The Partnership Brokers Association

80+ participants took part in a discussion with Adam Kahane, author of ‘Collaborating with the Enemy – How to Work with People You Don’t Agree with or Like or Trust’. In his book Adam introduced the notion of ‘stretch collaboration’, which takes us beyond conventional collaboration where we can control what happens (the goal, plans, roles, even outcomes). In the webinar he talks about collaboration, power, control, people’s needs and the choices they face when they collaborate…

If you were not able to participate in the webinar, you can watch the recorded discussion here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zswZLJuXa88&feature=youtu.be

The pilot of our new online Remote Partnering Certificate (Level 1) was completed mid March 2018. Read more.

– pilot starts in February 2018 with around 80 partnership practitioners enrolled. More information www.remotepartnering.org

A Day of Professional Development and Networking in Calgary has been postponed to the Fall, 2018. This will provide an opportunity for more graduates to participate. We will also be able to share all the learning from the upcoming global Trainers Community of Practice being held in Wales, this May, 2018. The workshop will be designed to refresh your skills and to connect you with other partnership brokers.

We have just launched a new toolbox for those partnering remotely, developed by PBA and Action Against Hunger. To access it, please visit www.defyingdistance.org.

We are pleased to announce that following the great interest in Partnership Brokers Training held in London in March 2017 we have just started recruiting for another course in London, scheduled for 9 – 12 October 2017. More information on the training can be found in the course brochure, which can be downloaded together with the application form from Partnership Brokers Training Programme page.

Based on the conversations of the 2014 Usual Suspects festival, the organisers* have created a hit list of themes for collaboration:

• Power & dynamics
• Collaborative skills & competencies
• Mobilising ‘hidden’ collaborators
• Creating accessible platforms
• Leadership & resilience
• Scaling great collaborations

Read more here: http://www.collaboratei.com/news/the-unusual-suspects-festival-building-a-coalition-of-collaborators-in-2015.aspx

*Collaborate, SIX, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

We are pleased to share the latest publication – Brokering Local Collaboration – looking at the impact of training World Vision staff at the local level in partnership brokering skills. Focused on World Vision’s local programme for child well-being, this inquiry was developed jointly between World Vision and PBA.

To read the publication click here

To read more publications by the Association, please click here

The 2013 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) will bring together 1,200 individuals from more than 30 countries and speakers from more than 20 countries.  Attendees will come from diverse backgrounds – social enterprise practitioners from all sectors, traditional non-profits, for-profit businesses, philanthropists, intrapreneurs, the public sector, support agencies, funders and investors, consultants, indigenous groups, and students – but all share a dedication to resolving the world’s most complex and confounding social challenges.

And moderating will be our very own Development Director Ros Tennyson – Culture Shock: Engaging others in your success: You are pushing the advancement of society on key issues such as empowering the disenfranchised; helping not-for-profits make money; and/or bringing together diverse – and at times at odd – groups such as for-profits and environmental groups.  For some, these trends have paradigm-shifting implications. How do you make sure they are ready for and willing to engage in your success?

For more information, go to the SWEF site: http://www.socialenterpriseworldforum.org/

And for the top 5 reasons to attend – be persuaded here: http://www.jsdaw.com/5-reasons-why-sewf-2013-is-the-must-attend-conference/#more-2071

Educating young people is the responsibility of the entire community, not just schools. In order to realise this collective responsibility, there is an increasing focus on Australian schools developing partnerships with business and the broader community.

It is within this context that the Australian Government established the School Business Community Partnership Brokers (Partnership Brokers) program to build partnerships that support young people to reach their full educational and social potential. The program commenced in 2010 and is delivered by a national network of Partnership Broker organisations operating in 107 regions across Australia.

Partnership Brokers are currently supporting over 2000 partnerships involving more than 5000 partner organisations. While these numbers indicate a growing culture of partnering between schools and their communities, the numbers alone don’t tell us much about the impact of the Partnership Brokers program and the benefits these partnerships are delivering.

Within this context, Social Ventures Australia was commissioned to undertake a Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis of five Partnership Broker regions. SROI is a framework that provides an internationally recognised methodology to measure the social, economic and environmental impact of an organisation or program, such as the Partnership Brokers program. Attached is the summary report – an overview of the evaluation process and key findings.

To download further documents related to this evaluation (the approach, and regional outcomes) visit the Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations website

For more information about the Partnership Brokers program visit the Youth Attainment and Transitions website

The Partnership Brokers Association is proud to bring you the first issue of ‘Betwixt & Between: the journal of partnership brokering’. The journal is the platform for stories from partnership brokers everywhere – bringing together insights into practice, thought leadership and critical analysis.

This first issue sees contributions from graduates of PBA’s international training programme, and those beyond.  Covering themes as diverse as partnership brokering in: local content partnerships in conflicted areas; adding value to social inclusion; and collective impact in the water sector, to the importance of carefully chosen language, intermediary mechanisms and their role in collaborative action between the humanitarian and private sectors, and how being an introvert or extrovert has an influence on a partnership brokers approach to their work.

We hope you find something in this journal that matters to your partnership brokering practice. And if so, that you will be compelled to add your own voice – the next issue, and the partnership brokering community, awaits it.

https://partnershipbrokers.org/w/journal/

The Partnership Brokers Canada Network is running a webinar at 1300 EST – those who are interested in learning and contributing to discussions on the Canadian context are invited to join.

This webinar will explore how to make a convincing case for partnership within organisations – looking at both financial and non-financial value. It will also consider the role of a partnership ‘broker’ (whether operating informally or formally) in helping key players to make the case by drawing on successful partnering experiences from elsewhere.’

A brief introduction will raise key issues and pose some suggestions – we welcome an active discussion and the opportunity to share different views on this critical topic. Ros Tennyson has agreed to give a short presentation, followed by questions and comments. If time permits, we’ll also be inviting a representative from the Rural Secretariat (RS) of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to discuss the developmental evaluation process for their core lines of business, which has a particular focus on the collaboration stream. It will be a ‘encore’ summary of their webinar from this past June.

A pleasing number of people from the global network of partnership brokers (114) responded enthusiastically to our recent survey. Responses indicate an interesting level of consensus about the way forward for this work and we (the staff team and the International Development Group) will be using the findings as a basis for the comprehensive development plan from January 2011.

We feel our general direction has been warmly endorsed and have summarised the findings below. A full summary of responses can be downloaded here.

Warmest good wishes for the Festive Season and for all the important work that will be undertaken by you and other partnership brokers in 2011!

Survey headlines include:

Training

• Expansion of open Level 1 training courses to new regions warmly welcomed (SE Asia, Africa and USA specifically mentioned)
• Strong endorsement of sector-specific Level 1 options – Health and Extractives sectors achieving highest rating
• Respondents indicated a high need for single sector or individual organisation trainings for every sector – business, donors, governments, international agencies and NGOs
• Some made the case for small groups for Level 1 making it possible to be highly personal and responsive to individual brokering challenges
• Many endorsed Level 1 being a residential programme in a ‘retreat’ setting as an important aid to getting participants out of their comfort zones
• Warm enthusiasm for other post-Level 1 training opportunities with the following emphasis:

–          Cross-sector exchanges (88 rated this as ‘high importance’)
–          New Leadership training (78 rated this as ‘high importance’)
–          Specialist topics (55 rated as ‘high importance’) – with negotiation, communication, reviewing and personal development being singled out as topics
–          Level 1 refresher courses (46 rated as ‘high importance’)

• 55 respondents thought a Masters level qualification (Level 3) would ‘add significantly to knowledge and influence’ on partnership brokering –a long-distance course being an important component and a strong emphasis on practice

Research

• An overwhelming majority, 88.7%, of respondents said that there was a demand / need for evidence demonstrating the impact of brokering.
• The theme that received the highest marks in terms of ‘usefulness’ was “A comparative analysis of brokered versus un-brokered partnerships.”
• Suggestions for other research topics were largely variations of the ones proposed (see LEARNING section of website for more details)
• Research into internal versus external brokering was suggested
• There was considerable enthusiasm for being involved in research from the respondents

Network, Institute & Influence

• Strong interest in a community of practice as long as it was well moderated – with particular enthusiasm from many in developing regional chapters / networks (ie linking Level 1 graduates from different cohorts but living and working in the same region)
• Interest in some international and regional events to ‘put brokering on the map’ with decision-makers and leaders in all sector
• Considerable support for an international professional institute of partnership brokers – though some expressed a level of dissatisfaction with other professional institutes and hope that this would be different.

Our first partnership brokers training in Australia was in August 2005 – since then there have been 5 further cohorts – now run under license to Dixon Partnership Solutions). The ‘critical mass’ achieved through 6 cohorts has produced some interesting post-Level 1 brokering collaborations. As just one example, four Level 1 alumni from the region have come together to build partnering capacity in Primary Health Care Partnerships in Queensland, Australia. Three of the same team have also been involved in assisting business / community partnership brokers working in education as part of a recent Federal Government initiative throughout Australia.

This group found that, even though they had come from different cohorts, working together was easy as there was common experience, tools and approaches. The team is hoping that their learning from these brokering projects will be part of the Partnership Brokering Project research work going forwards.