Partnering Skills for Strategic Engagemen Reviewing Partnerships 12

Partnering Skills for Strategic Engagemen Reviewing Partnerships 12 -14 November 2007 Panama City Joanna Pyres The Partnering Initiative info@thepartneringinitiative. org David Murphy & Marti Ostrander UN System Staff College skills@unssc. org

The Partnering Cycle COPYRIGHT: THE PARTNERING INITIATIVE

Why do we review? Convince senior management in all partner organizations / donors / potential partners that benefits of partnership outweigh the costs Demonstrate that partnering approach has ‘added value’ over other approaches Provide good stories to disseminate Inform decision making on: Level of partner engagement and partnership’s progress Terms of engagement or exit Stimulate growth COPYRIGHT: THE PARTNERING INITIATIVE and BPD WATER AND SANITATION

What do we need to know? That the partnership/partners Approach was/is the best option Has been/is being effective in achieving its aims – how to improve effectiveness? Is working as well as possible – how to remove obstacles? Have all benefited from their involvement

Evaluating: A five-fold approach 2 Reflecting on the partnership’s management / decision-making processes Improve efficiency / effectiveness 1 Monitoring Activity and performance 3 5 Evaluating the partnership paradigm Reviewing the partnership To assess its value / further potential for different partners Is it / was it better than alternative approaches? 4 Assessing impacts of activities / projects As maybe required by resource providers (partners or external) COPYRIGHT: THE PARTNERING INITIATIVE

Five-Fold Approach explained Focuses on Leads to… Monitoring Ensuring partners are fulfilling commitments and contributions Project progress, equity between partners Reflecting Decision making process, communication, partnership management Improved efficiency and effectiveness of the partnership Reviewing Looking at partnership value for each individual or organization Sustainability, captures added value of the partnership over and above project impact Assessing Impact Activities, outputs, outcomes Project delivery Evaluating Asking if results are worth the Partnership transaction costs? Is this still the Approach best or only approach? Assessment of appropriateness of methodology to aims

Group Exercise: Sample Revie Working at your tables, consider how this sample review might apply to your current partnerships. What purpose could a review of this kind serve in your own partnerships? Who would be best placed to conduct a relationship review of this kind? What other review approaches have you tried (or could try) that you feel would serve the purpose as well or better?

Sample Review Process Meets with representative group from each partner organization (separately) Facilitates a SWOT analysis Explores views of expected and unexpected outcomes Leads a discussion on priorities Asks: ‘What would need to change to achieve these priorities? ’ Writes up findings and makes recommendations Facilitates meeting with all partners Brokers decisions on how to use the findings

Review Success Factors Review findings need to be: Owned by the partners Tailored to suit different audiences Communicated effectively Used to inform partnership decisions Remember the review is not a ‘test’ but a genuine attempt to refine and improve COPYRIGHT: BPD WATER AND SANITATION

Review Success Factors Any truly valid and effective assessment of a partnership always needs to: Involve partners and key stakeholders in design and data collection Find a good balance between external ‘objectivity’ and internal knowledge / experience of the partnership’s history Include a genuine feedback loop so that the process truly informs the development of the partnership

Some Assessment Frameworks ‘Added value’ - benefits derived by partners over time (BPD Natural Resources) Evolving partner relationships and outcomes (Brinkerhoff) Partnership processes to maximize partner relationships (BPD Water and Sanitation) Accountability - responsiveness, transparency and compliance (Caplan) Outcome-mapping - change in behaviours, relationships, actions of those with whom partnership works (IDRC) Preparedness & sustainability - defining concrete components that define partnership project sustainability (UN Global Compact & various partners)

Partnership Assessment Tool Process to enable partners to: assess the expected value of a prospective partnership project identify ways to improve future partnership activities Tool can be used to assess: project preparedness, to identify opportunities for early adjustment, and to position for successful project implementation Not a substitute for other assessments used to determine partnership impact or management Does not evaluate partner performance

Institutional Reform Ultimately, institutional reform may be a more important outcome of a partnership than any other. In other words, if the partnership leads to a government department functioning more creatively and efficiently; … or to an international corporation contributing more vigorously or systematically to sustainable development in all aspects of its operations; or to an NGO having a much larger-scale impact – then the ‘outcomes’ of the partnership will have become significantly more substantial than its ‘outputs’… SOURCE: THE PARTNERING TOOLBOOK