision.gov.uk/pages/food-partnerships-and-strategies

Links

Some of the information on this page has been sourced from the following websites, which have further guidance about effective partnership working:

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