Partnership, says Brinkerhoff (public administration, George Washington U.) is the polite term for minimizing the responsibility of government in development projects. She seeks to clarify the concepts and its practice, to critique the understanding and practice of it in international development to date, and to specify its defining dimensions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This unique study from the OECD Development Centre presents a comprehensive review by independent experts of the relationships and division of responsibility between the 22 member governments of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), and NGOs from these donor countries, working in international development. Additional chapters cover the roles of the European Union and the World Bank. Among other themes, the book looks at two very significant issues. First, at the way in which an overemphasis on evaluation may be leading NGOs to focus purely on measuring their output, thus choosing activities which are easily accountable. Second, it examines the important impacts of the evolution in the funding relationship between governments and NGOs - from matching grants to contracts - where NGOs must increasingly compete for contracts.
In the search for institutional models that can deliver more and better development outcomes, partnership is arguably among the most popular solutions proposed. But the evidence of partnerships' contributions to actual performance has been for the most part anecdotal. Partnerships for International Development bridges the gap between rhetoric and practice, clarifying what the concept means - and providing a roadmap for how to achieve meaningful partnership results. The discussion is enhanced by case studies of partnerships for public service, corporate social responsibility, and conflict resolution.
The post-2015 goals and the changing environment of development cooperation will demand a renewed and strengthened UN development system. In line with their increasing significance as economic powers, a growing number of emerging nations will play an expanded role in the UN development system. These roles will take the form of growing financial contributions to individual organizations, greater weight in governance structures, higher staff representation, a stronger voice in development deliberations, and a greater overall influence on the UN development agenda. Emerging Powers and the UN explores in depth the relationship of these countries with, and their role in, the future UN development system. Formally, the relationship is through representation as member states (first UN) and UN staff (second UN). However, the importance of the non-public sector interests (third UN) of emerging economies is also growing, through private sponsorship and NGO activities in development. This book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.
The global development community has articulated many collective aspirations in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at transforming the world. Given the complicated issues that accompany globalization, State and non-State actors continue to explore the utility of public–private cooperation mechanisms. Public– private cooperation initiatives strive for global governance mechanisms involving oversight by all of the actors and operating frameworks that include multiple states, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, private sector companies and prominent individuals.
Partnership is of growing importance in development work. Partnerships among state, private business, and civil society organizations are increasingly used to deliver the goods and services required for balanced growth and poverty reduction. Aid activities have shifted from a project focus to a more strategic and holistic focus on programs, sectors, and policies. With this new orientation, partnerships are often essential to deal with the added complexity and the larger number of agencies, groups, and stakeholders involved.The Partnership Dimension takes on the issues in a series of chapters divided into two general parts: Part 1, "Foundations of Partnership and Their Evaluation," covers the types of development partnership and critical issues involved, and Part 2, "Partnerships in Practice," then illustrates the aspects and lessons of partnership experience through a series of case studies. Many of the studies focus on the benefits of partnerships between institutions of government and civil society. Benefits include effective knowledge transfer, greater cross-national cooperation, the creation of new networks and capacity, and penetration of new markets. Private firms use partnerships with competitors to learn or reduce risk.There is much to learn about when, where, and how best to use partnerships, and, in particular, partnerships that involve less traditional combinations of actors, such as global partnerships for public policy, country-focused aid partnerships, private sector partnerships for knowledge creation, and partnerships for community development involving business, nongovernmental organizations, and government.Relatively little is known about the costs and benefits, and the risks and rewards, of different types of partnerships, or about how best to conduct partnerships for different purposes. This is why the current volume in the World Bank series is relevant for both development practitioners and policy analysts.
This volume examines the diverse ways in which universities and colleges around the world are partnering and collaborating with other institutions to fulfill their missions and visions.
Rapid and profound changes are taking place in international development. The past two decades have promoted the ideals of participation and partnership, yet key decisions affecting people's lives continue to be made without sufficient attention to the socio-political realities of the countries in which they live. Embedded working traditions, vested interests and institutional inertia mean that old habits and cultures persist among the development community. Planning continues as though it were free of unpredictable interactions among stakeholders. This book is about the need to recognise the complex, non-linear nature of development assistance and how bureaucratic procedures and power relations hinder poverty reduction in the new aid environment. The book begins with a conceptual and historical analysis of aid, exposing the challenges and opportunities facing aid professionals today. It argues for greater attention to accountability and the adoption of rights based approaches. In section two, practitioners, policy makers and researchers discuss the realities of power and relationships from their experiences across sixteen countries. Their accounts, from government, donors and civil society, expose the highly politicised and dynamic aid environment in which they work. Section three explores ways forward for aid agencies, challenging existing political, institutional and personal ways of working. Authors describe procedural innovations as strategic ways to leverage change. Breaking the barriers to ensure more inclusive aid will require visionary leadership and a courageous commitment to change. Crucially, the authors show how translating rhetoric into practice relies on changing the attitudes and behaviours of individual actors. Only then is the ambitious agenda of the Millennium Development Goals likely to be met. The result is an indispensable contribution to the understanding of how development assistance and poverty reduction can be most effectively delivered by the professionals and agencies involved.
"In partnering across the international community - from the United Nations and other multilateral and international organizations to governments, civil society, academia, nonprofits, for-profits, and more - together we can expand our resolve and our reach to make a greater difference."--Foreword.
