The case for action
Growing numbers in all sectors and fields are recognising the importance of skilful partnership brokering in ensuring partnerships have maximum impact on the critical issues of our times. But we still have a lot of convincing, engaging and influencing to do. And as a decentralised organisation – with our core team, associates, alumni network, host and partner organisations operating in many different locations across the world – we already have significant global reach.
Partnership process management / brokering needs support in terms of both recognition and investment – we firmly believe it should be mainstreamed not side-lined and seen as central not optional to transformative partnering practices. We seek to do promote the value of partnership brokering through our learning, training and supporting work…
…but this is not enough. We need to have impact at a strategic and systemic level and we do this through a mix of gap-filling new initiatives and through active movement building.
Global Network and Call to Action
Network Stewardship Group Chair: Joanna Pyres – joannapyres
The world urgently needs to scale capacity to deliver system changing collaborative action. To this end, we are building an open access global network of people from all walks of life and all parts of the world who foster social and ecological multi-stakeholder collaborations and partnerships to:
- support each other to find and connect with skilled practitioners from around the world and share effective and authentic collaboration practices
- encourage each other to strive for quality and transformational collaborative results
- enable each other to develop professionally and strengthen the field of authentic and impactful partnering
The aim of this network is to ensure that any individual dedicated to fostering authentic and principled partnering can access the support, encouragement and skills they need to create a fairer world in their sphere of influence; and to strengthen the professional discipline at a global scale.
If you would like to be part of this effort and global call to action,
please get in touch with Joanna Pyres.
Remote Partnering Programme
Programme Curator: Catherine Russ – cathruss@gmail.com
Many – perhaps most – partnerships have to operate largely or wholly long-distance and, till now, there has been very little attention paid to this as a key partnering challenge. A number of international organisations – Act Alliance; Action Against Hunger; British Red Cross; Care International; Humanitarian Leadership Academy; Oxfam; Partnership Resources Centre; PAX for Peace and Save the Children crowd funded the design and pilot of an online certificate in Remote Partnering Practice. Outputs include:
- Remote Partnering roll out programme which is providing a global online Certificate in Brokering Partnerships Remotely. The Q&A on Brokering Partnerships Remotely available here for downloading. If you are interested in this course please contact info@partnershipbrokers.org.
- The Remote Partnering Work Book – written by practitioners for practitioners
- An online tool box defyingdistance.org
- A website that has all our research findings and new materials www.remotepartnering.org
Funders as Partners
Programme Curator: Rafal Serafin – rafal.serafin@isotech24.eu
This project aims to explore the crucial role that donors have in supporting (or inhibiting) multi-stakeholder collaboration. Essentially it aims to understand the realities for donors in getting the balance right between exercising due diligence and giving space for the innovation and risk so necessary for transformative and impactful partnering. How can donors invest better in building robust and effective partnerships? Working with a number of entities including the Global Alliance for Community Philanthropy, Open Society Foundations and UNHCR as well as key individuals a number of exciting initiatives are under development. To learn more:
- Download: Power Shifts when Power is Shared: Re-framing the Role of Donors in Development.
- Visit the project website: www.fundersaspartners.org.
Animating Alliances
An important output from work PBA has been doing with the Global Alliance for Community Philanthropy (GACP) is some cutting edge thinking about the nature of ‘alliances’ and what it takes to make them effective and transformative.
- Download: Animating Alliances: What does it take to make these forms of multi-stakeholder collaboration efficient, effective and transformational?
- Visit the project website: https://animatingalliances.org/
Partnering under Pressure
Programme Curator: Ros Tennyson – ros@partnershipbrokers.org
The latest in our portfolio of new initiatives under discussion with a number of lead agencies in the global humanitarian sector – looking to create a comprehensive support programme for those struggling to create effective partnerships in contexts of high risk, disaster relief, conflict or other fragile contexts.
Connecting change practitioners:
Art of Hosting and PBA jointly hosted an inquiry for UK, Ireland and Scotland collaboration practitioners “How do we as individuals, organizations and networks, play our part in building a peaceful and sustainable world?”. Read the report here.
Webinars:
Part of that plan involves PBA hosting a series of webinars, where we invite key change practitioners for an online exchange.
2020 – Global Dialogues on Partnership:
- Is it time to reframe SDG 17 so it’s fit for transformation?. Special guest: Dr Leda Stott: does SDG 17 capture the diversity, scale and potential of the partnerships required for the broader Agenda 2030? Does it give primacy to economic growth? Does it reflect an old paradigm of international cooperation? Of donor-recipient relations? Of developed-developing countries?
- What do you do when you get to the edge of the map? Exploring partnerships for innovation. Special guest, Ian Gray, shared his experience and approaches on the challenges and opportunities for partnerships that are based around innovations. You can now watch the recording of the discussion (click on the title of the webinar) and access other materials:
– webinar chat notes (pdf),
– slide deck (pdf)
– mural board co-created by the discussion participants during the webinar (pdf). - Building New Landscapes for Partnering Remotely. Special guest: Catherine Russ, who created the prototype for PBA’s ‘Brokering Partnerships Remotely’ certificate course, talked about diverse experiences and multiple dimensions of partnering remotely. You can now watch the recording of the discussion (click on the title of the webinar) and read chat contributions from webinar participants. Webinar chat (pdf).
2018 webinars:
- Webinar with Adam Kahane who, based on his book Collaborating with the Enemy, discusses the concept of ‘stretch collaboration’, challenging conventional notions of what it takes to truly collaborate.
- Webinar on how partnerships can maximize shared value business strategies for transformational results with FSG Managing Director Adeeb Z. Mahmud and PBA Associates from Australia and Canada, Michelle Halse, Julie Mundy and Jocelyne Daw.
Learning Papers:
If you are interested in what partnership brokers do, which issues they grapple with, and how they navigate the often complex dynamics of multi-stakeholder collaboration browse through this collection of Learning Papers by Partnership Brokers. Each contributing to a colourful, diverse, and ever-growing mosaic of what partnership brokers do to achieve real transformation.
Promoting Transformational Partnerships
From our survey with partnership brokers operating in different contexts, we have created a list of ‘tips’ for those striving for partnerships that are truly transformative. This was presented to a large audience of international NGOs and donors at the Start Network’s annual conference in May 2016:
Transformation matters!
We warmly welcome others to join this movement for change.
You can also provide support through PBA’s Opportunities Fund, to provide seed funding for the early stages of exploring new ideas or issues.