Learning in Partnerships

This 12-page paper is based on findings from a BOND/Exchange workshop on "Learning in North-South Partnerships" and it seeks to cover fundamental ways that development practioners can engage in learning as it relates to partnerships between organisations.

The paper describes a trend in international development that leans toward including what are considered "unheard voices" as well as working to include more diverse groups of individuals. Learning "is increasingly recognised as an active and ongoing process that is fundamental to any development. This contrasts with traditional notions of teaching that emphasise the 'transfer' of technology or knowledge. The shift from training to capacity development also recognises the need for deeper and wider processes of ongoing learning and support."

The paper is broken into two parts. Part A focuses on learning opportunities and challenges presented by North-South NGO partnerships. Part B offers suggestions for factors that both facilitate and inhibit partnerships.

The paper offers a quote to underscore the challenge of learning. "‘As a stabilising force in human systems, culture is one of the most difficult aspects to manage in a climate of perpetual change. The challenge lies in conceptualising a culture of innovation in which learning, adaptation, innovation and perpetual change are the stable elements."

The paper highlights several needs for learning opportunities to occur. There must be flexibility in the facilitation process, and opportunities should be created that reflect and transform experience. The paper refers to this as "learning how to learn from experience." Learning opportunities should also include: monitoring and evaluation processes in an ongoing manner; a safe space that offers freedom to be challenged and make mistakes; ways to measure shifting relationships through learning; and building trust.

The paper offers a quote which speaks to the importance of continuing to ask questions within the current practice: "the learning organisation builds and improves its own practice by consciously and continually devising and developing the means to draw learning from its own (and other's) experience."

This paper points to five ways of addressing some of the challenges found in partnerships. They include:

1. "The purposes and principles of 'partnership' need to be explicit and negotiated.
2. Clearly define expectations, rights and responsibilities.
3. Be clear about the range of accountability demands and how they will be met.
4. There is a need for long-term engagement processes with partners, so that trust can be built and
   learning nourished.
5. Look beyond partnerships to networks and communities of practice."

The report mentions that partnerships no longer revolve around discrete project funding. More often social and economic life is organised through "global flows of information, financial resources, and power in a 'network society." Also, according to the paper, partnerships used to be easy to define. Now it is more common to find that the distinction between partnerships, networks and alliance is"increasingly blurred" particularly for non-government organisations.