The Partnership Brokers Association

Before many of us dive into the festive season break next week, we are presenting you with a new edition of our knowledge sharing initiative Stories from Practice.

Mary Frankham from New Zealand is sharing the insights of her PBA Accreditation learning journey as a partnership broker for the North-West Wildlink Partnership Group. In her role Mary explored the dynamics of being the project manager of a partnership, while also having the remit to represent a voice that is independent from any of the partners involved, a dual role of sorts.

There has been a lot written about the many functions of a partnership broker, but few discuss how to balance these demands with day-to-day expectations. Some brokers are required to coordinate and manage partnership projects, and brokering is expected to happen on the side. There are positive and negative aspects to one person being both, project manager and partnership broker. Most importantly, this person must step in and out of each of their roles at the right moment, articulate these dual responsibilities to the partnership, and mitigate negative consequences such as partner dependency.

Read Mary Frankham’s paper here. If you would like to share your comments with the author or us, please email learning@partnershipbrokers.org, or tweet about your views and experiences using #partnershipbrokers

In September we launched a new knowledge sharing initiative – Stories from Practice – publishing compelling papers which examine the realities of partnership brokering, and how practitioners navigate these to help partnerships progress and achieve transformation. These papers have been created by alumni of the PBA Accreditation Programme as part of their learning journey.

Continuing the launch theme of the art & science of partnership brokering, we have invited PBA Accreditation alumni Kate Hayes to share her paper which reflects on intuition as the art of brokering.

This paper argues that partnership brokering can be strengthened through both a science and an art orientation and explores how creative discernment – intuition – has been critical to the author’s art of brokering.  Throughout the partnership process the broker is responsible for shape-shifting from coach to facilitator to mediator to challenger to finisher. This shape shifting requires active and rational discernment. At key transition points in the partnering process, however, the author also learnt the value of ceding the rational and the scientific to allow her intuition to instruct and to inform.  Two case studies are provided that illustrate how at certain times a different way of seeing and discerning – an intuitive way – can lead to surprising and positive outcomes for the partnerships at hand.

Read Kate Hayes’ paper here. If you would like to share your comments with the author or us, please email learning@partnershipbrokers.org.

You can now access the recording of the webinar with FSG Managing Director Adeeb Z. Mahmud and PBA Associates from Australia and Canada, Michelle Halse, Julie Mundy and Jocelyne Daw on how partnerships can maximize shared value business strategies for transformational results. The discussion was held on 7th November 2018 with nearly 50 participants. The recording is available here.

PBA is delighted to announce the publication of Shaping Sustainable Change: The role of partnership brokering in optimising collaborative action. The idea of writing the book was first discussed in 2014 and, a year later, was given impetus by the positioning of multi-actor partnerships as central to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. At the same time, increasing attention was being paid to the role played by individuals and organisations who acted as ‘boundary spanners’ and ‘bridge-builders’ for these relationships. Shaping Sustainable Change aims to make the case for partnership brokering and share information on this emerging profession. In order to offer a useful blend of theory and practice, the book combines the knowledge and experience of PBA’s international network of associates and alumni with perspectives from wider literature and the academic arena. The first section explores the profile and key activities carried out by partnership brokers, and the skills and competencies required to undertake this role. This is followed by examples of partnership brokering practice in relation to different contexts, sectors, themes and partnering phases. The process of compiling the publication has involved a committed group of authors, peer reviewers, editors and proofreaders to whom we are immensely grateful. We hope that the book does justice to the work of partnership brokers everywhere and reinforces the importance of their contribution to building transformational collaborative arrangements for a more equitable and sustainable world.

You can purchase your copy here.

Our next Partnership Brokers Training course in London, UK, will be held on 23^rd – 26^th October 2018. Please go to our training programme page for the course brochure and application form.

Following the success of last year’s Geneva PBT course, the World Economic Forum will host the PBT course once again on 30-31 October and 1-2 November 2018. The course brochure and application form are available on our training programme page.

Our next course is in Washington DC 10th to 13th July. Visit our training page for a brochure and application.

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

Our trainers, Ros Tennyson and Julie Mundy worked with a diverse and interesting group of people during the flagship Partnership Brokers Association Training in Geneva in November 2017.  The World Economic Forum hosted us at their headquarters overlooking Lake Geneva. The challenges of high-level multi-stakeholder partnerships supporting the SDGs, the humanitarian sector, food security and climate change, and public-private partnerships were popular topics of discussion during the course.  Congratulations to our new graduates who are now part of the PBA worldwide alumni.

Geneva Partnership Brokers Training Nov 2017

We’ve been adding new dates and locations for training in 2018, and there will be more listed as we approach the end of 2017.  For an up-to-date list, please visit our Training Page.

The Partnership Brokers Association will be running its 150th Partnership Brokers Training in September. The course will be held in Melbourne, Australia, on 11 – 14 September, 2017. More information available from our Training Programme Page.

The World Economic Forum will be hosting Partnership Brokers Training in Geneva this November at their headquarters overlooking Lake Geneva.  Download a brochure and application form from our Training Page.

The Working with Donors project is a response to the need and opportunity for understanding better how donors (who are external to the partnership) participate in and contribute to partnering processes and what the potential is for changing the donor-partner relationship to be more effective and have greater impact.

Positioned as an enquiry, and based on the principles of emerging new knowledge through exploration and dialogue, we believe that this fills a real gap in the world of development partnerships. The role of donors is clearly changing as partnering becomes more sophisticated and its emphasis on inclusion and horizontal accountability more accepted as the norm.

Find out more at www.workingwithdonors.org and get involved by contacting rafal@partnershipbrokers.org.