Strategic partnership for growth

Sabine Germann
WAGGGS working group

Jordan Bajraktarov European Scout office

Purpose of the session

Strategic partnership could strengthen your organization Some knowledge about partnership

Process: conceptualising, generating, partnering and following through.

Some questions
Do you have partnerships in your MO/NSO ? If not why not ? If you do what is working well / bad for your MO/NSO ? How involved are local groups?

Concepting

Definition of partnerships
Partnerships are voluntary and collaborative relationships in which all parties agree to work together to achieve a common purpose or undertake a specific task and to share risks, responsibilities, resources, competencies and benefits (Kofi A. Annan)

Main characteristic
Reciprocity is a fundamental aspect of any partnership. This implies the mutual sharing of ideas, beliefs and decisions
(WAGGGS Creating peace worldwide)

Benefits, challenges / risks

Benefits of working in partnership ? Challenges or risks of working in partnership ?

Benefits of no working in partnerhsip ? Challenges or risks of working in partnership?

Partnerships allow to...

- Strengthen your organization - Raise the profile of G/S

- Amplify the message of the Movement

- Support and deliver the Mission through increased ressources and funding

- Participate in decision-making
...

Types of partnershps
- Co-operative - Developmental

- By contribution donation
- Sponsorship - Network

- Adviser, mentoring, coaching

- Alliance, coalition...

Knowing your association

The Mission The Vision The direction Assessing your needs and planning a strategy Every journey requires a destination!

What is a strategy
1. What is the actual situation 2. Coming from the mission and values, developing vision and strategic aims 3. Sitting some strategic objectives 4. Planning to implement the plan 5. Implementation, support, monitoring 6. Formal evaluation, celebration, continuous review

Analysis exercise
SWOT - strengths - weaknesses - opportunities - threats What about your organization?

What influences partnership?

- Values - Culture - Credibility What about your organization?

What influences partnership?

- Context : factors outside your organization that may influence your activities, but which you cannot change! Analysis exercise - STEEP - social - technical economic - environmental - political

What about your country?

Generating

Is partnership the solution?

A method to answer the needs and goals More value added by partnership than by doing alone

Enough capacity to manage and exploit partnerhsip

Defining your project

What can you offer ? Know what you want, then tell everyone !

The pitch projet

A pitch project is a potential project you can use to sell your organization to a potential partner A proposal, in line with your strategic priorities Which elements should be included in a pitch project?

One minute message

An exercise to practise developing and delivering a message The problem The evidence An example The action required

A slogan?

Preparing the approach

Prepare yourself Promote your organization and its strengths (website, partner pack, official letter, newsletter, report on previous success...) Analyse network, contacts, stakeholders

Analyse stakeholders

Finding a suitable partner

A partner should have demonstrated... A partner should have a commitment to... The partner we don't want to have...

Finding a suitable partner

Approaching potential partner

Contacting them ! Agreeing on a common project with shared principles

Valuing your partner contribution

Draw up an agreement

Types of agreement
Informal agreement Memorandum of understanding Partnership agreement Benefits and risks of each of them ? What could be part of a formal agreement?

Coffee break

Partnering

Project development
5 stages of a project 1. Identification 2. Planning 3. Implementation 4. Managing 5. Completion

Do not forget the financial part!

Different levels of objectives

Mission of the organization Partnership objectives Each organization objectives Objectives for the members Objectives for each action .... SMART use of indicators

Key-words along the way

Monitoring how the project is going Evaluating the impact of the project Planning the sustainability of the project Define the impact the project should have

Collecting information and datas

Evaluation table example

Working together
Human ressources Team work Communication Conflict resolution Intercultural learning Allow time to build a real relationship!

Successful partnership tips

- Choose the right managers - Make the partnership an issue for the organizations - Keep focussed on achieving the partnership goals - Maintain open and ongoing relations between the partners

Successful partnership tips

- Communicate openly and regularly - Built on strenght of partners - Commit to mutual accountability - Be flexible and adaptable

- Motivate people
- Monitor and evaluate progress

Working together
Getting the best out of the partnership relationship Great Spirit, prevent me from judging a man, not before having walked a mile in his moccasins
(an invocation of the American Indians)

Following through

Closing analysis
Evaluation Sustainability and impact Seeing things differently

Facing a failure
Writing reports

What next?
Recognise accomplishment Celebrating successes Ending, renewing Future planning?

Summary

Follow up
How can we help you ?

Tailored support, consultancy Guest speakers Mentoring, contact system Existing partnerships with World assoc. Tool kits

Now ? Act!

Thank you