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DEFINITIONS FROM THE AUTOMATED DIRECTIVES SYSTEMS (ADS)

PARTNER: An organization or individual with which/whom the Agency collaborates to achieve mutually agreed upon objectives and to secure participation of ultimate customers. Partners include host country governments, private voluntary organizations, indigenous and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities, other U.S. Government agencies, United Nations and other multilateral organizations, professional and business associations, and private businesses and individuals. (Chapters 200-203)

PARTNERSHIP: An association between USAID, its partners and customers based upon mutual respect, complementary strengths, and shared commitment to achieve mutually agreed upon objectives. (Chapter 101)

PARTNERSHIPS: USAID works in partnerships with the people and governments of assisted countries, U.S. businesses, private voluntary organizations (PVOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the academic community, other U.S. governmental agencies, and other international assistance agencies to pursue its mission and achieve results. This section summarizes USAID's partnership principles, provides a checklist of questions for prospective Development Partners on readiness to work with USAID, and highlights the USAID/PVO partnership and areas of convergence.

Partnership Principles:

USAID's Global Development Alliance (GDA) works to enhance development impact by mobilizing the ideas, efforts and resources of the public sector with those of the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

In his remarks before Congress on May 10th, 2001, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell introduced GDA as

". . . a fundamental reorientation in how USAID sees itself in the context of international development assistance, in how it relates to its traditional partners and in how it seeks out and develops alliances with new partners."

With GDA, USAID is committed to fulfilling its development mandate through an innovative approach that:

• Responds to a new global environment and new challenges Extends USAID's reach and effectiveness in meeting its development objectives
• Leverages additional resources for development impact
• Fosters cooperation between USAID and new non-traditional development actors

USAID considers an "alliance" to be a formal agreement between two or more parties created to jointly define and address a development problem. Alliance partners combine resources, risks and rewards in pursuit of common objectives.

Alliance partners make financial and/or in-kind contributions to increase the impact and sustainability of development efforts. Their support may take many forms. Mechanisms for collaboration include parallel financing (with common objectives, clear understanding of roles and separate funding tracks) or pooled resources (with agreed upon and legally binding governance structures and common funding tracks).

The successful public-private partnership has these key features:

• a shared understanding of the development problem or issue;
• a shared belief that an alliance will be more effective than any approach taken by a single actor;
• a shared commitment of resources; and perhaps most important, a willingness to share risks.

USAID's New Partnerships Initiative USAID's (NPI) is an integrated approach to sustainable development. The NPI uses strategic partnering and the active engagement of civil society, the business community, and institutions of democratic local governance to bolster the ability of local communities to play a lead role in their own development. After the release of the NPI Core Report, it was piloted in fifteen USAID Missions. The NPI Resource Guide brings together the results of this period of field testing and explains the partnership principles summarized below:

• Incorporate a deliberate strategy to build connections among three building blocks; local capacity building, strengthening the enabling environment, and fostering a variety of collaborative alliances, including:

  a) Inter-sectoral partnerships among civil society actors, the business community, and institutions of democratic local governance.
  b) Transnational partnerships and society to society linkages -- South-North, South-South and North-North.

• Intra-sectoral partnering which strengthens the sector and enhances the capacity to partner across sectors.
• Be based on shared rights and responsibilities among all actors, with performance enhanced by clear representational authority and rules, accountability and transparency.
• Transcend traditional sectoral stovepipes and will link activities across sectors.
• Build mutually reinforcing approaches at and among the local, national, and transnational levels.
• Mobilize and attract resources.
• Give upstream attention to steps that will ensure sustainability of the partnership.
• Demonstrate visible improvements in benefits and efficiencies, thus helping to consolidate and reinforce coalitions that favor reform and the development of a civic culture.
• Partnerships between USAID and Development Partners require clearly articulated agreement on:

  a) goals,
  b) the equitable distribution of costs and benefits,
  c) performance indicators and mechanisms to measure and monitor performance,
  d) the delineation of responsibilities, and,
  e) a process for adjudicating disputes.

• Checklist on Readiness to Work as Development Partners

  a) What is your organizational mission, vision, values, and affiliations?
  b) What do you hope to gain through the partnership?
  c) What are you willing to contribute to the partnership?
  d) What are you willing to forego?
  e) What are you not willing to contribute to the partnership?
  f) What are your non-negotiables?
  g) What degree of autonomy are you willing to give up?
  h) Is management ready to encourage and reward collaboration/ partnerships?
  i) What scares you about collaboration/partnerships?

USAID/PVO Partnership As discussed above, USAID pursues its mission through partnerships. The 1995 USAID Policy Guidance for the USAID-PVO Partnership defines partnership as "striving to achieve mutual goals by sharing resources, risks, benefits and accountability." Partnership is characterized by cooperation, collaboration and complementarity, and is based on the principles of mutual respect, shared objectives, consultation and participation.

The Policy also states that, "While acknowledging those areas where USAID and PVO interests overlap, it must be recognized that their motivations, interests and responsibilities are not and should not be identical. It is to be expected that USAID and PVOs each will pursue goals related to their particular objectives and, at the same time, will work together on common priorities."

USAID/PVO Areas of Convergence:

• A commitment to people centered economic, social and political development.
• An appreciation of the importance of community-based solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems.
• Agreement on the importance of broad based economic growth and the need to address the root causes of poverty.
• Agreement that participatory development strengthens the fabric of civil society and provides opportunities for broad based equitable growth.
• A belief that people in emerging democracies are able to improve their lives.

More sources of information that are useful in planning results-oriented assistance instruments based on partnerships:

USAID-Higher Education Community Partnership (PDF 69KB)

Partnering for Results: Intersectoral Partnerships - This web site provides information on what Intersectoral Partnerships are, why they are an important development strategy, and how donors and other organizations can facilitate their growth.

Partnerships for Growth (PDF 28KB) - Building on the Renewal of the Saskatchewan Economy. Saskatchewan's new economic strategy, Partnerships for Prosperity builds upon the former, and is based upon the premise that success rests not only with government but with individuals, businesses, co-operatives and communities - all of which play a role in the economy.

The Health Improvement Partnership (H.I.P.) of Spokane, a private/public, for profit/not-for-profit collaborative venture, addresses these broader determinants of health with the concrete goal of improving health status in Spokane County. Through H.I.P. hundreds of "discoverers" will fan out across Spokane to assist and encourage DISCOVERIES. The H.I.P. has set a goal of "discovering" 10,000 actions to improve the health of our community.

The National Association of Partners in Education's (NAPE) Urban Education Partnerships is dedicated to the formation and growth of effective partnerships in education.

USAID-PVO Partnership: Policy Guidance (PDF 91KB)

Improving access to care (PDF 1.4MB) in developing countries: lessons from practice, research, resources and partnerships

USAID's experience with multisectoral partnerships and strategic alliances (PDF 118KB): an analysis of best practices and lessons learned

Modalities for a twenty first century partnership (PDF 202KB): building durable partnerships between American and Indian development organizations

Designing and managing (PDF 2.3MB) partnerships between U.S. and host-country entities