Embedding engagement
Partnership working: success factors
As part of the national evaluation of Local Strategic Partnerships, a learning set worked over a series of meetings to identify guiding principles for community engagement and partnership. It identified the following, taken directly from the report summary (more information can be found on the ODPM website).
Ownership: successful partnerships are able to work from common objectives towards a collective, shared vision. This is particularly important when engaging communities. Participants are most likely to feel fully engaged when they are contributing towards goals that they have helped to formulate.
Partnership structure/inclusivity: The structure of the partnership is the overt demonstration of its commitment to engagement. The methods for choosing decision makers to sit on the partnership, and for feeding in others' views, impact on how the partnership is perceived. If well-handled these processes can show to those involved and those outside that different groups' views are taken into account in decision making, planning and delivery.
Working styles and commitment to change: To engage communities successfully, as well as fulfilling its many other responsibilities, a partnership should model effective ways of working for different circumstances and groups. An effective partnership should also be ready to monitor, evaluate, change and move forward.
Relationships and culture: A partnership cannot be expected to work like any one of its constituent organisations, or to work without additional development time and resources and support to do things differently, particularly with regard to community engagement. Individuals and groups need practical and development support to engage effectively with each other and those 'outside' the process.
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