User Guide to Intersectoral Partnering: Pt. V

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V. START-UP OF AN INTERSECTORAL PARTNERSHIP

Most ISPs go through similar start-up processes. This section describes seven steps that each partner can follow in order to begin.

Preparing the Ground

Step 1: Identify the Goals and Aims

Brainstorm. Describe in writing each sector's stake in the issue. Identify goals without getting bogged down in resources, personalities, and histories. This is the time to clarify the vision of the ISP. Generally, the partner that is instigating the ISP (sometimes a donor) will initiate this step.

Questions to consider: What is the nature of the problem that an ISP might solve, and why is it necessary to bring together actors from different sectors to solve it? How are these stakeholders affected by the problem? To what extent are resources from different stakeholders required? What skills, human and/or material resources does each sector have that could help address the problem?

Step 2: Identify Realities and Partners

Evaluate each sector's development. The success of an ISP is related to the relative development of the various sectors themselves. Sometimes the first task of one sector is to actively support the development of another. Donors have a special role to play in strengthening the capacity of all three sectors.

Identify allies within each sector. There are almost always some alliances already present. In the public sector, coalitions are a common working form. Collective initiatives based upon resources, interests, or power are numerous. In business, joint ventures, chambers of commerce, and federations are common. And in civil society, coalitions are often formed around common issues or relationships to more effectively utilize resources of the sector. The number and quality of these alliances are indicators of the potential for intersectoral development.

Questions to consider: Are there actors in each sector who have the organizational capacity to become involved in a partnership? Do all the key stakeholders have effective organizations? What are the key organizations and who are the key players in each sector?

Step 3: Understand the Potential for Working Together, Anticipate Problems

Historically, potential members of ISPs often have not interacted and may even view one another with some apprehension. Each partner should do some research to overcome this initial distrust.

Interview people in the organizations you have identified. Ask them about their histories, attitudes, and personal networks.

Test your vision through questions. For example, ask "Could you imagine working with ‘X' to solve that problem or take advantage of this opportunity?"

Investigate particular sources of potential problems. A key reason for the traditional lack of productive interaction is that the missions and cultures of the sectors are different. To form successful partnerships, sectoral representatives must be able to address the focal issue of the partnership from the viewpoint of their constituents, even while they may have substantial disagreements over some related issues.

Assess typical sector-specific strengths and weaknesses. Government strengths include the ability to create laws, improve the enabling environment, and in a democracy, improve public accountability and adjudicative functions. Major hindrances within the government sector can include inertia, micro-management, exhaustion from an ongoing tension between demands and resources, and a bureaucratic culture. Local business strengths include access to production facilities, technical expertise, and in the right policy environment, a market culture that promotes efficiency, innovation, entrepreneurship, competition and a strong client orientation. Problems within the private sector can include a distrust of collective action, an inability to deal with externalities, a lack of transparency, and an overemphasis on short-term results. Civil society strengths include voluntaristic actors who are sensitive to members' needs and values, and organizations that tend to be smaller and more flexible than the other partners. Within the civil society arena, however, there is often a cycle of underfunding, a focus on process rather than product, parochialism about working with outsiders, and a concern with various management and organizational challenges. It is important to realize that effective organizations learn how to deal with these issues, but may never really get over them completely. However, effective organizations manage to assert the collective interest and provide a base for action with other sectors.

Questions to consider: What is the history of the issue and relations among stakeholders? How much tension must be overcome to make cooperation possible? What present or potential coalitions exist among key actors? To what extent is the issue so widely perceived as a crisis that otherwise reluctant parties might be willing to try something new? Which stakeholders are ready for collaboration? Which are not? What are the impediments to strategic partnering?

Setting Directions

Step 4: Convene Partners and Define Problems

After analyzing the data from step 3, identify a strategy for bringing the sectoral representatives together. At this point the vision will start to become reality. In cases where partnerships begin with a history of interaction and interpersonal ties, problems with stereotypes and intentions are less significant. In these cases, the questions of who, where, and what can be guided by historic experience. In cases where there is no historic interaction, these questions take on additional importance. One important task is to foster an environment of equal partners, and all partners should be involved in this step.

The first meeting is exploratory. Its goal is to build enough trust and commitment to meet again. Particular attention must be given to the following issues:

Who convenes? It is important to identify an individual or organization that is well regarded by all parties to call the meeting. The convening individual or group needs to have credibility with all the major stakeholders.

Where? The actual meeting location must also be considered. For an initial meeting, it is best to identify some neutral ground, most often a rented facility. This prevents the meeting from being perceived as under one organization's control.

Who moderates? When choosing a moderator for the initial meeting, find someone who allows participants to raise issues without replicating past unproductive discussions.

What to discuss? An agenda for the first meeting might simply focus upon two things: personal and organizational introductions and a sharing of viewpoints about the key issues. If the players have not had a history of interaction, the meeting might end right there with a summary of different viewpoints written for distribution. If the meeting members already know each other, they might move directly to the collective vision, which would otherwise be a topic for a second meeting.

Often a new organization will be created to facilitate the formation and perpetuate the linkages of an ISP. This organization can take different forms, depending on the nature of each sector and the parties that come together. As the stakeholders meet, they can begin to think about whether this specific type of ISP would serve the interests of the different parties, and if so, what it should look like.

Box #6: CONVENING PARTNERS

Dominican Republic
During a recent USAID-supported fundraising training session for a large group of NGOs in the Dominican Republic, the issue of collaboration arose frequently. This was a difficult concept for groups accustomed to competing for resources to accept.

During a simulation exercise, the participants learned more about each other and began to see that each had different strengths and comparative advantages in pursuing the hypothetical project identified by the trainers. Initially, the groups had focused on the threats posed by each of their competitors in the room, as well as on strategies on how to win. During the course of the exercise, however, a different perspective developed as the NGOs realized that only by sharing information and working collaboratively could they achieve their objectives as defined within the exercise. The debriefing session afterwards was exhilarating as the NGOs came to understand the incredible strength they had enjoyed when united. The feeling in the room pre- and post-simulation was markedly different and turned into a very real, tangible force. As a result of the training sessions, real-world alliances were formed.

While the simulation exercise was conducted among NGOs only, it is a technique that is easily adapted to encourage local actors from different sectors to examine the potential pay-off from cross-cutting linkages among civil society, business, and institutions of democratic local governance (NPI Resource Guide 1997).

Step 5: Set Directions

An essential quality of ISPs is their ability to take a new approach to old problems, bringing new energy and creativity to the development of a vision. This happens most easily if the different parties begin with a shared understanding about the nature of the problem and ideas about possible solutions.

The commitment of each partner to the following elements must occur during this phase of the ISP development.

Establish a climate of hope and a willingness to work together. Joint investigation of the issue, building visions, and developing leadership through forums such as meetings, brainstorming sessions, task forces, committees, and conferences will foster this climate.

Define the problems and concerns of the stakeholders. Successful problem definition involves identifying the intersection of the interests of the three sectoral players and including all of the stakeholders in a meaningful way. While USAID can play the role of coach, facilitator, and team supporter, this can be a shared responsibility.

Achieving Results

Step 6: Develop an Action Plan

A series of joint forums allows people to share ideas on a particular issue and gradually develop them into an action plan. Such plans are often composed of a series of small steps that build the relationships and make larger steps possible.

When identifying the action plan, keep in mind some of the ground rules of partnerships. These include: the right to say no, honesty, accountability, and a commitment to help address other parties' perspectives as well as one's own. Key questions that every partner needs to answer at this point are:

How should action strategies be implemented? The implementation of major action plans can bring back old problems and tensions that were less visible during the more abstract discussion of values and strategies. Implementation also often involves new actors, who may not have been part of earlier discussions that led to specific problem-solving activities. Open lines of communication are vital; as are clearly defined rules of the game that facilitate communication, reduce transaction costs, and protect empowerment.

How can stakeholders implement detailed plans in ways that respect their particular interests? At this point, sectoral differences may become even more apparent. It is important to respect them at all times. They are a necessary component of successful ISPs.

Who will mediate the inevitable tensions and conflicts that arise when new actors come into the picture? Long-term success requires that the participants continue to manage their conflicts and tensions effectively. In most cases, by this time in the relationship, internal processes and traditions will be sufficiently developed to address any issues that might arise. However, since the relationships are based upon shared power, outside mediators may need to be brought into the process at different points in time.

What kinds of capacity-building activities are necessary for different actors to carry out their parts of the process effectively? Capacity building activities may be necessary. Donors can play a critical role in strengthening each sector. Partnering among donors may lead each to focus on that sector with which they have the greatest expertise, working to ensure those efforts reinforce one another.

How will resource sharing take place? Each sector has distinct financial capabilities. This issue often becomes a sticking point during the implementation process. Partners need to discuss resource sharing continuously in order to ensure that the issue remains well understood from the outset.

Step 7: Institutionalize and/or Expand Successful ISPs

This is the toughest step of the process. The most successful ISPs generate the human, social, material, and financial capital to maintain or even expand themselves. In the long term, success may involve expanding the program's reach to more people and/or to tackle new issues, as well as institutionalizing its arrangements to ensure that it continues after outside resources have been withdrawn or reallocated.

When continuation or expansion is desirable, the partnership may need to generate new resources and wider participation in its activities. One possibility is to scale-up the agency or partnership that has been implementing the program. Another is to involve other organizations whose interests might be served by participating in a successful partnership. Linkages to external partners are often essential to the successful functioning of ISPs and therefore, vertical linkages to broader national institutions or even to society-to-society networks can be critical. Also important to sustainability is the spread of successful ISP institutional models within the society and their adaptation to new conditions.

Donors have access to many resources that can assist this scaling-up process. They can disseminate information to other regions that are struggling with similar issues, or coordinate with other donors and host-countries to leverage resources and stimulate wider participation. However, outside dependency can threaten sustainability; thus, access to local resources is critical.