UNDP: THE RISKS & BENEFITS

OF PARTNERING WITH BUSINESS

Ros TennysonBratislava

26th October 2004

Why partner?

Because you understand (from experience) that you cannot achieve your goals by working on your own…and you believe that by workingcooperatively with other sectors you can achieve greater innovation,

impact,scale, reform and sustainability…

Who should be mainly responsible for addressing social issues: Companies or Governments?

Summary of survey undertaken in 20 diverse countries

PARTNERING IS MORE THAN…

• A cross-sector dialogue• A service delivery contract• A one-off activity• A new word for a ‘donor’• A different way of fund-raising• Another name for ‘business as usual’

DEFINING ‘PARTNERSHIP’

•An association between people in business where the risks and benefits are shared•A relationship between people (as in marriage, games-playing and dancing)

•Source: OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF PARTNERING (for all partners!)

•Development of human capital•Better access to information•Improved operational efficiency•More effective products /services•Innovation & creativity•Enhanced reputation & credibility•Increased access to resources

POTENTIAL RISKS OF PARTNERING (for all partners!)

•Reputation impact•Loss of autonomy•Conflicts of interest•Resource implications•Implementation challenges•Time investment in partnership-building & maintenance

Key partnering questions for all those involved to ask

(what do we bring to the table and what’s in it for us?)

• What are the strengths of my organisation?• What are the weaknesses?• What do I/we think of the others?• What would be the benefits (to fulfilling our

goals) of partnering with them?• What would be the core principles (for us)

without which we could not co-operate?

KEY PARTNERING PRINCIPLES?

•EQUITY because it leads to RESPECT

•TRANSPARENCY because it leads to TRUST•MUTUAL BENEFIT because it leads to SUSTAINABILITY

THE PARTNERING CYCLE

•Scoping the possibilities•Identifying appropriate partner(s)•Partnership-building activities•Mobilising resources•Building delivery mechanisms•Reporting, reviewing and revising•‘Moving on’ strategies

ESSENTIAL PARTNERING SKILLS

MEDIATION May be essential in a pre-partnership phaseNEGOTIATION Building consensus from diverse

underlying interestsFACILITATION Managing the partnering processSYNTHESIS Interpreting and reporting effectivelyMENTORING Coaching / empowering othersMONITORING Ensuring good governance and

genuinely ‘value added’ activity

Does your partnership need a partnership

‘broker’?

MULTIPLE ROLES OF A PARTNERSHIP ‘BROKER’

Creating new partnership mechanisms

It may be necessary to build new kinds of deliverymechanisms to move a partnership from ‘good

idea’ today-to-day project delivery… for example:• Global / Local Alliances• Temporary partnerships• Consultative partnerships• Intermediary / Umbrella organisation• Learning Network

from: INSTITUTIONALISING PARTNERSHIPS

IBLF, 2003

Institutional Change

“…Ultimately, institutional reform may be a more important outcome of a partnership than any other. In other words, if the partnership leads to a government department functioning more creatively and efficiently; or to an international corporation contributing more vigorously or systematically to sustainable development in all aspects of its operations; or to an NGO having a much larger-scale impact – then the ‘outcomes’ of the partnership will have become significantly more substantial than its ‘outputs’…”

from: INSTITUTIONALISING PARTNERSHIPS

IBLF, 2003

UNDP & PARTNERINGQuestion 1:

Is it possible to partner with businesswithout compromising what the UN(DP)stands for?

(Only if UN(DP) can confidently explainwhy it is necessary and important to godown this route)

UNDP & PARTNERINGQuestion 2:

How can UNDP partner with business incountries where the business sector is very weak?

(Probably only by using a partnership tobuild business capacity as a basis foreconomic and social stability)

UNDP & PARTNERINGQuestion 3:

Does UNDP have the competencies and confidence to partner with business?

What role(s) do / should UNDP play inpartnering? Are these clear to others?

UNDP & PARTNERINGQuestion 4:

Why should business partner withthe UNDP?

(If you can’t answer this questionyou may not be ready to partnerwith business!)

Castles in the air?

Partnership is the solution…

“At the start of the 21st Century it is becoming clear that the balance of power has fundamentally changed. The traditional sources of power in institutions – information and formal authority – have lost their power…

The redistribution of power in society has significant implications for every institution and for every relationship. Increasingly things won’t work unless the key players embrace a partnership model because in an inter-locked world each player has enough negative power to halt everything, be it a commercial deal or a personal relationship.”

Charles HandyPARTNERSHIP AND TRUSTin THE PARTNERSHIP PRINCIPLEArchetype publications, 2004

Partnership may not be what it seems…

“… The language of partnership may be very attractive – appealing in part because it is a way to personalise the state and make it real – but in practice the language of partnership may conceal far more than it facilitates…”

David RuncimanUniversity of CambridgeSpeaking at PCCP 3September 2004

Partnership is the problem…

“… There is a real possibility that cross-sector partnerships will do irreparable damage to the structure and functioning of our societies. For example, a cross-sector partnership can become more powerful than a government and by delivering public goods independently of government, can render it increasingly dysfunctional. Similarly at international level, there is a danger that global cross-sector partnerships – that imply legitimacy simply because they are cross-sectoral even if they have no formal accountability mechanisms – replace existing international institutions that are already clearly accountable to governments…

Anne-Marie SlaughterPrinceton University and author ofA NEW WORLD ORDERSpeaking in Berlin, September, 2004

PARTNERING IS NEVER…

•Easy•Comfortable•Secure•Safe•Quick or •Cheap

BUT IT CAN BE WORTH IT IF…

the partnership is…•‘Values-driven’ (enhancing not compromising)•Innovative, well managed & efficient•Empowering (others to be more self-reliant)•A means to an end (not an end in itself)•Leading to sustainable outcomes•Achieving more than any sector could by working alone