Partnership and collaborative working

You may just be setting out as an organisation or you may be an established organisation experienced in partnership and collaborative working, or realistically you may be somewhere in between. It is always worth looking for collaborative working opportunities because there may be collaborative advantage in doing so:

“Collaborative advantage will be achieved when an objective is met no organisation could have produced on its own and when each organisation is able to achieve its own objectives better that it could alone.” Huxham and Vangen, 2005

It is important to consider collaborative working because, increasingly commissioners of services and funders have recognised that voluntary sector organisations working with other similar organisations or agencies collaboratively can deliver better outcomes for children and young people.

You can read all about collaborative working on the NCVO Collaborative Working Unit website.

Useful links

VCS Engage have produced a number of reports on partnership and collaborative working in the voluntary and community sector:

• Joint working to meet the needs of young people at risk of exclusion from mainstream education (VCS Engage – Rainer Rathbone)
• VCS in strategic planning and commissioning (VCS Engage)
• VCS engagement in the development of Children and Young People’s Plans 2006/07 (VCS Engage – NAVCA)

NCVO Collaborative Working Unit

NCVO - Joint working for public service delivery [pdf 1.54Mb]

Charity Commission – Collaborative Working and Mergers document [pdf - currently being revised]

NCVO - Case studies - ICT tools to support collaborative working

A compact for Waltham Forest [pdf 22.5kb]

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