Article

The ‘HOW’ behind Cross Sector Partnerships

2013-04-16 · By Linzi Moore, Lead Consultant, IMA International

Richard Bostock, IMA International

The challenge

I have been a big believer in the power of cross-sector partnerships to positively impact development for a while now. However, the more research I did on the subject, the more complex the whole thing became. I wanted to find out the practicalities of HOW to make partnerships work…

So I decided to ask my clients how they did it.

Working with development professionals all around the world through IMA International has allowed me to host hundreds of conversations about the type of challenges that are faced, especially in programmatic partnerships where both parties are implementing. I found some of these conversations especially useful in understanding some practical steps to success, and so now I want to share some of these with you.

Starting Out

A resounding theme that keeps coming up is the frustration at the initiation stage, as a partnership tries to kick-off. A number of global NGOs and businesses have shared with me that what they expected to be done in a month ended up taking a year or more.

Negotiations, getting agreement on the ultimate objectives, and understanding the partner organisations takes time. However, it seems that investing in this stage is almost always well rewarded, with the deeper understanding and rapport with partners paving a solid foundation for some great work to be done.

Setting Objectives

There is also a paradox around the setting of objectives, with vague objectives resulted in lack of alignment, but very tightly defined objectives creating a ‘straight-jacket’ that frustrates the partners when the real work starts.

Again, the time spent at the initiation stage is crucial here. Building trust and transparency between key stakeholders allows both parties to be clear on what their ultimate objectives are, but also to flex where needed, as implementation gets under way.

Small Steps

Sticking with the theme of time, I also heard many examples of the frustration from the corporate side at how long it took to start seeing an impact in their cross-sector partnerships. Development does take time, and this can be tough for businesses that need to retain buy-in for the partnership at shareholder level.

There do seem to be ways around this though. For example, in their ‘Cocoa Life’ partnership VSO and their partners found that looking for some quick wins helped to keep everyone engaged. Sharing smaller successes meant that all stakeholders began to see examples of the partnership’s impact, even as the larger scale impact was still to come. See the full interview for details of this, and further information about their lessons learned.

What’s Next?

This dialogue is just beginning, and IMA will be hosting a Partnerships Forum in New York, USA on May 7^th where more development and private sector professionals will be sharing their experiences of what has worked.

Panelists Tom Sessions from Care International, Paula Pagniez from Swiss Re, a speaker from The UN Office for Partnerships and Camilla Nestor from Grameen Foundation will be citing from some personal examples of how they managed successful cross-sector partnerships, and there will be opportunities for general discussion to take place through a Q and A.

For an invite: *********@**************al.com” target=”_blank”>Email Linzi Moore with details of your organization, role, and why you are interested.