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Partnerships for Change

• Why use partnerships for Change?
• What makes partnerships work?
• Australian Local Agenda 21 partnerships
• University Leaders for a Sustainable Future partnerships
• Key Documents
• Weblinks

The challenges of sustainability are daunting, as a result many groups are finding that partnerships are a good vehicle for sharing responsibilities and learning how to address sustainability issues. Over the past ten years many voluntary, multi-stakeholder initiatives and partnerships between government, NGOs and business have begun to take root, demonstrating that they are a motivating force for change towards sustainability.

Partnerships have featured regularly in international commitments on sustainability which reflects the prominent role they have played in discussions ever since 'Agenda 21'. Since then, there has been an increasing recognition that partnerships which share learning experiences can accelerate the process of change towards sustainable development. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development reinforced this view, ending with a call for greater global partnerships for sustainability in the 'Johannesburg Plan of Implementation'.

Transformation in the governance of most organisations is an important part of working towards sustainability. Partnerships can be effective in helping to break down hierarchies and challenging traditional power structures and organisational culture, in education, community and corporate institutional structures. By bringing together individuals and groups with different perspectives and from different levels – local, regional, national and global – it is possible to challenge mental models and ideas of 'this is the way we do business around here'. Such challenges help shift perspectives and create conditions for more long-term change.

Cross-sectoral partnerships have advantages in helping change the system or larger institutional frameworks that may otherwise impede action to sustainability. By providing a forum for mutual support, encouragement and the celebration of success, partnerships provide a strong motivation for action.

Partnerships also enable building of expertise and capacity to secure financial and technical support. Individual partners may be specialised in one area or they may lack the staffing or financial abilities to commit to long-term change for sustainability. Those implementing education for sustainability approaches are combining their resources and financial assets, and pool their technical skills to develop the broad and long-term ideas and strategies necessary for change. An example of such a partnership between UN, governments, industry, and NGOs is SEED which promotes innovation in enterprise for sustainability

Local Agenda 21 processes also provide an important means to implement sustainability.The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) supports partnerships that are voluntary, multi-stakeholder, democratic and mutually beneficial, while the Australian Government recognises three types of partnerships in Local Agenda 21 programs.

Partnerships are also at the core of the International Implementation Scheme for the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development . The Scheme argues that planners and managers can increase the effectiveness of their programs by including a range of stakeholders in the design and management.

Another example of a partnership in education is the University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (USLF) which encourages partnerships to make sustainability a major focus of teaching, research, and campus management in colleges and universities around the world.

Partnerships are a key component of education for sustainability. They provide both formal and informal opportunities for learning. Learning can take place during a meeting or through structured exchanges which allow reflection, development of understanding and questioning of mental models. Partnerships also strengthen ownership and commitment to sustainability actions. They are the key to implementing sustainability.

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Why use Partnerships for Change?

• Create synergies between organisations to work for change.
• Bring together people and partners with different perspectives to reconcile interests and challenge world views.
• Foster building shared visions among partners.
• Allow partners to combine resources and talents.
• Increase capacities to attract financial and technical support.
• Help to break hierarchies and power relationship by linking partners at different levels and across different disciplines.
• Add value to local initiatives while maintaining relevance.
• Help motivate partners to work towards log term institutional change

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What makes partnerships work?

What makes partnerships work? What undermines them? And what is needed to establish and sustain effective partnerships?

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has been interested in partnerships as a mechanism for achieving sustainable development ever since it was first established in 1990. It is currently studying the:

• Types of partnerships and peak moments of partnership excellence.
• Planning processes for partnerships.
• Communication tools for partnerships.
• Evaluation of partnerships and their outcomes.

As part of this study, IISD hosted an e-conference which nearly 500 people subscribed to. A number of useful conclusions about partnership practice can be drawn from the discussion:

1. The success of a partnership can be determined by:

   1. the attainment of its immediate objectives;
   2. the quality of the partnership experience itself (respect and trust demonstrated among the partners, the sharing of knowledge, the leveraging of resources, the resolution of conflict); and
   3. the realization of the "multiplier effect": when the partnership results in additional (or unexpected) benefits (influencing organizations, policies and practices beyond the immediate activities of the partnership).

2. There are four requirements for partnerships to be successful:

   1. There must be a compelling motive for the organizations to come together.
   2. The organizations must undertake real work together (moving beyond information sharing to action).
   3. Organizations must learn how to work with each other in the partnership.
   4. Organizations must communicate the results of their partnership to others.
3. To work together effectively, partners should share a common vision for and commitment to the partnership. Shared values are also important, including a common commitment to sustainable development.
4. Partnerships can have significant asymmetries among the partners, in terms of size, influence, and resources brought to the table. Partners do not need to have the same expectations in common, but they do need to understand each others' objectives. There must be mutual clarity and understanding among partners as to what they expect to gain or accomplish through the partnership.
5. Particular attention should be paid to the equitable treatment of southern / transitional country partners, to ensure the use of their knowledge and expertise, and to compensate them fairly for their contributions.
6. Attention to planning, structure and decision making mechanisms can help to keep partnerships on track. Partnerships can experience strong external influences on their efforts (political, religious, financial). Unless the partnership is well organised and the institutional commitments are in place, such influences can significantly derail the partnership.
7. Individual organizations are always affected by the experience of working with others. Organizations should be prepared to be flexible and adaptable in their own internal business processes in order to work more efficiently with their partners. Organisations should be prepared for and embrace the change process.
8. There is still a gap between problem solving at the local level, and the ability to influence policies that may have led to the problem in the first place. While success may lie in addressing problems at the local level, the partners should also consider how to communicate their success to decision makers nationally, and how to inform the international community of their work.
9. The communications tools for working together and exchanging knowledge range from instant messaging to theatre. Partners must agree early in their work on which tools they will use, building the capacity of those partners who are not as equally prepared in terms of familiarity and infrastructure as others.
10. There is a growing recognition that monitoring and evaluation of partnerships is necessary to ensure the work is being done, and to keep partners together. However, there is still very limited understanding on how to do this simply and effectively, within available time, staff and financial resources.

11. Long term support for the partnership modality can be provided by the following:

    1. The donor community should move beyond "short burst project funding". Donors could benefit from more capacity building in understanding how partnerships function and how to support them financially.
    2. Private sector support has been observed to be very successful at the local level - direct support to communities and community based organisations.
    3. Governments play several support roles:
       1. Maintaining or increasing financial and political commitments to local / national partnerships (e.g., Local Agenda 21 implementation) and to international funding mechanisms (e.g. the GEF).
       2. Creating the enabling conditions for partnerships (policies, incentives, infrastructure needed for partnerships).
12. Partnerships can lead to improved accountability of individual sectors and organizations. The partnership modality has the potential to lead to new forms of democracy, where decision making is shared across sectors.

For the full report of issues and findings, read the final report of the consultation entitled: 'Virtual Exhibition E-Discussions: Working Together for Sustainable Development'. Creech and Willard (2002)

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Further Reading

For more detailed information see the Key Documents in EFS section where you will find the main texts related to partnerships for change in either pdf format to download or links to where you can order a copy.

Or take a look at the weblinks section where you will find direct links to websites focusing on this area.

The text of this section has been adapted Tilbury, D. and Cooke, K. (2005) A National Review of Environmental Education and its Contribution to Sustainability in Australia: Frameworks for Sustainability. If you wish to cite or refer to this text in another document please acknowledge the original source. Download document here.

Benefits of Partnerships

Partnerships enable all stakeholders to make a concrete contribution to the outcomes of the WSSD and other international agreements aimed at furthering sustainable development.

United Nations Division for Sustainable Development (2004)Frequently asked questions about partnerships. Available here

Partnerships and Sustainability

'The challenge of sustainable development is a difficult and complex one, requiring new partnerships — among governments, academic and scientific communities, teachers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local communities and the media. All are essential to the birth of a culture of sustainability. Within governments, for example, education for sustainability is of direct concern not only to ministries of education, but also to ministries of health, environment, natural resources, planning, agriculture, commerce and others. New policies, programmes, resources and activities can be reported from almost every country, a sure and encouraging sign that education is beginning to be seen as a significant aspect of national sustainable development policies.'

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (2002, p.5) Education for Sustainability, From Rio to Johannesburg: Lessons Learnt from a Decade of Commitment. Report presented at the Johannesburg World Summit for Sustainable Development. Paris: UNESCO.

How to establish 'real' partnerships?

Establishing partnerships is a learning process, particularly in Environmental Education which has had limited exposure to cross-sectorial partnerships. For instance, national conferences in Environmental Education are mostly attended by those involved in formal education and have only recently begun to involve community educators. More government and business stakeholders need to engage with these professional meetings to extend the dialogue and challenge entrenched mental models.

In reality, the achievement of successful partnership outcomes - based on common objectives, clearly defined deliverables, where ownership is shared among all partners - has been identified as a major challenge by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (link to document or website). Whilst there are numerous web sites and documents that promote the virtues of these partnerships and alliances, there has been no credible research into what constitutes an effective partnership for sustainability. Some key factors that need to be taken into consideration are:

• Creating lasting partnerships for sustainability requires time and persistence, as well as predictable and sustained resources for implementation.
• Transparency in decision making and dialogue can help to build trust between partners to avoid them feeling threatened.
• Ensuring complete representation of stakeholders, and maintaining the commitment and motivation of partners over time.

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