Principles of Partnership Working

A coalition of organisations and individuals from more than one sector who agree to work together for a common aim or a set of compatible aims, and who share resources and responsibilities and agree to work together in a co-operative and mutually supportive fashion.

For some time now there has been an increasing awareness that agencies and organisations cannot improve on their targets and goals alone.  The activity of one organisation can impact on the effectiveness of other organisations, and sometimes ere are conflicting aspirations.

 

The way forward is to work together to find ways to join up efforts and work in partnership.  This is a simple idea, but one that is very difficult to actually implement.  The more you try to unravel, the more complexities there are.

 

The Local Government Act 2000 showed a way to develop this way of working.  The Act proposed the notion of a Community Strategy, a document that lays out the long term aspirations for communities.  This has acted as a driver for people to develop an overarching vision for an area and to establish an overarching partnership which works towards achieving that vision.  This overarching partnership is called different things in different areas: the generic name for such a partnership is “Local Strategic Partnership” or LSP for short.  The  name of the Havant LSP is the Havant Community Partnership.

 

Community Strategies have evolved into Sustainable Community Strategies - collective long-term visions of LSP s for their areas, which take into account the needs of the current community whilst not compromising the needs of future generations..

Partnership working is about listening to others' points of view, respecting others' views, treating everyone as equal.   It is about consensus, compromise, agreement.  It means an openness, a willingness to work together and a base of goodwill which makes for progress and achievement.  Partnership working is therefore not about conflict with, holding to account, or criticism of, any one partner or partners but rather about seeking to explore ways of overcoming differences for the "greater good" of all.