How Can We Assess the Value of Working in Partnerships?

This blog was originally posted by Better Evaluation on June 21, 2016. Click here to read the full post.

"Most partnerships don’t really work that well." Among all the success stories, this was one message that resounded as I headed home after a conference on Partnering for Success.

But if they’re so difficult to get right, why are we bothering?

In international development, we work in partnerships all the time, believing that doing so increases the positive impact of our work. Working with local actors, for example, is expected to foster a sense of local ownership and therefore improve project sustainability. It’s also assumed that, as we share with and learn from each other, we fill the gaps in our own knowledge, capacity or skills.

But does this actually happen if most partnerships ‘don’t really work that well’? Perhaps it’s time to admit that we don’t spend enough time unpacking our assumptions about partnerships and (systematically) assessing whether it’s really the best way to achieve our project outcomes.

So how do we learn what type of partnerships work well, under what conditions and in what contexts? Here are six reflections from the conference:

1. Be clear about the purpose of the partnership

Calling a relationship a ‘partnership’ doesn’t make it one. If we pay a local organisation to collect data for us, then we’re talking about service delivery, not partnership.

And so, while partnerships come in all shapes and sizes – depending on who’s involved, why and what they aim to achieve from the relationship – we can identify some common features. For instance, having a common vision, sharing both risks and benefits, having a sense of ‘co-creation’, and contributions from all parties. And it’s important to acknowledge – and appreciate – that money is just one kind of contribution. 

Not all partnerships are (or should be) aimed at delivering development projects in the best or most cost-effective way. Working in a partnership can be a normative thing, the value or aim in itself. But this should be made clear from the start as we all benefit from entering partnerships with a clear rationale.

2. Don’t assume ‘nice’ partnerships mean better partnerships

It would be easy to assume – and desirable to believe – that working in ‘nice’, ‘friendly’ partnerships improves programme outcomes. But this isn’t necessarily the case. It can be all too easy to become stuck in our comfort zones if partners don’t challenge each other or bring up awkward or unpleasant issues.

Which is not to say that we should be looking for difficult partners. Rather, if we only work with people who always agree with us, we might be missing opportunities for learning or systemic change.

Collaborating with surprising actors and not the usual suspects, might lead to exciting and unexpected outcomes. And sometimes, collaborating outside of the ‘usual suspects’ is critical to achieving the programme goals.

Click here to read the rest of this post on Better Evaluation.