Maximising the impact ofpartnerships for the SDGs
A practical guide to partnership value creation

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Authors: Darian Stibbe, Stuart Reid and Julia Gilbert(The Partnering Initiative)
With: Liv Raphael, Ruth Findlay (TPI); Albana Spiro, Ian de Villiers andMike Wisheart (World Vision); Ola Goransson (UN DESA)

Copyright © 2018: The Partnering Initiative and United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Citation: Maximising the Impact of Partnerships for the SDGs ; Stibbe,
D.T., Reid, S., Gilbert, J.; The Partnering Initiative and UN DESA (2018)
Reproduction: This working version of the report is NOT for
reproduction or distribution without permission from the authors.
Note: The views expressed in the guidebook are those of the authorsand do not necessarily reflect those of the two organisations.

About The Partnering Initiative
The Partnering Initiative (TPI) is an international non-profit
organisation dedicated to driving widespread, effective collaboration
between civil society, government and companies towards societal
innovation and sustainable development.
For over 15 years, TPI has pioneered the development of the theory
and practice of cross-sector partnering, working with leading globalorganisations from all societal sectors to support their partnering
strategies and approach and in developing multi-stakeholder
programmes to scale up partnership action worldwide.
The Old Music Hall ❘ 106-108 Cowley Road ❘ Oxford OX4 1JE ❘ UK
Web: partnerinit.org ❘ Email: info@partnerinit.org
About UNDESAThe United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN
DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible forthe follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, aswell as services to the United Nations Economic and Social Council
and the Second and Third Committees of the United Nations General
Assembly.
UN DESA assists countries around the world in agenda-setting anddecision-making with the goal of meeting their economic, social andenvironmental challenges. It supports international cooperation topromote sustainable development for all, having as a foundation the2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) as adopted by the UN General Assemblyon 25 September 2015.

Design: Alison Beanland
Cover illustration: XXX

Maximising the impact of partnerships for the SDGs
A practical guide to partnership value creation

CONTENTS●

Foreword

4●

About this guidebook

51

Introduction: Partnering for the SDGs

6

2

A basic typology of partnerships

8

3

Creating value through partnership

10

4

Value created by the partnership as a whole

115

Individual partners: net individual value gained

14

6

CASE STUDY 1: Smart Peer-to-Peer Solar Grids for Rural Electrification & Empowerment

16

CASE STUDY 2: Using Data to Support Women’s Right to Property

17

CASE STUDY 3: The Working for Health Partnership

18

Putting value creation at the heart of partnership development

19

7

TOOLS
1

Partnership value creation tool

25

2

Individual partner value tool

27

Appendix 1: United Nations Partnerships for the SDGs

39

Appendix 2: Resource & reference section40

MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

FOREWORD

4

ABOUT THIS GUIDEBOOK

PurposeHow the guidebook is organised

The purpose of this guidebook is to support
organisations and partnerships to maximise the value
created by collaboration towards the Sustainable
Development Goals.

The first part provides contextual information, looking
at the different types of cross-sector partnership thatare contributing towards the SDGs.

The guidebook deconstructs what “value” means
and the types of value that partnerships can create.
It also explores the range of partnerships that canbe established and how the nature of the partnershipinfluences the type of value created for the partners
and for beneficiaries.
Understanding these issues in greater detail should
support organisations in the process of identifying,
designing and managing effective partnershipsthat deliver the greatest value, and to think more
ambitiously and creatively about how they partner.
This is a practical guide focused on maximizing
the value of partnership and not a comprehensive
exploration of cross-sector partnerships. It is intended
to complement and extend other more detailed
accounts of the principles and practice of cross-sector
partnership.

The next part explores in more depth the various sortsof partnerships and of the added value that can becreated through collaborative action, illustrative by
real-life SDG partnership case studies.
The third part is devoted to a guide for practical actions
based around a typical ‘partnering cycle’, including a
set of tools designed to support both the partnership,
and the individual partners, to identify, define, andassess the types of value that the partnership will
create overall, as well as the individual value eachpartner will gain from the collaboration.
There is a reference section at the end providing
suggestions for further resources that might be ofuse to the reader.

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1

Introduction: Partnering for the SDGs

Collaboration across societal sectors has emerged as one of the defining concepts
of international development in the 21st century. Initially in part a response to thelimitations of traditional state-led, top-down development approaches, partnershiphas grown to become an essential paradigm in sustainable development.
Our world has limited resources –whether financial, natural or human– and as a society we must optimize
their use. The fundamental core of good
partnerships is their ability to bring
together diverse resources in waysthat can together achieve more: more
impact, greater sustainability, increased
value to all.

The importance of partnership has
been recognized fully by the UN, bybusiness and by all leading institutionsin international development. The 2030
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)– the blueprint for global development– represent a fundamental shift inthinking, explicitly acknowledging
the interconnectedness of prosperous

business, a thriving society and a healthy
environment. They name all societal
sectors as key development actors
and require an unprecedented level ofcooperation and collaboration among
civil society, business, government,
NGOs, foundations and others for theirachievement.

MDG Era SDG Era
Focus more on ‘treating symptoms’ rather than tackling theunderlying issues

Built on an understanding of the interconnectedness of theprosperity of business, society and the environment

Governments / development community responsible for ‘delivering’development

All societal sectors (including business) recognized as key
development actors and part of the solution

Each societal sector playing its role in a siloed way

Essential need for collaboration across societal sectors

Focus on specific issues in specific geographies in order to achievesufficient concentration of effort and achieve impact

Need for holistic approaches across issues and geographies to tackle
systemic challenges

Most funding linked to the achievement of short term outcomesLonger term investment required for transformational change

Requirement to demonstrate impact and low tolerance of risk
leads to using familiar linear approaches to achieve development
outcomes

Need for innovative approaches with greater long term potential totackle complexity but greater risk of failure

Top-down planning, ‘development by design’ approach

Emergent planning based on the coalescing of interests and local
resources around particular issues

Table 1: MDG vs SDG style thinking around development

6

From both before and after the launchof the SDGs, there has built up a richtapestry of development partnerships:
from the global level down to local
communities; from international
networks to bi-lateral arrangements;from multi-sector, multi-issue platforms,
to single-sector, single-issue interest
groups.
However, despite the rhetoric aroundcollaboration, we are still not seeing
sufficient impact coming out ofpartnerships as an essential mechanism
for sustainable development.
Simplistically, there are two reasons forthis. Firstly, there aren’t enough of them.
Partnerships are still not mainstreamed
as an approach, and there is aninsufficient enabling system that cansystematically develop partnerships at
the scale that’s required to deliver the
SDGs. Secondly, many of the ones thatdo exist are far from fully delivering on
their potential. This may be because
they are not the right approach for thecontext or they may not be set up andrunning as efficiently and effectively as
they need to be.
The second reason is symptomatic of
the fact that partnering, particularly
across societal sectors, is challenging,and if they are going to be successful,partnerships require a significant
investment of both time and resources
to develop and manage them. Given
the high transaction costs, partnerships
should only be utilized when they havethe genuine potential to create value
well in excess of their inputs.

The motivation for this guidance is to help partners andpartnerships focus their energies on that central tenet: themaximization of value creation.
Too many partnerships have beenentered into on the basis thatcollaboration is a Good Thing, withinsufficient attention paid to theessential questions: 1) what is the powerof partnership as a mechanism, theintrinsic added-value it brings, towards
delivering on an SDG? and b) how will
each individual partner gain net value
from its participation?
In this guide we argue that fully
appreciating and integrating value
creation across the whole processof development and delivery ofpartnerships will result in:• Organisations able to be morediscerning and choosing to pursue
the partnership opportunities thatwill generate most value from theirperspective and avoid ones that
may be an inefficient use of theirresources.
• Partnerships forming only wherea partnerships approach can bedemonstrated to generate significant
added value to deliver greater impact
and deliver net value to all partners.

• Donors, including those funding
consortia, being able to understandhow to use their funding to generate
maximum impact by catalysing
the additional value created bypartnerships.
While it may seem obvious that thecreation of value should be the basis
for all partnerships, the issue is often
confused both by a lack of definitionof what we mean by ‘value’ and by the
related question, ‘value to whom?’.
In this guide, we aim to demystify
the concept of the added-value
partnerships can bring, as well as thevalue organisations can gain frompartnerships, and provide a process
and tools to help maximise value for all.
The guide also offers what we believe
is the first attempt at a comprehensive
framework to define Collaborative
Advantage and the associatedPartnership Delta.

• Partnerships and partners able tofocus their energies and optimize
the way they work and operate toensure they deliver the greatest
value, including agreeing not to work
together in areas where extra value is
not being created.
• Partners having more direct, ‘grownup’ conversations to mutually decideto adjust or discontinue partnerships
where sufficient value is not being
created.

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2

A basic typology of partnerships

The UN system defines partnerships for the SDGs as follows:
Partnerships for sustainable development are multi-stakeholder initiatives voluntarily undertaken by
Governments, intergovernmental organizations, major groups and other stakeholders, which efforts arecontributing to the implementation of inter-governmentally, agreed development goals and commitments.
This broad definition encompasses
a multitude of types of collaborative
arrangement with quite different
qualities. It is therefore useful to identify
some basic types of partnership and todifferentiate them in terms of their aims
and outcomes. This will make it easier totalk about partnership in a meaningful

way and to analyse the different ways inwhich partnership can generate value.

1

2

The first category, ‘Leverage/
Exchange’ includes collaborations
that originate in complementarity: oneorganization recognizes that anothercan provide resources (knowledge,
services, skills) that it needs to employ
towards its own strategic goals. For
example, the relationship between an
aid agency and a university research
institute can constitute a partnershipof mutual benefit where the agency
accesses research outputs and expertisefrom the institute while providing
research funding or sources of data andcase studies to the institute.

Figure 1 below shows The Partnership
Spectrum, a way of visualizing the rangeof different collaborative arrangementsthat fit within the partnership definition.
The three types exemplify the mostimportant distinctions between

The second category, ‘Combine/
Integrate’, takes us into the areaof what most people would recognize
as a cross-sector partnership – acollaboration between two or moreorganizations where complementaryresources are brought together totackle a common challenge or achieve ashared strategic goal. The critical point
here – and the essence of partnershipas a sustainable development tool – isthe belief that working in partnershipwill achieve outcomes that no single
organization could achieve working
independently. Combining resources inthis manner requires a higher degreeof planning, attention to procedures,
sensitivity to cultural differences and acommitment to building mutual trust.

partnerships in terms of the main
purpose of the collaboration and thenature of the relationship between
the partners. As with all organizationalframeworks, they are a simplification ofreality and partnerships may well fallacross more than one classification.

3

In the final partnership type
’Transform’, we are looking at thosewith a more ambitious final goal of
tackling a development challenge in
an innovative and multi-faceted waythat results in systemic change. In‘Transform’, we are often in a complex
environment, where the problem
definition may be unclear, andpartners bring differing world views
and perspectives to the issue. The
problem and path to follow to address
must be negotiated with the different
stakeholders. Partners will need toiterate and adapt to collectively find asolution that is feasible and politically
acceptable to all.

Clearly, the different types of partnership will create different types or levels of value. Clarifying
which types of value relate to which types of collaboration helps us to think further about why
we engage in partnership and to make those choices, mentioned above, about where to commit
organisational resources. In the next section, we look at these central questions of value and toprovide further guidance on how to recognize – and act upon – the links between organizational
strategy, partnership types and value creation.

8

Figure 2: The Partnership Spectrum

1

2

3

LEVERAGE / EXCHANGECOMBINE / INTEGRATE

TRANSFORM

One partner contributes to the workof another, or partners exchange
resources, to allow one or bothpartners to deliver more.

Two or more partners combine theirresources to together deliver morethan each could deliver alone.

Multiple actors work together
through collective action to tackle
complex challenges usually throughsystem transformation.

Often transactional, one-way transfer
or reciprocal exchange of skills,
knowledge, funding etc.

Characterized by co-generation,
mutual accountability, and innovative
approaches.

Involves negotiation to maximize thegains on both sides.

Involves brainstorming and creative
dialogue to together develop new
approaches that create value.

Involves multiple actors bringing
together unique and complementaryresources, all essential pieces of a
jigsaw puzzle.

Value created

Value created

Value createdn Organisational valuen Organisational valuen Mission valuen Organisational valuen Mission value

Applicable when: each partner has
something that is more valuable to theother than to themselves, resulting in
net gain on exchange.

Applicable when: bringing together
Applicable when: an issue iscomplementary resources results insufficiently complex that a systems
new approaches delivering value to all. approach is required to tackle it.

Example:Coca-Cola and the Global Fund

Example:SOLShare / Grameen Shakti (see casestudy 1)

Project Last Mile leverages Coca-Cola’s
logistic, supply chain, distribution andmarketing expertise to build African
governments capabilities to ensurecommunities have better access to lifesustaining and life-enhancing medicines.
Coca-Cola gains by demonstrating its
commitment to a better planet as wellas providing employee engagement
opportunities.

Smart Peer-to-Peer Solar Grids for
Rural Electrification & Empowerment’is a Bangladesh-based partnership
between a social enterprise, SOLShare,
and a major supplier of renewableenergy, Grameen Shakti, which is being
supported and enabled by UN DESA.

Requires multi-stakeholder dialogue tounderstand the system and engage theplayers required to make interventions.

Example:Scaling Up Nutrition
Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) is a global,
country-led and multi-sectoral
movement to combat undernutritionand catalyse support for countries to‘scale up nutrition’, with a focus on aset of evidence-based direct nutritioninterventions.

At country level, multi-sector (e.g.
Grameen Shakti brings access to its
ministries of education, health,massive existing customer base andagriculture) as well as multi-stakeholder
network of solar homes, as well as its
collaborative action (including business,knowledge of the communities, andcivil society, the UN) is facilitated to
SOLShare brings cutting edge, innovative deliver system change.
technology with the potential totransform the supply of affordable energy
to low-income households in Bangladesh.

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3

Creating value through partnership

Within this guidance, we make the critical distinction between different
types of value creation by separating how the partnership as a collective
creates value, from the value gained by each individual partner:
The value-add of the partnership as a wholeL

O R AT I V E A D VA

N

G
TA

CO

GOVERNMENT

B
LA

E

BUSINESSSINGLE ACTOR OUTCOMES+

NGOS/CIVIL SOCIETY

DEVELOPMENT AGENCIE S

10

1 partnership as a whole:

The value-add of the

2 partner individually:

The value to eacha. Input added value:
The Collaborative Advantage:
The extra ‘power’, the intrinsic
value partnership can bringtowards delivering a goal;a. Towards achieving the partner’s
strategic mission;b. Output added value:
The Partnership Delta (ΔP) theachievement of outcomes andimpact greater than the sum of theparts (i.e. the difference between
what a partnership approach canachieve compared with single
organisation approaches) –including ancillary benefits.

Partnerships should only
happen wherever:b. Gains by the organisation itself(capacity, funding, positioning etc.).

•

There is an overlap of interest
between organisations andsufficient compatibility between
them;

•

There is a clear Collaborative
Advantage (thereby giving a strong
reason to partner) which should
result in a significant Partnership
Delta;•

Each partner would achieve a
net benefit from the partnership(i.e. value after all input andtransactional costs).

All partnerships should be developed
and run to maximize the value they
deliver through their Collaborative
Advantage, and the gains made by
the partners.

4

Value created by the partnership as a whole

Definitions
Collaborative Advantage

The Partnership Delta

Contained within the Collaborative
Advantage is the alchemy that allows
a group of actors to collectively deliver
more than the sum of their input
parts. In other words, it is the intrinsic
reason why a partnership approach candeliver solutions and impact beyond
that of a single actor, or actors working
independently.

The Partnership Delta is the extra value
a partnership delivers compared withsingle actor approaches, as a result of
the Comparative Advantage.
ΔP = [Results of a partnershipapproach] – [Sum of single actor
approaches]
ΔP includes all the impact of thepartnership – on individuals,organisations, sectors, systems andnorms. These will include bothcontributions towards the objectivesof the partnership, as well as ancillary
benefits (technology transfer, increased
trust, capacity built etc.) that come as aresult of partnership operations.
While this is not a mathematicalequation, it provides the basis for a
useful thought exercise partners canundertake to better understand – andtherefore prioritise – how partnerships
can create significant added value.

Collaborative Advantage Framework
In the table below, we highlight ten major ways through which partnership has the potential to create additional
value, the ΔP. Any individual partnership is likely to include several of these ways, and together these make up thatpartnership’s total Collaborative Advantage. By focussing on developing and delivering its Collaborative Advantage,
the partnership can maximise its impact towards the SDGs.

Collaborative Advantage and ΔP

1Bringing together essential complementary resources and instruments
ΔP: Convening a set of key resources and competencies necessary to deliver a complete solution;
harmonizing / coordinating action by multiple actors to intentionally transform a specific system

Description

Partnerships can bring together resources from different actors from all sectors that are each essential piecesof the solution jigsaw puzzle. This may include certain key resources that are not purchasable and must be
brought voluntarily (for example, social capital or access to public systems). When applied at large scale,through mapping a system, undertaking root cause analysis and identifying the leverage points for change, agroup of key actors can work together, each playing their unique roles, to transform that system.

ExampleThe Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA) is a public-private consortium of eight leading agro-businesses andinstitutions formed to make markets work better for smallholder farmers. FtMA employs a comprehensive
value chain approach to transform existing agricultural practices through providing smallholder farmers
with access to predictable markets, affordable finance, quality farming inputs and effective agricultural
technologies.

➜
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Collaborative Advantage and ΔP continued

2

Convening diverse, holistic range of actors
ΔP: Developing more workable, context-appropriate, cross-cutting and implementable approaches

Description

Drawing on the different perspectives, knowledge, experience and skills of partners should result in betterdesigned, more context-appropriate solutions. Bringing in wider stakeholders (including ‘beneficiaries’)
as partners should also build buy-in and ownership to the solutions. Bringing together organisations withdifferent mandates can cut across inter-connected SDGs to deliver more holistic solutions.

ExampleCreating ‘no-take’ zones in marine protected areas are essential to increase depleted fish stocks. However,many fisherman and their families rely on fishing for their income and, with no alternative, ignore agovernment-mandated ban. Bringing in the local fishing communities as partners to both plan and monitor
the no-take zone, along with agencies that can work with the communities to develop alternative livelihoods
results in a holistic, implementable and viable solution.

3

Exploiting synergies
ΔP: Increasing the scale of impact from the input resources available (or achieving thedesired outputs with lower input)

Description

Creating efficiencies through coordinating action; sharing common resources; sharing common services;achieving economies of scale; avoiding duplication of tasks; creating common financial funds.

Example“Everyone counts” is a social accountability partnership between Care International, World Vision and Kwantu,
a software firm. It allows the combination of data from community scorecard processes to enhance theprovision of statutory services (e.g. medicine provision or quality schooling). The partnership is co-ordinating
the use of social accountability tools and combining citizen-generated data through a common ICT platform,
to provide essential inputs to SDG monitoring. This is the first time such a model has been put in place.

4

Creating sufficient weight of action
ΔP: Combining / aligning / coordinating resources to create the critical mass needed
to deliver outcomes

Description

Where a desired outcome is too big that it requires sufficient number of organisations to align their resources,
their networks, their actions, their voices to together achieve the desired outcome.

ExampleWhile it may be easy to ignore the voice of one organisation, a collective of organisations all with the samemessage can deliver advocacy messages at sufficient scale to force change. The NCD Alliance has 2,000
members: civil society organisations and NGOs, professional and scientific associations, academic institutions,patient groups, media and journalists, and multilateral agencies. Together they lead global civil society
advocacy to fulfil political commitments on prevention and control of non-communicable disease.

5

Collective learning and capability building
ΔP: Raising the level of knowledge, expertise and capacity

Description

Exchange of knowledge and experience allows partners to learn from each other, as well as collectively
develop good/best practice to disseminate widely.

ExampleThe Partnership for maternal, newborn and child health (PMNCH) has a mandate to engage, align and holdaccountable multi-stakeholder action to improve the health and well-being of women, newborns, children
and adolescents using new evidence and building on experiences and lessons learned from across its
membership.

12Collaborative Advantage and ΔP continued

6

Innovation from combining diverse resources
ΔP: Creating new, more effective approaches, technologies, services and/or products

Description

Using and combining the diversity of partners’ knowledge, ideas, experience and resources to develop new
ways of tackling stubborn or complex challenges.

ExampleGSK and Save the Children are working together, combining GSK’s scientific expertise and resource with Save
the Children’s on-the-ground knowledge to develop medicines adapted to the ailments and local conditionsof children in the poorest countries.

7

Legitimacy and knowledge to create norms, standards and policies
ΔP: Developing and disseminating norms to raise standards / create a level play field acrossa whole sector

Description

By bringing together both the collective knowledge and the combined legitimacy of key players, partners cantogether develop norms and standards that can be taken up by and raise the standards of a whole sector.

ExampleAfter a fire tragically killed over 1,000 people in a garment factory in Bangladesh, companies and trade unions
created the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. The Accord is an independent, legally binding
agreement designed to work towards a safe and healthy Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment Industry.

8

Combining the three intrinsic strands of sustainability
ΔP: Bringing together actors with specific economic, social and environmental foci andresources to together create sustainable solutions

Description

Building on their cross-sector perspectives and approaches, partnerships can deliver: affordable, marketbased solutions to provide goods and services; inclusive businesses enhancing livelihoods opportunities forthe poor; transform public sector systems to include environmentally sustainable approaches.

ExampleWorking with companies, donors and NGOs, Clean Team Ghana developed an approach for the provisionof private toilets using a monthly service fee model. The fee includes the rental of a toilet unit and waste
collection three times per week. Households in dense urban areas without sewer networks are willing to pay
for the service, as it is more aspirational and economical than public toilet pay-per-use

9

Scalability through combining delivery capacity across geographies
ΔP: Taking successful programmes to scale

Description

By combining the capacity and firepower of multiple implementing partners, successful programmes orinnovative solutions can be taken to scale quickly.

ExampleEnd Violence Against Children is a global partnership with the vision of a world in which every child grows
up free from violence. By creating a network of partners throughout the world, it is able to deliver towards its
vision at a scale far in excess of that of a single organisation.

10

Networking, connecting, building relationships and catalysing action
ΔP: Convening multiple organisations, building trust and social capital, and catalysing collaborative
action to deliver all the value above.

Description

Using hubs / platform partnerships to coordinate and catalyse collaborative action, build system coherence

ExampleThe SDG Partnership Platform in Kenya brings together executive leadership from government, development
partners, private sector organizations and civil society, initially to explore and develop opportunities foraccelerating universal access to primary healthcare services in Kenya.

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Individual partners:net individual value gained

Value gain
When an organisation decides to work in partnership, it must be clear about the value it hopes to gain.
The value may be of two types: 1) the organisation is able to deliver greater strategic impact (mission value)
through the partnership and/or 2) the organisation itself gains in some way, improving its ability to deliver its
mission, now and in the future (organisational value).

1.MISSION VALUE

2.ORGANISATIONAL VALUE

A
Direct achievement ofstrategic objectives
Organisational strategic
mission being directly
delivered by thepartnership.

B

A

Contribution along
pathway towards
strategic objectives
System transformation;
adoption of standards/ behaviours; increased
capacity / knowledgeetc.

B

Leveraging resources
Funding to theorganisation, costsavings, in-kind
contributions etc.

Intangible/indirect
gains that improvecapability for futuredelivery
Increased reputation,social or political
capital; knowledge andcapacity-built etc.

In the case of organisational value gain, this might be one of the direct objectives of the partnership, or the value gained might
be one of the ancillary benefits that can come from partnering such as technology transfer or social capital built.

1. Mission value

2. Organisational gainsa) Direct achievement of strategic
objectivesb) Contribution to pathway towards
strategic objectives

A partnership may directly deliver on anorganisation’s strategic objectives. For
an NGO, for example, this could include
delivery of specific programmatic or
advocacy objectives, with direct orindirect impact on intended beneficiaries,
depending on the organisation’s mission
and mandate. For a company it might
be gaining commercial value throughnew business opportunities, or it might
be around ensuring a supply chain issustainable.

In some cases, a partnership may notdirectly deliver the organisation’s mission,
but instead contribute along a pathway
towards its strategic objectives. For
example, the partnership might support
the adoption of standards or behaviours
that indirectly facilitate or contribute to
the achievement of a particular objective.
Or it might support an enabling
environment or systemic shifts that allow
a problem to be tackled more effectively
in the future. For example, a company
may collaborate with other businesses
and NGOs to develop sustainability
standards of a particular commodity
supply chain, which will in turn help
the company raise its own levels ofsustainability.

14a) Leveraging resources
Resource gains can include financial gains
in the form of funding or cost savings
that can be made (for example throughsharing services). Organisations mightalso receive non-financial material gains
such as in-kind contributions of goods,
services or volunteers.
b) Indirect and intangible gains
Organisations may also enter partnerships to achieve a number of nontangible benefits. These might include,for example, social or political capital;
networking and connections; increased
legitimacy; reputational benefits;
influence and positioning; knowledge
and capacity building; innovation inthinking and employee morale andretention.

Weighing the costs of partnership
As well as assessing the expected value from a partnership, organisations must assess the likely costs involved. In
addition to typical project implementation costs, there will be partnership transaction costs involved. Clearly, allpartnership arrangements will involve increased staff time to negotiate and develop the partnership as well as
to manage the relationship with partners. They will also likely require other ‘hard’ costs such as additional travel,
external facilitation and meeting costs, as well non-tangible costs such as social and political capital.

TRANSACTION COSTS

IMPLEMENTATION COSTS

Partnerships can take asignificant amount of time
both to develop and to
manage, requiring staff time,social and political capital andsome ‘hard costs’

Staff time
All staff time plus
overheads / full cost
recovery‘Hard’ costs
Money and otherresources with afinancial value (e.g.
travel, office space,equipment etc.)

Non-tangible
Social and political
capital used in
implementation

Net value
At all stages of a partnership, each partner must ensure that it gains net value from its involvement in thepartnership. And partners through the process should be helping to ensure that all the other partners are also
benefitting from the arrangement otherwise the partnership risks falling apart.

NET INDIVIDUAL VALUE = VALUE GAIN – COSTS
Prior to partnering, each partner must compare the net value gained with the opportunity cost: i.e. will it gain
more through this partnership than it would apply its resources another way – either another partnership or
more traditional programming.
The tools within this publication can support partners to assess the potential strategic value they will gain froma partnership, and track the degree to which they are realising that value.

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CASE STUDY 1: Smart Peer-to-Peer Solar
Grids for Rural Electrification & Empowerment‘Smart Peer-to-Peer Solar Grids for Rural Electrification & Empowerment’ isa Bangladesh-based partnership between a social enterprise, SOLShare, and amajor supplier of renewable energy, Grameen Shakti, which is being supported
and enabled by UN DESA. It brings together two organizations which have acommitment to supplying affordable solar energy to rural communities, butwhich come from different sectors and differ in size, structure and purpose.
Grameen Shakti is a large utility company with a network of 1.7 million domestic
solar energy systems in rural Bangladesh; SOLShare is a knowledge-based social
enterprise, formed in 2015, which has developed innovative methods of sharing
and monetizing surplus energy to empower low-income communities.
The partnership came into being thanks to SOLShare winning a grant fromUN DESA, which enabled the organizations to set up a 2-year pilot project.
This project constitutes a trial partnership in which the partners can test out
their business relationship and explore whether the partnership will deliver
the predicted value.
On the partnership spectrum, we can place this partnership in “combining
resources to innovate and provide more efficiently” (Type 2) and it also has
the potential to be transformative by changing the way in which energy is
supplied and paid for in rural communities (Type 3).

COLLABORATIVE ADVANTAGE
OF THE PARTNERSHIPIn terms of value, the partnership brings
together essential complementaryresources, both technical and knowledge,
and offers the opportunity to achieve
greater efficiency in energy supply
through exploiting synergies andcoordinating action. Secondly, thediversity and complementarity of thepartners’ approaches opens the door
for genuine innovation in rural energy
supply. Finally, if the initial trial phaseof the partnership is successful, thiscollaboration will offer the potential
both for scaling operations in existing
networks and replicating operations in
new areas. Achieving a sufficient levelof innovation and scale might create agenuine transformation in the way thatenergy is provided, shared and paid
for in rural communities, providing an
innovative and sustainable solution to a
global problem.

16

VALUE GAIN TO THE PARTNERS
For the social enterprise, SOLShare,a partnership with Grameen Shakti
offers an opportunity to implement its
technology and delivery concept on an
unprecedented scale. This significantly
furthers SOLShare’s strategic mission
and has the potential to change practicewithin the energy supply industry,
thus contributing to the organization’s
long-term objectives (Output Value).
Collaboration with a major industry
player should also enhance SOLShare’s
reputation and its business network,
providing improved capability for future
activity (Input Value).

For Grameen Shakti, partnership withan innovative social enterprise offers an
opportunity to leverage new knowledge
resources and access cutting-edge
thinking and innovative technologicalsolutions thus enhancing capability(Input Value). Achieving this offers
Grameen Shakti new ways of expanding
their operations and their offer to theircustomer base, increasing consumer
take-up and thus achieving their strategic
business objectives (Output Value).

CASE STUDY 2: Using data to support women’s
right to property‘Using Data to Support Women’s Rights’ is a partnership between IHC Global,
a coalition of non-profit, private sector and individual members committed toequitable urban development, and AREA-Uganda, and private sector association ofreal estate agents, developers, and other real estate businesses. The partnership’s
aim is to support women’s land and housing rights in Uganda, through firstmeasuring women’s participation in property markets in Uganda and thenenabling women to affirm and access their right to property, through an extensive
campaign grounded in local knowledge and accurate data.
A key step in the programme was to conduct a market assessment using an
adapted International Property Markets Scorecard (IPMS), to assess the economic,
social and legal experiences of women with regards to property markets andhousing. A Knowledge Exchange event, gathering inputs from across sectors
and local communities to validate the field assessment gender questions took
place and was critical for addressing local needs. After completion of fieldstudy activities, data from assessment components - property rights, access to credit, effective governance, rational
dispute resolution, financial transparency, and appropriate regulation as well as how women fare and are affected in
Uganda by these core elements - was analyzed and synthesized into a report. Recommendations of this report will
be validated by local actors. Finally, the partnership will develop an awareness campaign, sharing the findings withkey stakeholders across sectors, including relevant ministries, and developing a plan led by AREA-Uganda to bring theissue to the forefront of public discussion.

COLLABORATIVE ADVANTAGE
OF THE PARTNERSHIPThe partnership brings together
complementary resources andknowledge to achieve its longerterm strategy: combining the global
knowledge and resources of IHC global,
who act as a resource organisation
and bring the tools and conceptual
framework to carry out the assessment,
and the local knowledge and expertiseof AREA Uganda and its recently formed
Women’s Council, who ensure thatsolutions are responsive to local needs
and conceived with local input: ensuring
better, more holistic solutions. This
exchange of resources and knowledge
serves shared common goals (enhancing
links and interactivity within the realestate business community, sharing
knowledge, and improving women’s
access to property rights and careers
in real estate) and exploits synergies

to deliver more. The alignment andconcerted effort of numerous global andlocal players within the real estate sector
provides weight of action, and hopefully
will create the critical mass required
to achieve transformation within the
Ugandan property market.
The IHC Global / AREA Uganda
partnership is a pilot project, and uponcompletion, the partners have plans toreview the effectiveness of the projectto adapt where necessary before thenreplicating in other parts of the world,
taking this approach to scale. This
involves developing local capacity by
sharing programme tools, know-how,and lessons learned from the pilot withlocal partners so that they can continue
to provide services/products or serveas consultants to similar partnerships inneighbouring countries.

VALUE GAIN TO THE PARTNERS
In terms of organisational value, thepartnership aims are critical to bothorganizations’ strategic objectives,delivering clear mission value towards
IHC Global’s strategic aims aroundhousing and equitable development,
and gender, land security and property
rights, and AREA Uganda’s aims todevelop the local market and increase
women’s access. For AREA Uganda, thepartnership is also an opportunity tobuild local capacity and acquire new
ways of working and new technicalexpertise around these types ofassessment. For IHC Global, working witha strongly connected set of locally-basedorganisations allows them to tap into
local knowledge and gain inputs fromkey stakeholder groups, build buy-in andwiden their reach and influence througha locally-designed advocacy campaign.

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MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

CASE STUDY 3: The Working for Health Partnership

Contacts
Tana Wuliji
ationWorld Health Organiz
wulijit@who.int
Christiane Wiskow
Organization
International Labour
wiskow@ilo.org
Akiko Maeda
rationEconomic Co-ope
Organisation for
and Development
ecd.orgakiko.maeda@oh#working4healt

Working for Health is a“strategic, intersectoral,
multi-stakeholder
partnership between
the InternationalalthLabour Organization
Working for He(ILO), the World HealthOrganization (WHO)and the Organization
for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD). Its aim is to expand andtransform the global health and social service workforce
to accelerate progress towards universal health coverageand global health security by providing policy advice,technical assistance and capacity strengthening
support.”P0F

17.2
rking for Health/20
WHO/HIS/HWF/Wo Some rights reserved.
© WHO 2017.
3.0 IGO licence.
under the CC BY-NC-SA
This work is available“Working for Health” responds to a need for increased
investment in health and social care workers to achieve
the health and wellbeing related SDGs, to cover the
expected gaps in health workers arising from the double
burden of existing primary care needs in low income
countries and health care for an ageing population in highincome countries.

COLLABORATIVE ADVANTAGE
OF THE PARTNERSHIPThe partnership is deliveringcollaborative advantage in several
diverse ways, as illustrated below.
The partnership answers a clear andidentified need to fill the expected healthlabour shortage in 2030. It complements
and builds on the work done by otherglobal partnerships such as the Global
Fund and GAVI by addressing one thebarriers to Implementation of theirprograms. Without health workers, forexample, there can be no distributionof vaccines, TB and HIV testing andtreatment.
Considerable effort was made from theoutset to ensure that each partner would
contribute where it could most add
value; the OECD, providing the global
lens, and WHO, with in-country presence,
providing the country or regional lens.

18

The Working for Health Program has seven main targets
which include:
1. Creating an interagency global data exchange on thehealth labour market;
2. Creating an international platform on health worker
mobility;
3. Having inclusive mechanisms in place to coordinate anintersectoral health workforce agenda;
4. Supporting countries in developing enhanced
national health workforce plans;
5. Developing enhanced national health workforce plans;
6. Sharing data through national health workforce
accounts;
7. Halving inequalities in access to a health worker andreducing their dependency on foreign trained healthprofessional.

Working in partnership enables asystemic way of approaching the issueby bringing complementary expertiseto the table including WHO’s healthexpertise, ILO’s labour expertise andwork with labour ministries and theOECD’s convening power and strong
government links.
“Complementarity helped. By going
through the process of identifying
complementarity internally and between
the organizations, we were able to see
how we could leverage the partnershipexpertise and not duplicate. Often, there
can be competition between partners,
but this didn’t happen here. It happened
quite naturally. Roles developed as partof discussions around objectives anddeliverables. Once deliverables wereagreed upon, partners were asked
what each wanted to lead on, very little
contention, shared leadership.”

It increases weight of action bycoordinating resources to create thecritical mass needed to deliver outcomes.
It also increases reach by combining
the geographical foot print, andcomplementary networks for threelarge organisations.
Finally, it increases sustainability ofsolutions by building local capacity andreducing dependency on foreign trained
health workers.

7

Putting value creation at the heart ofpartnership development

Introduction
Partnering as an evolving process
Before looking at value creation in greater
detail, it is important to understand thatpartnership is a process not a product –an activity not an institution. Successful
collaboration is always characterized
by a mutual commitment to working
together to create, manage and develop
the partnership as a continuously
evolving relationship. Although it iscertainly true that good planning makes
good partnerships, it is equally true thatpartnership is subject to change and thischange needs to be managed. This means
working from a solid base of planningand procedures but going forwardwith sufficient flexibility to manage theevolution of the collaboration and to beable both to adjust and adapt to ensure
to deliver expected value and to exploit
new opportunities for value creation as
they arise.
This need for both planning and flexibility
is a major reason why partnerships canoften be resource-hungry: partners must
commit substantial resources to the
management of complex relationships.
As discussed in the previous section,these transaction costs must be
considered before committing to a newpartnership.

Being clear and managing
expectations
All partners must articulate their
expectation of the value they will
gain from the partnership and these
expectations must be revisited andmanaged throughout the collaboration
if the maximum benefits are going tobe achieved. This is especially true ofmore complex partnering in the type 2(Combine/Integrate) or type 3 (Transform)
categories. Here, the time-lag between
input of resources and the evidence ofadded value output can be substantial.
Participating organisations in complex,
multi-stakeholder collaborations inparticular will need greater patience anda long-term commitment to the project
when direct benefits might be years inarriving.

Articulating and managing expectations
is also important because, ultimately,
there is no one model of partnership.
There is certainly recognised goodpractice in every stage of the partnering
process but, in the real world, every
partnership is unique, and there needs
to be a high degree of both awarenessand flexibility for the collaboration to
succeed. Practical guidelines can help
minimize errors and reduce preparation
time; following established steps andprocedures can streamline the process ofbuilding and maintaining a partnership.
But each partnership will face its own
specific challenges, so participants willneed to draw on not only a reservoir ofknowledge from previous experience but
also their own creativity and ability toinnovate.

This need for both planning and flexibility is a major reason why
partnerships can often be resource-hungry: partners must commit
substantial resources to the management of complex relationships.

1. TOR “Working for Health” MPTFY version April 12,
2018

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MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

The Partnering Cycle
The figure below is a model of the partnering process, divided into four main stages
and twelve subsidiary phases. This is not a model of any one partnership nor is itprescriptive – partnerships might not look like this and don’t have to look like this!
What it provides is a shorthand method of identifying the main stages that a typicalcross-sector collaboration will move through.

SCOPING & BUILDING
1

2

Scoping

Identifying

12

SUSTAININGOUTCOMES

3

Moving on

Building
11
4

Scaling

Planning

LONG TERM PLANNING
5

Revising

Structuring

96

Implementation

Reviewing

REVIEWING &REVISING

20

SIGNING AN AGREEMENT

10

Mobilising
87

Measuring

Delivering

MANAGING &MAINTAINING

Maximizing value during partnership development

PHASE: Scoping and identifying
When looking to develop a partnershiparound a specific issue, it is essential tounderstand the landscape of existing
initiatives and the stakeholders relevantto the issue.

PHASE: Building and planning
The figure below shows a typicalpartnership development process froma point when potential partners havebeen identified through to defining andsigning a partnering agreement.

Where there are already relevant
initiatives, it is important to assess theopportunities to build on what’s alreadythere, rather than to create something
new given the significant time andresources required to start something
afresh.

It involves two ‘journeys’:

When looking at stakeholders, it isimportant to appreciate the wide arrayof resources they may have that could becomplementary or additive to your own.
For example, along with their marketbased approach, companies bring
their brand, marketing expertise, directaccess to customers and employees,
technologies, influence on supply chains
and their own purchasing power.

QUESTIONS TO ASK?

Which ways of engaging withexisting initiatives might create
most net value? Directly support• The journey the partnershipcollectively takes as the partners
develop, negotiate and plan thepartnership; andtheir current work? Support them

• The journey each individual partnermust take to get to the point at which
it can confidently enter into the
1.MISSION VALUE
partnership.

What are the different resources

to orient what they’re doing more
towards my goals? Partner withthem around common issues?

that key stakeholders could bringto the table which, together withothers, could create real value?

Each of these journeys should focus on
maximising value – for the partnershipas a whole, and for all the partners. The
tools below support that maximisationof value.

Figure 4: The Partnership Journey

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MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

The partnership journey
The partnership journey starts withbuilding an understanding of an overlapof alignment of interest among thepartners which allows them to together
build an overarching vision – the big
picture change that the partnershipwants to contribute to.

Negotiating a partnership is not aclassical, zero-sum negotiation in which
you are trying to get the most for yourorganisation (sometimes described asattempting to secure the biggest slice ofpie). Instead it is a far more co-creative
process, trying to maximise value foryour own organisation as well as for theothers; i.e. to collectively grow the pie togenerate the greatest value for all. This
form of negotiation is termed ‘generativenegotiation’. 2 The table below provides
an explanation of different forms ofnegotiation.

Table 2: Forms of negotiation
SDG EraInterest-based

Generative

Getting the biggest piece of pie (atthe expense of others):

Ensuring all parties have sufficient pie
to have their interests met:

Growing the pie as big as possible, tomaximise everyone’s slice of pie.

WIN – LOSE

WIN – WINMAX WIN – MAX WIN

Focus

Focuses on individual self-interest

Focuses on all parties’ stated interests

Considers the widest set of interests
against which the partnership could
contribute.

Style

Argument

Conversation and enquiry

Brainstorming and co-creation

EffectNegative effect on relationship

Positive effect on relationship

Highly positive effect on relationship

Goal

The Collaborative Advantage frameworkprovides a useful starting point to begin
generative negotiation. The first question
to be collectively asked is: by coming
together, in which (usually several) of theten ways do we think we could create
additional value? Understanding where
the power of collaboration can mosteffectively deliver results can shape andfocus the discussions in that direction.

first seem like crazy ideas – they may
contain nuggets of gold which, witha bit of lateral thinking, can become
highly innovative (rather than crazy)
approaches. The different ideas willcontinue to be developed, assessed andrefined in an iterative process, basedon the whole range of resources thepartners – and new partners filling in
gaps – can bring to the table.

To achieve the maximum value-add,
start by thinking big. Be ambitious inyour early brainstorming, welcoming
rather than discarding what might at

The partnership journey moves on tofurther focus and define the partnershipapproach, agreeing the specificobjectives and activities (along with aclear initial Theory of Change for how
activities will lead to objectives), theroles, responsibilities and resources ofeach of the partners, and how it will be
structured (at least initially).
The Collaborative Advantage tool below
helps partnerships in this phase to
explicitly consider and set out how they
will maximise value creation, as wellas helping to put value creation at theheart of the way they structure, operate
and manage the partnership to ensure it
delivers that value.
PARTNERSHIPVALUE CREATIONPart 1

2. D. Stibbe and I. de Villiers,
private correspondence, 2018

22

The partnership journey

Individual partner journeys

Convergence

At the same time as the partnership isdeveloping, each partner moves along
its own journey. Each organisation
should negotiate the partnership in a
way that maximises collective value andmaximises the value it gains from thepartnership.

The aim is for the journeys of all thepartners, and the journey of thepartnership as a whole, to converge
at a point where all partners expect toachieve significant net value for thepartnership, and the partnership isdesigned to maximise value creation.
The partnering process itself, if it iswell managed, will help to build therelationship among the partners andcan be used to begin to put in place
the building blocks of an effective
partnership, including designing thegovernance, managing and operating
structures.

The process is highly iterative, as
demonstrated by the arrows on
the process diagram as partner
representatives move back and forth
between negotiating with partners
and negotiating internally, getting
direction, buy-in and commitment toproviding resources. As the expectedvalue to partners increases, so will
their willingness to contribute further
resources which can then lead to further
adaption and iteration of the partnershipplan.
The journey also involves the partner
undertaking whatever due diligence andlegal process it requires to be able toenter the partnership.

At this stage a partnership agreement
can be made. The agreement shouldcapture the ambitions both of thepartnership and of the individual
partners in terms of the value they wish
to gain.
INDIVIDUALPARTNER VALUEPart 1PARTNERSHIPVALUE CREATIONPart 1

NOTE: It is highly recommended that partnerships that are already runningshould undertake an exercise to assess the degree to which they are generating,or are in the future likely to generate, value: as a partnership, and for eachindividual partner. You can use Part 1 of the tools to do this.

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MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

Maximising value during implementation
The figure below sets out three essential elements for implementing and managing
partnerships: 1) effective project management, 2) strong relationship management and3) ongoing iteration & adaptation, all underpinned by a fourth: effective communication.

1

3

2

Project management

Communication

Relationship management

Iteration/Adaption

4

A maximising value lens can be put on each of these elements:

1

Project management: The project
should be focussed on delivering the
expected value developed in the design/ planning phase of the partnership.
Indicators for successfully creating
added value should be monitored andcourse corrections made where thepartnership appears to be veering off
course.

2

Relationship management:
Within relationship management,along with ensuring the level of trustand quality of the ongoing working
relationship, is the need to ensure thatall partners continue to receive (or are
likely to receive in the future) net value
from the partnership.

3

Iteration / adaptation:
Care should be taken not to
overdesign partnerships at the outset
or start off with major resources
committed to a specific approach.
Partnerships in general should startmodestly and then adjust, adapt
and scale as they go based on theexperience of, and new insights gained
from, running the partnership in
earnest. Looking for opportunities for
additional value creation should bebuilt into the ongoing process of review
and iteration of the partnership. As partof the ongoing process of iteration,
partnerships should undertake regularreview. This is the opportunity for bothpartnerships and individual partners toassess value created to date, and adjustas necessary using the second stage ofthe tools.

Demonstrating value at the end
At the end of the partnership, it is important to capture the value created by
the partnership as a whole, as well as for each individual partner to understandhow it gained from the partnership. It should include capturing learning on theexperience of creating value and recommendations for the future.

24

PARTNERSHIPVALUE CREATIONPart 2
INDIVIDUALPARTNER VALUEPart 2PARTNERSHIPVALUE CREATIONPart 3
INDIVIDUALPARTNER VALUEPart 3

7 Tools
Overview and guidanceThis section introduces two sets of tools
designed to support partners in creating
and maximising value throughout theirpartnership. These tools distinguishbetween the two main types of value
we defined earlier in this guidebook: theoverall added value of the partnership,
and the value of partnering to eachindividual partner organisation.

The first set of tools focuses on
the partnership added value: thecollaborative advantage and thepartnership delta. It is intended forpartners to use together, as part of their
ongoing discussions from the earliest
stages of the partnership, to identify
what kinds of value the partnership
could achieve or is achieving.

The second set is intended for use
by each partner organisationindividually, to ascertain what value thepartnership under consideration may
bring, or brings, to their organisation, in
terms of achieving their mission, and interms of organisational gains.

1. Partnership value creation tool
Defining and assessing theCollaborative Advantage of thepartnership
The partnership value-add should bejointly defined and assessed throughout
the partnership in an explicit, ambitious
co-creation process involving all thepartners, through use of our 3-parttool on Partnership Value Assessment.
Mirroring the stages of the individualorganisation tool above, the partnership
tool also includes 3 stages: the predictive
value assessment in the early building
stages, the mid-point review when thepartnership is in the management/
implementation stage and ready forreview, and the final review, at the closeof the partnership.
In the predictive value assessment stage
we encourage the partners, as they are
outlining initial possible objectives forthe partnership, to come together andthink creatively and ambitiously about
the types of value that can be generated

through this partnership, referring to the
10 types of partnership value definedearlier in the guidebook; articulating
what exactly can be achieved and how,and outlining specific steps and actions
that need to be taken together andindividually to ensure that everythingis in place to deliver this value; andfinally, defining clear and meaningfulindicators for later review. This step aims
to ensure that the partnership is thinking
as ambitiously and creatively as possible
about value creation, while also being
very concrete and specific about what
exactly can be achieved and how, as well
as how it will later be measured.

assessment of overall value achieved,
and an opportunity to share lessons
learned and recommendations for future
partnerships, or to contribute to wider
learning on a specific challenge.

Note on assessing and measuringvalue
It is important to note that this process ofassessing added-value, while integrated
wherever possible with existing M&E
processes, is not a traditional approach.
The kind of value we are considering,particularly the added value of thepartnership itself, is rarely monetizable,
and may not even be directly
quantifiable. While this may require a
The mid-point review provides anmindset shift, it is important to be asopportunity to review initial expectations clear, deliberate, and specific as possible
and assumptions, check that everythingin articulating this value, while accepting
is on track and assess value created so far, that the measurement will not be aas well as to seek out new opportunities
standard formula, and results might not
to add more value, or adapt to changing translate directly into quantifiable terms.
realities during the implementation
phase. The final review includes an

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MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

1. Partnership value creation tool (continued)
Using the tools
The templates for completion are at the end of the guide.3

Part 1 – Pre-Assessment

Part 2 – Mid-point review• Consider the issue your partnershipis trying to resolve, and how yourpartnership will create additional
value towards achieving the intended
objectives. Refer to the 10 Collaborative
Advantage and Partnership Delta
categories and decide which ones yourpartnership will create, listing each in
the toolPart 3 – Final Review• Review the types of value included in• Referring to the specific indicators you
part 1 of this tool, as well as the specificincluded in parts 1 and 2, evaluate thedetails of what this would look like inpartnership’s achievements against
practice, and what needed to be ineach indicator, with narrative details
place. Consider what has been achieved
and a rating score
so far, and what is similar or different to• Make a note of all key learning points
initial expectations, and make a note ofand challenges related to each of thethis, with explanations for any varianceexpected outcomes / value predictions
and shifts in planning• Make a note of actions the partners• For each of the ‘collaborative advantage’ • Referring to the specific indicators you
can take to ensure that learning
value types your partnership will
included in part 1, make a note of yourand knowledge are captured andgenerate, think through exactly what
progress against each indicator, with
disseminated, including contributions
this will look like in practice in yournarrative details and a rating score
to future partnerships or other work in
partnership, and describe this here
• Make a note of any key learning points,
the field or sector of this partnership• Indicate the importance of this value
challenges, or recommendations for the
Please include any recommendations for
type for the partnership as a wholepartnership going forward
either of the partners, or for future similar• Develop appropriate and specific• Consider whether any expected
partnerships.
indicators that will allow you to
outcomes / value predictions need tomeasure progress and success in
be rethought and revised, and include
achieving added value throughrevised versions below
your partnership. Consider the• Review your value creation indicators,
intended results and objectives ofand where these need to be adapted
your partnership but note that theor updated, include revised versions
indicators should be separate frombelow.
impact indicators, and should measure• Consider which actions now need tosuccessful added-value creation
be in place to achieve the expected
through the partnership
outputs and meet current indicators,• Finally, return to your partnershipand include updates below
plan and work out exactly what you
will do to ensure that this will happen– include details of what needs to bein place to achieve what you haveoutlined

3. The templates are available for download from: http://tpiglobal.org/

26

2. Individual partner value tool
The Value Assessment Tool for an
Individual Partner is a 3-part tool looks
specifically at the value of a partnershipto an individual partner organisation andis designed to support an organisation’s
thinking and decisions throughout
the partnering process as a whole.
The tool is intended to support eachindividual partner in understanding
and articulating what kinds of value, ineach of the categories we have detailed
above, it will gain through this specificpartnership. By articulating these clearly
very early on, each organisation can thenbe very deliberate about exactly how andwhy it enters into specific partnerships
and can put everything in place toensure that the as much value as possible
is produced throughout the partnership.
The tool includes three key stages:
pre-assessment, mid-point review, andfinal review. These three steps fit into
the building, managing/measuring, andmoving on phases of the partnering
cycle, respectively, but more generally
the tool can also be used iteratively at
any point in the partnership to review
assumptions and expectations, measureprogress, and adapt to the living andchanging realities of the partnership.

In the first part of the tool, the ‘predictive
value assessment’, this initial intention
is articulated, with specific outlines ofactivities and steps to take to ensurethat the expected results will beachieved, as well as specific indicators.
At this stage it is important to be veryclear about what the issue is that thepartnership is intended to tackle, andwhy a partnership is the best way ofgoing about tackling it. The predictive
assessment, through linking specificorganisational objectives to specificoutputs / partnership results, andidentifying what types of value thepartnership can create to support these,
makes it possible to determine whether
this partnership with this/these specificpartner(s) is likely to create the kind ofvalue that is needed.

Part 1 – Predictive value assessment

This provides an opportunity to rethinkor reshape expectations and approach toensure maximum value can be achieved,
and also can provide a way of comparing
several partnership or engagement
opportunities where there is a need toprioritise and determine which could
yield most value. It should be noted that
there is no exact formula for this, andcomparisons will necessarily be partly
subjective, but having a tool can allow
individual or group decisions to be
informed by the right kind of thinking
around value• Link the objectives and results/outputs
to the specific types of value thatthe partnership can create (referringto the 10 types of value defined inthis guidebook, and any other types
identified by the organisation) – list as
many as are relevant for each objective
and think carefully about how thepartnership will generate this value

The later stages of the tool, the midpoint review and the final review,provide opportunities to review
and assess the actual value createdthrough the partnership, and to makeany changes required to adapt to thechanging realities of collaboration overtime, ensuring that value is maximised
throughout, as well as ensuring thatlessons learned and challenges arecaptured, so that the value achieved bythis partnership can also contribute tofuture collaborations, or contribute tocollective learning and innovation more
widely within the same sector or area ofwork.

Section 1:• Clearly articulate the issue that thepartnership is intended to resolve,
as well as provide an overview the
proposed partnership programme
and activities that aim to tackle theproblem.
Section 2: Value• Identify in step 1 each of the relevant
strategic objectives which thispartnership will contribute to• Link these clearly to the planned
partnership results/outputs, articulating
what exactly you are aiming to achieve
and what this looks like in practice,
as well as how this contributes to thelisted objective• Assess the potential impact andlikelihood of creating this value andprovide a rating• Identify the key things that need to bein place from your side to ensure thatthese results can be achieved

27

MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

2. Individual partner value tool (continued)• Identify the key things that thepartnership would need to put in placejointly to ensure that these results canbe achieved• Provide clear, strong, meaningfulindicators that will allow you todetermine later on whether theintended value has been achieved as
initially expected• Provide an overall assessment /conclusion on the value that could beachieved by this partnership• Repeat the process looking at step 2 forthe financial, material, and intangible
gains for your organisation, entering
the expected partnership results,
likelihood of value being achieved, andnoting what needs to be in place forthese, as well as providing indicators• Please note that for this section thecolumn on the types of value (referringto the 10 value types) is not relevant
and can be ignored

28

Part 2 – Mid-point review

Part 3 – Final Review• Evaluation/review• Referring to the specific indicators you
included in parts 1 and 2, evaluate thepartnership’s achievements against
each indicator, with narrative details
and a rating score- Referring back to the objectives,
outputs and partnership results
formulated in the predictive
assessment stage, consider the extent
to which the expected value has beencreated- Referring to the specific indicators
created in the predictive assessment
stage, articulate what progress has
been made against each of theindicators- Provide a progress / achievement
rating against each indicator- Consider the learning and challenges
thrown up by the partnership so
far and make a note of key learning
points that are relevant to the rest of
the partnership’s implementation• Revision- Based on the progress and learnings
to date, and the changing realitiesof the partnership’s implementation,
consider whether the existing
outputs/partnership results,
indicators, and actions need revising.
If so, include the revised versions here.

• Reflecting on the whole life of thepartnership, make a note of all key
learning points and challenges related
to each of the expected outcomes/ value predictions, focusing on theopportunities to create value andwhat hindered or supported this.
Consider internal factors from within
the partnership and from the individual
partners, as well as external factors.
• Consider and detail all the actions thepartners can and should take to ensurethat learning and knowledge arecaptured and disseminated, including
contributions to future partnerships orother work in the field or sector of thispartnership.

What exactly does this look
like in the partnership?
What is the ΔP?

Please describe in detailwhat the specific extra value
generated by this partnershipwill be: include specificexpected outputs / outcomes

Collaborative Advantage
expected to be generated
by the partnership

Please include in a separate
line each of the relevant value
types (refer to page 4 of thistoolPartnership value creation assessment

Please indicate
level of importanceof this value type
(0-4)

Level ofimportance of
this value type
Please indicate how you
will measure success: yourpartnership's indicators andtargets for this value element

Measuring success:indicators and targets
Please detail what needs to
be in place in order to achieve
this added value: note concrete
actions and activities that thepartnership can commit to

What needs to be in place?

Part 1: PRE-ASSESSMENT

TOOL 1
Value assessment tool: Partnership value creation

29

30

Progress against
indicators: value rating

Please provide a rating
for progress against thisindicator

Progress against
indicators – narrative

Please include details ofprogress against eachindicator / target, andexplanations

REVIEW / EVALUATION

Partnership value creation assessment

Please note any learning/ challenges from thepartnership so far

Learning points

Please note anychanges, based onreview, in expectedvalue and specificoutcomes / outputs
from the partnership (ifunchanged, please copy
across previous entry)

What this value looks like

REVISED outputs /outcomes

REVISION

Please note any revised
indicators or targets
where relevant (ifunchanged please copy
across previous entry)

REVISED indicators

Please detail what now
needs to be in placein order to achieve
this added value: note
concrete actions andactivities (if unchanged
please copy acrossprevious entry)

What needs to be in place

REVISED actions

Part 2: MID-POINT REVIEW

MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

TOOL 1 Value assessment tool: Partnership value creation

Please provide a rating
for progress against thisindicator

Please provide a rating for
progress against this indicator

Progress against indicators– narrative

Please include details ofprogress against each indicator/ target, and explanations

Partnership value creation assessment

Please note any learning/ challenges from thepartnership

Please note any learning/ challenges from thepartnership
Please notes any actions
taken to disseminate learningand knowledge from thepartnership

Please notes any actions
taken to disseminate
learning and knowledge
from the partnership
Please note any
recommendations for
either partner, or for future
partnerships

Please note any
recommendations for
either partner, or for future
partnerships

Part 3: FINAL REVIEWTOOL 1 Value assessment tool: Partnership value creation

31

32

Non-partnering alternative
approaches

How partnership leverages
necessary resources andcreates additional value
towards achieving theobjective

Partnership overview

Partnership objective(s)Issue the partnership aims
to address

A. Partnership overview

Value to an individual partner

Part 1: PREDICTIVE VALUE ASSESSMENT

MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

TOOL 2 Individual partner value

Partnership results

List partnershipresults that contributeto each of yourorganisational
objectives

Organisational
strategic objectives

Please complete as
many rows as necessary
with organisational
objectives and needs
this partnership could
contribute to

What is the strategic
importance or
potential levelof impact of thepartnership results?
Rating 0-4

Importance /level of impactof partnershipresults
How likely is
this impact tobe achieved
through thispartnership
Rating 0-4

Likelihood ofvalue being
achieved
What do you needto do to ensure thatthese results areachieved through thispartnership?

What needs to be inplace?

Please note how you
will know if you havebeen successful

Measure of success

Overall assessment/ conclusion

Part 1: PREDICTIVE VALUE ASSESSMENT

B1. Mission value: How the partnership helps to deliver organisational strategic objectives

B. Mission value and organisational value

Value to an individual partner

TOOL 2 Individual partner value

33

34

)ther

Innovation

Reputation, influence &positioning

Reputation, influence &positioning

Legitimacy

Social capital &connections

Safeguarding assets

Non-financial material
gains

Financial

Importance/
relevance of thistype of value
What is the strategic
importance or impactof these gains?
Rating 0-4

Gains / value to yourorganisation

Detail gains / value to yourorganisation from thepartnership

How likely is this value
to be gained throughthis partnership
Rating 0-4

Likelihood of value
being achieved

B2. Organisational value gain: Building your organisation's capacity to deliver

What does yourorganisation need to do
to ensure this value orcreate more?

What needs to be inplace?
Please note how you willknow if you have beensuccessful

Overall assessment ofvalue / gains

MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

TOOL 2 Individual partner value

1. If you do this, what can you not
do? What is its cost?

Opportunity costs

1.

Reputational / social capital costs

2. Other

1. GovernanceTransaction costs

4. Other implementation costs

3. Direct resources

2. Financial costs

1. Staff time

Direct costs

Categories of organizational gain

Overall analysis

Provide detailed explanation of
costs for your organization from thispartnershiph/m/l

The organizational costs ($ where
possible)

C. Costs to engage with the partnership (add categories and sub-categories as required)
How can the organization reduce
costs?

TOOL 2 Individual partner value

35

36
h/m/l

Part 3. Costs

Conclusion

h/m/lPart 2. Organisational gain

Overall assessment
h/m/l

Narrative

Part 1. Mission gain

Assessment categories

D. Net value

If partnering is not a good choice,can a non-partnering alternative beconsidered?

Is the net value for this partnershiphigh enough for the organization tojoin this partnership?

Decision question

MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

TOOL 2 Individual partner value2. Building your organisation's capacity to deliver

1. Helping your organisation achieve its mission

Please make a noteof any key challenges
and learnings fromthe project to date

Please note updated
aims or copy existing
aims here where theyremain unchanged

Please note updated
activities or copy
existing aims here
where they remainunchanged

Where relevant
please explain how
activities or progress
diverged fromexpectations

Please note what
progress has been
made against eachindicator

Please note updated
indicators or copy
existing aims here
where they remainunchanged

Indicators
UPDATED

How will it
be achieved?
UPDATED

What will beachieved?
UPDATED

Comments /explanation ofdivergence

Progress against
indicators

Learnings /challenges

PART 2: MIDPOINT REVIEW

Value to an individual partner

Referring to the value
types in tab 4, please
note explain how
partnership has and will
create value towards thisobjective

What value
is being / willbe created bypartnership?

TOOL 2 Individual partner value

37

38

Where relevant please explain how
activities or progress diverged fromexpectations

Please note what progress has been
made against each indicator

2. Building your organisation's capacity to deliver

1. Helping your organisation achieve its mission

Comments / explanation ofdivergence

Progress against indicators
Referring to the value types in tab 4,
please note explain how partnershiphas created value

Types of value createdPlease make a note of any key
challenges and learnings from the
project and future recommendations
for how to maximize value in each area.

Learnings from the programme

PART 3: FINAL REVIEW

MA X I M I S I NG TH E IMPA C T O F PA RT N E R S H IPS FO R T HE SDGs

TOOL 2 Individual partner value

8Appendix 1:
United Nations Partnerships for the SDGs

Since the Rio Summit of 2002, theimportance of voluntary multistakeholder partnerships has been acore principle in the UN’s commitment
to achieving global sustainable
development. The recognition thatcomplex development challenges canoften only be addressed through thecollaboration of organizations fromall economic sectors has underpinned
a quiet revolution in the way thathumanitarian aid, environmental
conservation, social development
and economic investment have been
implemented across the UN system.
The agreement of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) to 2030
includes a central commitment to
the enabling and support of multistakeholder partnerships as a key
mechanism in delivering on thosegoals – embodied in SDG 17. UN DESA
is taking a critical role in providing
information, analysis and guidance tomember states and to partners in theprivate sector and civil society. It is using
its convening power to bring together
a wide range of stakeholders throughinternational conferences, summits andjoint consultations. In 2016 UN DESA,
in partnership with the UN Office forPartnerships and the Global Compact,
formed the Partnership Data for SDGs
initiative4 with the aim of collecting
reliable and informative data from
SDG partnerships in a standard format.

The production and dissemination ofpartnership data is an essential element
in ensuring that the UN system, andits partners, can learn effectively fromthe experience of its many active
collaborations.
The UN currently lists 3,782 “voluntarycommitments and multi-stakeholder
partnerships” addressing 167 targets
across the 17 SDGs. These initiatives
range from large-scale global
commitments to joint action throughto small-scale collaborative projects
for specific local impact. The active
partners include every size and natureof organization from the agencies ofmember states to community NGOs
and from global corporations throughto local co-operatives. The diversityof the SDG partnerships is one of
their strengths and accurately reflects
the level of global engagement withsustainable development. But it alsopresents a challenge to the UN interms of monitoring and supportingthese partnerships: reliable data andsound guidance are required to inform
good partnership practice and to help
partners to achieve the potential valueof cross-sector collaboration.

partnering practice and, through this, todeliver the benefits of partnership more
effectively to the target communities.
While it is important to acknowledge
that there is no one universal set ofprocedures for operating successful
partnerships, there are valuable
guidelines and recommendations whichhave emerged from almost two decadesof partnership monitoring and analysis.
Sharing the key constituents of good
partnership practice more widely is an
important element in the achievementof the 2030 Agenda.

The current publication is part of UN
DESA’s commitment to providing thatsound guidance and recognizes that UN
member states, the UN agencies andpartner organizations need practicalsupport in order to improve their

4. www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdinaction/pd4sdgs

39

Appendix 2:
Resource & reference section

Pfisterer, S., Payandeh, N. and Reid, S. (2014) D
esigning Comprehensive Partnering Agreements: An Introduction
to the Partnering Agreement Scorecard The Partnerships
Resource Centre and The Partnering Initiative
Reid, S. (2015) The Partnership Culture Navigator:
Organisational cultures and cross-sector partnerships. The
Partnering Initiative, Oxford

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