PBA Services
Promotional Materials for use in bids / proposals
February 2016
General principles
We start a lot of our negotiations / response to enquries / bids with a clear articulation of what ‘partnership brokering’ is and what evidence we have that it makes a significant contribution / difference to effective collaboration[1].
Our descriptions / explanations are easily adjusted for different contexts / clients – including substituting other terms for ‘brokering’ where that term is unhelpful / alienating.[2]
Important things to stress in whatever description is adopted include:
– Partnering needs change over time so the partnership brokering role also evolves and changes in response
– Difference between internal / external broker and informal / formal adoption of the role
– Principle of those in the role educating / handing over / building capacity of partners and making themselves ‘redundant’ as brokers
– Brokering is not a replacement for good partnering practices it is a (temporary or episodic) arrangement that supports partners and the partnership’s goals
– Striving for a balance between ‘service’ and ‘leadership’ – ie partnership brokering is more than administration or facilitation
Our general approach always aims to engage with entities we hope to work with in ways that evolve / co-create an appropriate response and joint programme of work. To date, this has always worked better (and in any case feels more authentic and true to our values) than selling PBA products. We believe this helps to distinguish us from more conventional consultancies.
We are always prepared to signpost enquiries to more suitable organisations or to each other as independent practitioners. Anything that we promote / undertake on behalf of PBA needs to be clearly related to our specialism of partnership / collaboration brokering.
Overview of PBA
Vision
Creating a more equitable and sustainable world by building capacity for innovation, efficiency and excellence in multi-stakeholder collaboration
Mission
To build capacity for those managing collaboration processes to enable this vision to be achieved
Primary aims are to:
• Challenge and change poor partnering practices so that multi-stakeholder collaboration can become truly transformational
• Ensure those operating in partnership brokering roles are skilled, principled and work to the highest standards
• Promote the critical importance of partnering process management to decision-makers in all sectors
History
The partnership brokering work started in 2002 as a joint venture between the UK’s Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF). Its founders (Michael Warner and Ros Tennyson) were widely viewed as global pioneers of multi-stakeholder partnerships and they brought many years of cutting edge thinking and experience to this new paradigm.
The hypothesis / theory of change was then (is still) that, despite the hopes and claims made for them, most collaborative development projects fall far short of expectation and need but that this is not inevitable. A critical factor is the degree to which the process of partnering is understood and skillfully managed. The notion of ‘partnership brokering’ was born and the first training course building knowledge and skills for those operating as partnership brokers was launched in 2003.
In January 2012, the Partnership Brokering Project (as it was then called) became a wholly independent entity (Partnership Brokers Association) with a focus on Learning, Training & Transforming the global partnership landscape. PBA is registered in the UK as an educational / vocational non-profit company limited by guarantee with a global remit.
PBA has established a somewhat unusual governance structure that is intended to involve as many people as possible from the widest range of contexts and sectors as we can achieve – in other words, our organisation works is designed to be as highly collaborative as possible and to model collaboration in action.
Alumni from our highly respected 4-day partnership brokers training course (now numbering 2000+) come from all sectors and more than 70 countries – some 300+ are now also formally accredited as partnership brokers. We deliver our training, research activities and supporting services through a growing number of accredited colleagues operating as PBA approved trainers, mentors and associates.
We are evolving a highly ‘distributed’ model that we believe enables us to be flexible and highly responsive to different contexts.
PBA’s Associates Network and ‘distributed’ model
Our distributed operational model enables us to put together pairs and small teams for specific pieces of work. We have acquired real skills in working through this approach and to reducing costs (eg of travel) by working on line wherever possible. Our growing global pool of independent, accredited and approved PBA Associates consists of individuals who have undertaken partnership brokering in a wide range of contexts, sectors and cultures in our 3 key Partnership governance
Our approach to providing partnership-brokering support[3]
General statement:
Our Supporting Services are, typically, developed in response to requests and are tailored to strengtheninnovation, efficiency, excellence and confidence in the management of multi-stakeholder collaboration processes to assist those on the front line to build a more equitable and sustainable world.
Our approach:
We bring an understanding of the nature and dynamics of intra- and inter-sectoral,multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholdercollaboration developed through working with partnership practitioners over 20+ years from all sectors and a wide range of contexts.
We seek to continually deepen and share understanding of partnering as a paradigm by working with individuals, organisations and partnerships that are ready to embark on a shared journey of learning, change and, perhaps, transformation
We work in the spirit of inquiry and to this end we are:
– Willing to learn, be challenged and to evolve new knowledge
– Building experience in co-working (in pairs and teams as needed) in the belief that this offers the diversity that is fundamental to sense-making and innovation
– Testing out a collaborative approach to working with clients (co-creating a collaboration agreement where helpful – see section 5)
– Dedicated to upholding / modeling values that promote and embrace equity, transparency, mutual benefit and diversityand
– Committed to working in accordance with the PBA Good Practice Principles (see below)
Extract from a successful bid:
As an organisation we are fully committed to combatting common challenges that inhibit effective partnering including:
Power imbalance Hidden agendas Competitiveness Different priorities
We are also much influenced by the view of a corporate CEO cited by Otto Scharmer in his seminal publication Theory U: “the success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener” – we see all our processes as striving to strengthen the ‘interior condition’ of individuals, organisations and systems.
Our evaluation approach, for example:
· Looks beyond the ‘what’ to the ‘how’ of partnering by our focus on the process as well as the outputs / outcomes. This enables an exploration of the values-based dimensions of collaboration as a paradigm
· Assesses why / in what ways the partnership model was (or was not) the appropriate option for delivering the programme and partners’ goals
· Engages the key players as active participants in the enquiry (being significantly more than just ‘informants’ but engaging as ‘change makers’)
· Yields a deeper understanding of the partnering process, offering partners themselves (at a number of levels) an opportunity to reflect on the value of the partnership and partnership paradigm from their own organisation’s perspective
· Encourages partners to look at a broader definition of ‘value’ by inviting them to consider what constitutes ‘collaborative advantage’[4]
· Creates opportunities for capacity building and learning, by helping the partners to use the evaluation process to support change and improve practices and procedures
· Supports impact claims by tracking and assessing the causal pathways that connect the outcomes of the partnership to programme/project activities and to the partnering process
· Creates structured opportunities for dialogue, critical thinking and reflective practice – facilitated by experienced partnership practitioners – that help build stronger, working relationships within the partnership and its stakeholders
· Supports participatory development of sustainable models which deliver sustainable outcomes from the partnership / programme and draw on multiple perspectives and voices to create an empowered community able to take control of its own development.
What we would bring to a project includes:
· Cutting edge knowledge and skills in collaborative ways of working, complex story capture, learning case studies and track record of capacity-building for more effective collaboration
· Global perspectives and practical experiences of very different contexts together with insights from working with key players / institutions in all sectors (government, business, international agencies, donors, NGOs as well as community-based organisations)
· Track record of being independent (not donor- driven or donor-dependent!) in the way we work and thus able to ‘do differently’ aiming to work in a highly flexible and responsive way rather than relying on more conventional approaches / formulas
· Access to our growing network of alumni (graduates from our partnership brokers training course as well as the more advanced group of Accredited partnership brokers) to be able to use every opportunity to share learning, challenge assumptions and build capacity
· A strong commitment to continuous inquiry in all that we do / deliver and a willingness to work on a mission-driven rather than profit-driven basis where we know there is an alignment of values
For more information:
www.partnershipbrokers.org/supporting
For more discussion, please contact:
Ros Tennyson
Director: Strategy & Services
Partnership Brokers Association
E:
S: rostennyson
Appendix 1: Examples of support work undertaken to date:
Service / Examples include:Tailored Training with a focus on partnership brokering / Save the Children UK – 2 days
Aids Alliance (UK) – 1 day (x3)
Libraries Association (Australia)
Action Aid / DEPP (UK) – 0.5 days
Care Canada – 2 days
Oxfam (UK) – 2 days (coaching follow up and on-going programme)
Biblioteca Alexandria (Egypt) – 1 day
NCDO (Holland) – 1 day
NGO workshop (Delhi) – 1 day (x3)
Amrobank (Holland) – 3 days
Accenture Development Partnerships (UK & USA) 2 days (x2)
MEL team – Start (UK) – 5 days
Humanitarian Leadership Academy (2 days)
ICVA (Geneva – 2 days)
Commissioned PBT (L1) / · Addax (Nigeria)
· Albertson Foundation (USA)
· AMNEP / DFAT (Vietnam)
· AusAid / DFAT (Australia, Fiji, Hanoi, Bangladesh)
· BRAC (Bangladesh)
· DEEWR (Australia)
· Communities for Children (Australia)
· Prime Minister & Cabinet (Australia)
· State Libraries Victoria (Australia)
· Enterprise Connect (Australia)
· GIZ / Nabard Bank (India)
· IICD (Holland)
· ICIMOD (Nepal)
· Imani Development (Zambia)
· IPPF (UK)
· Microsoft (Egypt, Dubai, Malta, Poland, Romania, Singapore, USA)
· Newfoundland Government (Canada)
· Newmont Mining (Ghana)
· Plan International (Australia)
· Tullow Oil (Ghana, Uganda)
· UNV (Bonn)
· World Vision (Australia, Malaysia, South Africa)
Workshop design & facilitation with a focus on building collaboration capacity / World Vision (Africa) – 1 day
World Vision / DSM partnership – 2 days
Aids Alliance (UK) – 1 day
Start Network Board (UK) – 1-3 days
Start team building – 1 day (x5)
CDAC Network (Bangladesh) – on going
ICIMOD (Nepal) – on-going
OXFAM senior team (UK) – 1 day
ICVA (Turkey) – needs assessment /
workshop & report – 10 days
DEPP Talent Dev. Project – 3 days
Action research & case studies / Case study of collaboration on a capacity building project with 4 partners (Myanmar)
Start case study series (x3) (UK)
Reviews of impact of PB training:
World Vision (global programme)
Microsoft (global programme)
PEP project – action research project with 200 partnership brokers working in challenging contexts to understand the impact of context on effective partnering
Reviews & evaluation / Oxfam Jamaica – review of the impact of Oxfam in a partnership brokering role
3 year project to support and review the collaboration element of the Global Alliance for Community Philanthropy
Note: Several Associates have developed a specialism in reviewing partnerships
Building new initiatives / PEP (Promoting Effective Partnering) project – PBA is one of 5 partners funded by the Dutch Ministry to build a global partnering support facility for the SDGs
Remote Partnering Project – PBA-initiated programme with 5 founding partners (Red Cross, Partnership Resources Centre (Erasmus University), PAX and Action Against Hunger) – an ambitious exploration of what it takes to partner remotely – mix of action research and innovation/creativity workshops leading to some radical new ideas to make remote partnering work more effectively.
Donors and Partnering – a new initiative seeking to influence how donors can better fund, support and build stronger partnering programmes
Advice
Coaching & Mentoring / For lead individuals (director-level), teams, consortia, coalitions and partnerships
Examples include:
Start Network (UK)
Oxfam Humanitarian Team (global team)
BRAC (Bangladesh)
DFAT (formerly AusAID) (Australia)
ICIMOD (Nepal)
CDAC Network (UK and Bangladesh)
Some unsolicited quotes:
“I just wanted to tell you how insightful the training was – the benefits of the training and of the reflective practice approach actually show more and more in my work over time”Participant
MEL tailored 5-day training
"I now understand the systematic process of partnership management and the various roles. This will help us to review the way we engage in partnerships."
ICIMOD
(Nepal)
“I have enjoyed a number of wonderful professional development opportunities throughout my career, but Level 1 is certainly at the top of that list! I believe the content, expert instruction, and inspiring colleagues form a magical product that is second to none!”
PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANISATION
(Canada)
“The PBA case study series is important for three reasons.First, it is as close as we have to a historical record.Second, it enables us to share our emerging experience with others who wish to learn.Third, it unveils what is ordinarily hidden behind organisational boundaries. This series contributes significantly to our legitimacy as a humanitarian system change catalyst.”
Sean Lowrie
Director, Start Network
“It was a great pleasure and honour to spend the two days with you all and to be part of co-designing this PEP facility. To the initiators, good luck with the next steps. . I’m excited to be involved. Our workgroup is already up and running thanks to PBA.”
Estelle Cloete
WCEDP, South Africa
Appendix 2: