Knowledge Resource Group

Endearing Myths, Enduring Truths: Enabling Partnerships
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Fractured Contexts Can Enhance Partnership Potential

In 1991 Placer Dome de Venezuela entered into a joint venture with Corporation Venezolana de Guayana, of the government of Venezuela, to commercially develop gold deposits at a site in Bolivar State, southeastern Venezuela. The joint venture, ‘Mineras Las Christinas’ (MINCA), operating in the face of a rapidly declining international gold market, suspended construction in July 1999. The suspension meant that community expectations of a socio-economic improvement programme could no longer be met by the company. MINCA therefore faced the possibility of confrontation with the local community and their potential invasion of the concession. It was in this context that a trisector partnership was formed and has delivered real benefits to both the community and the business, for example in the provision of local health services.

Similarly, BPXC in Casanare, Colombia, is a joint venture of BP Oil, Triton Energy, and TFE with the national oil organization ECOPETROL. The region is subject to the civil conflicts that exist throughout much of the country, endangering the site, infrastructure, and personnel. Government inefficiencies and corruption have restricted the flow of oil-related royalties to benefit the region’s communities. Use of a trisector partnership model of social engagement is seen by BP as one important way to improve its license to operate by influencing the flow and allocation of royalty revenues according to the community’s interests.

The context of the partnership in Kwa Zulu Natal Province, South Africa, between the municipalities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg, Vivendi Water, the Mvula Trust, Umgeni Water, and the Water Research Commission includes a climate of incredibly high expectations on the part of the communities involved. For poor communities, water has been at the center of a heated debate about service levels, cost recovery, and other issues in a time of dramatically expanded municipal jurisdictions and their mandate. Within this context, the urgency to explore innovative partnerships clearly increases in order to resolve operational challenges.

Fractured Contexts Can Enhance Partnership Potential

Endearing Myth

Partnership potential is greatest when the context ensures that partners are most receptive to, and knowledgeable of, each other.

Enduring Truth

Potential benefits from partnerships are often greatest where social, economic, and political uncertainties have historically constrained cooperation (although if the historical grievances are too great, this can also prevent the partners from coming together without an initial process of conflict resolution).

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