Partnership Working

Health promotion requires partnerships for health and social
development between the different stakeholders, all levels of government and
society. However before embarking on any partnership working there is need to
first understand and address the risks and challenges involved in partnerships as
this will allow maximisation of the potential benefits of partnership working.
Therefore delivery of any health improvement service must harness the energy,
dedication and resource of various stakeholders in genuine partnership to build a
more tolerant, participative and inclusive society. However most importantly there
is need for evaluation of any partnership working.

Foundation Transparency - Opacity: It’s Complicated
Abstract

Private philanthropy has been referred to as one of the least transparent and accountable social institutions in the United States.  Accordingly, private foundations are being challenged to become more transparent.  Like other charitable institutions, private foundations already disclose extensive information about their activities in federal tax returns, which the public can easily access.  Yet, a widely held presumption is that private foundations remain intensely and uniformly opaque.  Research findings confirmed that private foundations are generally opaque, but also found that they selectively engage in situational transparency, which is not generally observed in the literature.  This article makes three contributions.  First, it uses specific indicators to assess the existence private foundation opaque practice, resulting in important insights regarding the contexts in which each may occur.  Second, it reports findings that, under certain circumstances, private foundations have intentionally relaxed their opaqueness in favor of greater transparency with certain grantees in furtherance of philanthropic objectives.  Third, several questions are posed to help guide foundations in deciding for themselves how and with whom they might wish to engage in greater transparency.  Research findings discovered that the matter of transparent/opaque practice in private philanthropy is less than straightforward.  As it turns out, transparent/opaque practice among private foundations is a nuanced and complicated matter.

This research, conducted by the author when a Senior Researcher at Newcastle University, UK, was funded by a UK governance organisation to help them assess, integrate and improve their understanding of the governed population.

ABSTRACT: Governance organisations have been urged to develop more holistic evidence-based approaches with partners to better deal with issues affecting the governed population. This presupposes an understanding of the population, yet there has been little research work addressing how governance organisations come to understand their governed population, nor how this understanding can be improved upon within such organisations.

This case study examined in-depth how understanding of a governed population was developed within one UK local governance organisation and it explored how such understanding might be developed and improved through more holistic and evidence-based organisational learning within the organisation and its governance partnerships.

The research methodology involved placement within the governance organisation, participant observations on several projects and innovative initiatives, observations within, across, and outside the organisation, and also interviews with varied key stakeholders.

The study examined:

- stakeholder engagement and networks
- current and varied understandings of the population
- mechanisms actually used for developing understandings
- the influence of context on organisational learning

and analysed these to arrive at a recommendations to improve organisational understanding of the governed population.

In the case studied, significant strengths were found: including innovative past learning trials for development, extensive ongoing networking activities, and many varied and accumulating quantitative datasets available across partnerships.

However, entrenched organisational approaches and practices constrained the development of holistic evidence-based understanding, for instance: the absence of systematic maintained collective learning processes; weak recording and forgetting of understandings; methodological exclusion of stakeholders from the development of understanding; the relative neglect of qualitative data, explanations, investigations, interpretations, and reflexivity; and also implicit organisational acceptance of such limitations and low aspirations.

Nonetheless, untapped opportunities existed to enable change including: latent practitioner knowledge and innovative management champions, the desire for improvement and raised aspirations within learning networks, and the development potential of alterative learning approaches.

It was concluded that more holistic evidence-based understanding was possible, but required new learning approaches beyond those then in use in both local government or academia.   

Recommendations are made to utilise and develop improved organisational learning approaches trialed and reported in the case study.

It is argued that the case study findings, conclusions, and recommendations may be applicable to other similar local governance organisations and partnerships that seek to better understand local populations, services and interventions.

The work was also submitted for, and awarded, an MPhil (at Newcastle University, supervised by Prof. Patsy Healy)

Development organizations need resources to help them continue providing services to the community. Non
Govermental Organizations (NGOs) for a long time have relied on the generosity of donors to support their project activities
through grants and donations. However organizations have realized that such funding sources are often insufficient to meet
needs and rising costs for project implementation. In Africa despite vast differences among the NGOs most share a common
challenge of unlimited needs chasing limited resources. Local NGOs face difficulties securing enough funds because the
projects undertaken require substantial amounts of resources, both financial and non-financial due to high poverty levels in
most parts of the continent. Resource mobilization requires a lot of time and skills to seek resources from different sources
and the pressure to mobilize resources may lead the organizations to use methods that compromise the values they are
fighting for through their work.

Discussion on the concept of 'the student experience' and  challenges to delivering this; what students value most in terms of their experience, and how institutional departments across the piste can work collaboratively to generate positive experiences for students.

//English version below//
W ramach rozdziału książki "Układ otwarty.Miejskie Partnerstwa międzysektorowe" oprócz czynników kształtujących i różnicujących partnerstwa, uporządkowane zostają ramy formalno-prawne, podstawy naukowe oraz różne sposoby rozumienia międzysektorowej współpracy partnerskiej. Autorka omawia partnerstwo na podstawie wybranych działań i regulacji prawnych instytucji OECD, UE i państwa polskiego
oraz przedstawia partnerstwa w kontekście wybranych nurtów naukowych kładących nacisk na zrównoważony rozwój, zarządzanie i innowacyjność.

The concept of cross-sector partnerships has been under a kind of a definition chaos and inflation at the same time. Numerous scientific disciplines, institutions and individuals has perceived it as solutions to their problems. The article organizes formal and legal
framework, the theoretical basis and different ways of understanding cross-sector partnerships. At the beginning partnership is discussed on the basis of selected activities and
regulations of several institutions: the OECD, the EU and the Polish state. The article then shows partnership in the context of selected scientific areas: sustainable development, management and innovation. At the end of the article there is presented a literature analysis of definitions and key elements differentiating ways of understanding cross-sector partnerships.

The research identifies processes taking place to support implementation of the Busan partnership agreement identifying possible benefits/opportunities to development effectiveness. The research recommends continued implementation of on-going processes and reforms to strengthen the development agenda. The study notes that recipient governments should institutionalise and strengthen aid and development policy dialogue between Governments, donors, civil society, Parliaments, private sector and emerging lenders to make it more meaningful. It encourages political commitment and effective leadership and adequate capacity by recipient government to own the process. Noting that improving transparency around the budgeting process and development processes is critical to ensure that all actors are fully involved in a meaningful manner.the study argues that donors should reinforce use of country systems by strengthening governments’ capacities and promote transfer of skills. Donors are implored to channel as much foreign aid as possible through national budget and procurement systems in order to increase value for money and strengthen government ownership.

This paper describes the resettlement process of a community devastated by annual floods, to newly constructed housing in Pune, India. The relocation from Kamgar Putala slum to a housing society at Hadapsar was organized by a community-led NGO partnership in 2004. The housing development was coordinated by the local NGO Shelter Associates with significant community participation. The housing has been revisited in 2010 to evaluate the sustainability of the resettlement project's delivery model via stakeholder perception. The process of organizing for resettlement after natural disaster is described along with the implementation and evaluation of the new housing nearly six years after initial occupation. The strong partnership approach overcame a series of political and financial hurdles at various stages of the relocation project. The story of resettling Kamgar Putala is detailed alongside an outline of the current political climate for an alternative slum-upgrading policy in India and Pune. The advantages of an empowered community supported by an influential local NGO demonstrate a commendable team effort which has tackled the threat of floods. The paper highlights the merits of a community-led partnership approach to housing development for achieving sustainable urban development as well as the alleviation of poverty in a developing context.

This research was funded by, and implemented within, a UK national research organisation, while the author was the KE and Impact Evaluation Manager responsible for assessing impact on a £15m UK government-funded research programme.

This work was also submitted as the authors MBA dissertation which was accepted and awarded in 2009.

ABSTRACT: A methodology and methods ‘toolbox’ is proposed for conducting impact research and assessment from within research programmes. The emphasis is upon how to clarify and assess the wider impacts from the early stages onwards.

The approach explicitly acknowledges, and attempts to address, the known issues and challenges of impact assessment while drawing upon the resources and opportunities available to research managers and researchers within such programmes.

The study has two triangulating foundations. Firstly, it examines the academic literature to help identify and design the pilot methodology and methods. Secondly it trials these in a real programme to both test and improve them.

The study was conducted over one year within one leading UK research organisation, where two research programmes (and around 60 research projects of £15m total value) were being assessed for their impacts. The study draws upon actual impact management experience and reflection, prospective (ex ante) and retrospective (ex post) assessments, participatory contributions from leading researchers undergoing assessment, and consultation with external users. The findings of this study outline the pilot and its first iteration. Recommendations are made for improvement to the methodology and methods.

A subsequent follow-on bid to UK government incorporating the impacts identified from implementing this methodology, successfully led to a further £15m of government funding.

It is expected the pilot methodology and methods will be applicable to other organisations, conducting and funding such research programmes, required to research and assess the wider research impacts.

Although primary focus of implemetation trials was upon research in physical sciences, technology, high-tech engineering, computing/IT, and environment, the wider literature study, the methodology design and justification, the methods proposed and used, and the resulting general recommendations and lessons are expected to apply more broadly to many other research areas, where the impact is to be found more widely in the society, economy, government or public sector or within organizations, policies, professions or the public.

Interest in this work is expected from research programme managers, impact managers and assessors, management consultants advising in this area, and government funding managers, all seeking to embed a developing approach to understand, capture, and enhance wider impact.

There is a wide range of activity taking place under the banner of 'co-created curriculum' within higher education. Some of this variety is due to the different ways people think about ‘co-creation’, but significant variation is also due to the ways in which higher education curriculum is
conceptualised, and how these conceptualisations position the student in relation to the curriculum. In addition, little attention is paid to the differences between co-creation of the curriculum and cocreation
in the curriculum. This article addresses this gap by examining four theoretical frameworks used to inform higher education curriculum design. We examine how each framework considers the
position of the learner and how this might influence the kinds of curricular co-creation likely to be enacted. We conclude by calling for more discussion of curriculum and curriculum theories in higher
education – and for these discussions to include students. We argue that more clarity is needed from scholars and practitioners as to how they are defining curriculum, and whether they are focused on cocreation
of the curriculum or co-creation in the curriculum. Finally, we suggest that paying greater attention to curriculum theories and their assumptions about the learner, offers enhanced understanding of curricular intentions and the extent to which collaboration is possible within any particular context.

Emerging technology offers the opportunity for music producers and other professionals to collaborate virtually thus breaking down barriers of geography, organisation and culture (Levy 1997). In professional contexts, practitioners can ‘peer-produce’ for sake of quality, speed and cost (Tapscott and Williams 2006). Students can also learn collaboratively by connecting with peers globally, or invite professionals to feedback on their work. Despite the technologically-enabled potential of these concepts, Higher Education Institutions fail to engage with them for institutional and cultural reasons.

This paper reflects upon a three-way partnership project between Coventry University, New York University and industry organisation JAMES. Funded by the Higher Education Academy, the project facilitates peer-working, peer-assessment and employer-orientated assessment to better apply the principles discussed above.

The paper will examine and reflect upon the project part-way through, examining the concepts and their application in reality. Specifically, it looks at the key pedagogical advantages of the approach, the challenges (technical, institutional and cultural,) as well as exposing key strategies for applying the model more widely in other institutions and contexts.


References
Levy, Pierre (1997). Collective Intelligence: Mankind’s emerging world in cyberspace. Perseus.
Tapscott, Don and Williams, Anthony (2006). Wikenomics. Atlantic books.

This article presents an analysis of the policy rhetoric of partnership and the reality of the process of partnership working using data from a qualitative case study of a sub‐regional partnership. The purpose of the partnership is to widen participation in post‐16 learning in the Black Country, a part of the Midlands in England. Data collected through observation of partnership meetings, in‐depth interviews with members of the Partnership Board and documentary analysis provide a rich insight into the work of the partnership and the processes that have shaped its lifecycle. The findings reveal that at one level of analysis, partnership can be interpreted as a pragmatic response to New Labour's policy initiatives in the post‐16 sector of education and training but this reading of the data does not explain the ability of the case study partnership to sustain itself over a period of over five years. A deeper analysis of the stages in the lifecycle of the partnership indicates that shared goals underpinned by mutual values and trust amongst key people in the partnership constitute the ‘social glue’ that hold organizations and individuals together to provide the basis of effective and sustained partnership working.

North-South partnerships for health aim to link resources, expertise and local knowledge to create synergy. The literature on such partnerships presents an optimistic view of the promise of partnership on one hand, contrasted by pessimistic depictions of practice on the other. Case studies are called for to provide a more intricate understanding of partnership functioning, especially viewed from the Southern perspective. This case study examined the experience of the Tanzanian women's NGO, KIWAKKUKI, based on its long history of partnerships with Northern organizations, all addressing HIV/AIDS in the Kilimanjaro region. KIWAKKUKI has provided education and other services since its inception in 1990 and has grown to include a grassroots network of >6000 local members. Using the Bergen Model of Collaborative Functioning, the experience of KIWAKKUKI's partnership successes and failures was mapped. The findings demonstrate that even in effective partnerships, both positive ...

Prof.Varun Shenoy has completed the  short course  on knowledge practices that are central to improving collaboration in organizations under Tutorship of Dr.Ed Hoffman. Topics include Communities of Practice Leadership, Lessons Learned and Tacit Knowledge Elicitation, and Storytelling as Knowledge Activation.The recipient has completed all resource structure and activities for all three Collaborative Knowledge Services.

Cooperation in the area of innovations comes down to active participation of enterprises in innovation processes taken up with other commercial and/or non-commercial entities. The data in this respect – in accordance with the Oslo Manual 2005 recommendations – should be collected using the identifying questions: cooperation partners (e.g. competitors, clients, consultants, universities), cooperation objects (innovation types – e.g. product or process specific ones) and the geographical range (local, national, international). It is suggested to apply either binary or ordinal response scale in these arrangements. The recommendations presented in such way are of fairly general nature and can be implemented in various ways in public statistics. The purpose of the presented discussion is to provide the critical analysis of the Oslo Manual 2005 recommendations and a comparative analysis of the suggested (Oslo Manual 2005) and applied procedures (Central Statistical Office; PNT-02, PNT-02/u reports) in terms of collecting information about the cooperation of enterprises with entities operating in their environment regarding innovation oriented processes. The critical observations in this regard were considered the reason for the modification of reports about innovations in the sector of industry and services.

This short paper makes the case for revitalised partnerships between the Government, communities and local entrepreneurs in South Africa in order to crack the 'tough nuts' of water and sanitation delivery, such as deep rural water supply, and sanitation in informal settlements.

The paper gives an overview of the challenges that the South African Government faces in delivering in these environments and discusses the possible benefits of closer collaboration with civil society and local private sector. Collaboration in South Africa has a rich history, but delivery in recent years, while impressive, has been dominated by the State, arguably undermining some of the early post-1994 progress in collaborative approaches.

Drawing on international and local experience, the paper outlines how South Africa’s Water for Growth and Development agenda offers an opportunity to revitalise this collaboration across sectors and shows how, in a few selected contexts, collaboration across sectors could be piloted and scaled-up, for the good of all South Africa’s citizens.

There is currently much policy emphasis on both partnership working between health and social services in the UK and on the outcomes delivered by services. This article provides an account of two consecutive projects centred on these two themes. The first project, at the University of Glasgow, sought to address the lack of evidence about the outcomes delivered to service users by partnerships.

A qualitative research report investigating experiences and perceptions in respect of drug use and child protection issues.

The research involved interviews with:

Social workers
Health visitors
Drug Workers

and drug using parents whose children had been the subject of child protection investigations.

This report presents the findings of HEFCE funded research looking at the effectiveness of indirectly funded partnerships between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Further Education Colleges (FECs). The purpose of this report is to establish a guide for good practice among such partnerships and to make recommendations that will support such partnerships developed through the findings from a study of three HE/FE consortia. The report is supportive of consortia partnership arrangements and has identified the following key criteria as important in promoting successful partnership practices.
• The success of consortia relies upon the whole staff taking an interest in and an ownership of their role within the partnership and drawing upon the expertise of all staff and involve everyone in ongoing reflective practices.
• Creating a culture of clear and open communication is essential if all staff are to understand and take part in partnership processes as staff must value the importance of ongoing discussions, negotiations and development to meet ever changing circumstances.
• Senior managers in particular must communicate clearly with all staff involved in the consortium arrangement. This is especially important for issues around financial arrangements which should be transparent as should the rationale that drives them.
• Institutions need to recognise the time implications for staff in developing good practices in running collaborative programmes and therefore all staff need to see clear advantages to the institutions involved when operating as a consortium.
• Quality assurance and responsibilities within this must be clear; neither should any quality process be taken for granted. It is vital to the success of the partnership that issues around maintaining good standards and improving quality are regularly reviewed.
Some of the key recommendations from this research include firstly that HEFCE adopt ‘The Guide’ (appendix 1) as an exemplar of good practice. Secondly that FE and HE staff consider the implications of running joint programmes in terms of the time needed and the opportunities offered for professional development. Thirdly it is recommended that the financial arrangements are made clear and monies distributed to allow all parties to gain benefit from them.

Abstract

Two collaborative writing partners sought to deepen their understanding of transformative learning by conducting several spirals of grounded theory research on their own collaborative relationship. Drawing from adult education, business, and social science literature and including descriptive analysis of their records of activity and interaction throughout a writing project, this article exhibits a comprehensive model of collaboration that integrates both transformative learning and dynamic/complex adaptive systems perspectives.

The call for teachers and schools to become more research-engaged is resonating stronger than ever with government efforts to improve research impact and educational quality in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and many other countries. In these endeavors strengthening the social network structure and collegial relationships that enable collaborative research and learning in schools are often overlooked. This longitudinal, multi-method case study focused on this understanding this pivotal social dimension. It examined in what way and to what extent research-engaged relationships are developed and value for practice is created among school colleagues. The context was a secondary school that is part of a longstanding school-university research partnership in the South-East of the U.K. Social network and survey data, school documents, individual narratives and interview data were collected and analyzed during one academic year. Results reveal that school leadership adopted an approach in which they combined the development of formal structures and informal networking to foster a significant increase in research-engaged interactions among school staff. Two key elements of the school-university research partnership where distinguished as powerful drivers of fostering research engagement in the partnership school.  Outcomes show that the increased research engagement led to diverse types of value creation in both the core and periphery of the research network of school staff.

Background
Increasingly, health policy-makers and managers all over the world look for alternative forms of organisation and governance in order to add more value and quality to their health systems. In recent years, the central government in England mandated several cross-sector health initiatives based on collaborative governance arrangements. However, there is little empirical evidence that examines local implementation responses to such centrally-mandated collaborations.

Methods
Data from the national study of Health Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs) are used to provide comprehensive empirical evidence about the implementation of collaborative governance arrangements in cross-sector health networks in England. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, integrating both quantitative and qualitative data from a national survey of the entire population of HIEC directors (N = 17; response rate = 100%), a group discussion with 7 HIEC directors, and 15 in-depth interviews with HIEC directors and chairs.

Results
The study provides a description and analysis of local implementation responses to the central government mandate to establish HIECs. The latter represent cross-sector health networks characterised by a vague mandate with the provision of a small amount of new resources. Our findings indicate that in the case of HIECs such a mandate resulted in the creation of rather fluid and informal partnerships, which over the period of three years made partial-to-full progress on governance activities and, in most cases, did not become self-sustaining without government funding.

Conclusion
This study has produced valuable insights into the implementation responses in HIECs and possibly other cross-sector collaborations characterised by a vague mandate with the provision of a small amount of new resources. There is little evidence that local dominant coalitions appropriated the central HIEC mandate to their own ends. On the other hand, there is evidence of interpretation and implementation of the central mandate by HIEC leaders to serve their local needs. These findings augur well for Academic Health Science Networks, which pick up the mantle of large-scale, cross-sector collaborations for health and innovation. This study also highlights that a supportive policy environment and sufficient time would be crucial to the successful implementation of new cross-sector health collaborations.

A study has been conducted on the Partnership,  I have conducted this research on four points, 1. Relations of Partners to one another, 2. Suit for Rendition of Accounts, 3. Transfer of Immovable Property and Partnership, and 4. Partnership and Arbitration.

This research publication offers a framework for naming and theorising the methods and skills needed to support exchange of learning, development and implementation of new practice across organisational boundaries. It will be of interest to women and men who are action researchers and practitioners, who are involved in partnership or collaborative work relationships, and is of direct relevance to women and those managing and supporting women in organisations. Published (publisher's copy) Non-Peer Reviewed

Nature conservation organisations increasingly turn to new digital technologies to help deliver conservation objectives. This has led to collaborative forms of working with academia to spearhead digital innovation. Through in-depth interviews with three UK research-council-funded case studies, we show that by working with academics conservation organisations can receive positive and negative impacts, some of which cut across their operations. Positive impacts include new ways of engaging with audiences, improved data workflows, financial benefits, capacity building and the necessary digital infrastructure to help them influence policy. Negative impacts include the time and resources required to learn new skills and sustain new technologies, managing different organisational objectives and shifts in working practices as a result of the new technologies. Most importantly, collaboration with academics was shown to bring the opportunity of a profound change in perspectives on technologies with benefits to the partner organisations and individuals therein.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report an analysis of arrangements in English mental health trusts to meet the needs of adult service users who are homeless. Homelessness is associated with various forms of mental ill-health, yet homeless people are not always well-served by statutory mental health services. In recent years, practice guidance seeking to improve health outcomes for the homeless has emphasised the need for NHS services to improve care pathways and professional provision for this service user group, in part by collaborating more closely with homelessness organisations. Design/methodology/approach Responses to freedom of information requests sent to trusts were analysed. The requests asked trusts for information concerning partnerships with external agencies, particular projects/staff, training available to trust professionals, referral pathways, and intervention models/approaches informing work with homeless service users. Findings In total, 49 trusts provided ...

This article assesses the contents of the majority of employer-union partnership agreements signed in Britain from 1990 to 2007. Few agreements contain the expected partnership principles and most express modest overall aims and limited
ambition. Typical agreements are substantively hollow with more than one-third containing no substantive provisions; and procedurally biased, with more than four-fifths offering unions greater involvement in employers’ decisions. Partnership
agreements continue the procedural bias of traditional British collective agreements representing the lowest common denominator of agreement – unions work towards the success of the enterprise in return for involvement in employers’
decisions. The implications for New Labour’s Third Way approach and the policy of encouraging voluntary partnership agreements to promote fairness at work are considered.

National policies implemented at local level require marginalised community groups to work with public sector agencies and professionals. It can be a significant challenge to work across these boundaries. This article explores how creative and visual methods can be used to support people from so-called ‘hard-to-reach’ groups to articulate complex thoughts and ideas, and communicate their experience of living in their communities. Examples are drawn from the authors’ recent work in the north of England on regeneration and social cohesion, in which university staff collaborated on separate projects in partnership with – and driven by – community groups.

How can we meet the growing demand from consumers who want lower cost, quality and tasty food and want to know where it comes from and how it is produced? One solution is to cut out intermediaries and shorten the social and geographical distance between consumers and food producers. This raises the important challenge of working out ways of organizing geographically dispersed smallholders and family farms into food systems, which can provide quality food at scale and in a systematic and sustained way. The need is to organise collaborative arrangements with farmers in order to access markets, mobilise resources and gain political influence in ways which engage them as partners for consumers and other stakeholders in co-creating food systems. Partnership brokering is key to this co-creating process, which is always unfinished. In this article, the author uses the example of the Malopolska region in Poland to illustrate how partnership brokering can play a central role in shortening the food supply chain by organising farmers and small food producers into a collaborating and self-organising partnership aimed at increasing access to locally-produced food.

A partnership is an arrangement between two or more groups, organizations or individuals to work together to achieve common aims. The term is now widely used, and sometimes it's applied to situations where one powerful organization is doing no more than consult with others, or where one organization is simply buying something off another. But these are not real partnerships in the true sense. If they were, then every time your team asked another team for some information or advice, or ordered a product/service, these interactions would be described as partnerships!  So what distinguishes such interactions from a true partnership?