Knowledge Resource Group

Endearing Myths, Enduring Truths: Enabling Partnerships
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Tri-Sector Partnerships

The Age of Partnerships

Risks and opportunities in many developing and transition countries have become more complex, volatile, and extreme. Efficiently overcoming risks, building new bases of legitimacy, and taking advantage of latent opportunities are often beyond the reach of individual organizations. Increasingly, the preferred route is to ‘stretch’ competencies and capacities by linking the technical specializations, networks, and resources of diverse organizations.

Trisector partnerships, involving business, civil society organizations, and government agencies, are amongst the more complex partnerships. They pose particular challenges, because they seek to draw together often very diverse interests, perspectives, and organizational cultures. However, they also offer significant potential gains if this diversity can be effectively focused and operationalised.

BPD’s Diverse Experience

BPD partnerships are not well-defined development projects that begin and end at the will of one organization. The 30 projects were selected because of their diversity. They are at very different stages of development, and have two different types of relationships with BPD:

Partnerships formed through BPD: these range from the work of the Global Road Safety Partnership that involved setting up an entirely new NGO called ‘GRSP Ghana’, to secure the effective transfer of internationally available information and knowledge to Ghanaian organizations – through to the work of the Global Youth Development Programme, which facilitates the creation of the ‘Out of School Youth Project’ in the Philippines, involving the Ayala Foundation, the Children and Youth Foundation in the Philippines, the International Youth Foundation, and the World Bank.
Ongoing partnerships drawn into and enhanced through BPD. The partnership in Dakar, Senegal, between SONES (the public water department), Senegalese des Eaux (a private water operator), ENDA (an international NGO), and local communities was established some years before BPD. BPD has sought to contribute to its effectiveness on the ground, while learning from its experience. The trisector partnership focused around the BP-operated site in Casanare, Colombia, also builds on earlier trisector initiatives in the region, involving community organizations and local and regional public authorities.

Potential Partner Benefits

Achieving social and environmental objectives.
This is a clear objective of governments and civil society organisations, and in some instances one of business, not least because of its emerging relevance to their financial interests.

Increased access to resources.
Accessing financial, technical and managerial resources, which can help to address both common and partner-specific aims.

Better access to information and risk management.
This can help both private and public institutions improve service delivery, and enable them to better manage risk and implement conflict prevention measures.

Building social capital.
Enhancing the quality of key relationships, particularly between partnering organizations and the constituencies they represent or seek to serve.

Growing human capital.
Creating new opportunities for training, placements, mentoring, exchanges, incentive programmes, awareness raising, volunteering and leadership development.

Improved operational efficiency.
Achieving reduced risks and costs, increased process efficiency and better service delivery.

Organizational innovation.
Helping partnering organizations develop new ways of operating to meet complex challenges and opportunities.

More effective products and services.
Governments and NGOs, as well as businesses often provide services. Partnerships can create openings for the more effective design and delivery of such products and services.

Enhanced reputation and credibility.
Building better relations with key stakeholder groups that will benefit directly or indirectly from the partnership.

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