Multi-Stakeholder Partnering

THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG PARTNERING SKILLS

Meeting the challenges of sustainable development requires time and resources that are often beyond the scope of any one organization. That’s where multi-stakeholder and cross-sector partnerships, or strategic alliances, come into play to create powerful frameworks for leveraging resources, extending program reach and impact, stimulating innovation, ensuring appropriate solutions, and enhancing sustainability. Strong partnering capacities or ‘partnership brokering' within a partner organization or the partnership itself can significantly influence the latter’s effectiveness, efficiency and impact.

However, the inherent differences between sectors, varying partner objectives, conflicting organizational cultures, and often insufficient partnering skills and organizational readiness can make partnering very difficult. EEM provides the special skills, tools, and techniques required to ensure good partnering or ‘brokering’ with high standards of professionalism and integrity.

(For more information on partnering skills and the role of a partnership 'broker', click here)

Services

Partnering and partnership facilitation

Scoping potential partners across sectors (private sector, public sector, civil society);
Scoping partnership priority issues/projects;
Determining project resource requirements and leveraging counterpart contributions (money, expertise, equipment, influence, etc.);
Developing partnership framework agreements;
Facilitating partnership meetings and negotiations.

Training and capacity building

Delivering training courses to build partnership literacy and key partnering skills for organizations either in active partnerships or developing a partnership orientation for their organization.

Coaching

Identifying capacity within the partnership to take on championing or brokering roles;
Supporting partnership members to effectively engage in and benefit from multi-sector partnerships;
Intervening on a tactical basis in partnerships in need of temporary brokering services.

Partnership review and evaluation

Reviewing the effectiveness of how the partnership is functioning and whether it is meeting its objectives and its partners’ expectations;
Re-orienting partnerships according to changing expectations and objectives;
Supporting the partnership and its members in transitioning to a different form of partnership.
Evaluating the added value of the partnership compared to alternatives, assessing the partnership’s outputs and outcomes, and capturing each partner organization's learning.

Products

EEM offers the following turnkey multi-stakeholder partnering consulting packages to its clients:

Partnership Health Check

Case Studies

Mining Sector / Community Partnership Brokering

EEM facilitated the development of partnerships between a Canadian iron ore company and community stakeholders to work collaboratively in resolving key community issues.
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Development of an online cross-sector partnering toolkit

Leveraging leading tools and methodologies, EEM developed an online resource for partnership practitioners aimed at building capacity around best practice in cross-sector partnering.
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First Nations – Municipality Relationship Building

EEM provided facilitation and partnering expertise for a national program aimed at strengthening collaboration between municipalities and adjacent First Nations on infrastructure and services.
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