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Case studies - working together to achieve your mission

 

 

Find Your Feet & Harvest Help - joint support to local partners in Malawi

Find Your Feet and Harvest Help are UK-based international development agencies. They have a joint sustainable livelihood programme in Malawi, run from a joint office by local staff who are employed by both agencies. Local staff see their employer as Harvest Help/Find Your Feet.

The agencies set and review programme strategy together, but support local partner organisations to manage their projects because local partners best understand local needs. A jointly signed Memorandum of Understanding guides the partnership between Find Your Feet and Harvest Help.

Success factors

Joint working has allowed them to establish a range of projects relatively quickly since they began work in Malawi in 2002. The arrangement works well because:

  • both organisations share a development vision and approach
  • they have complementary areas of expertise
  • communication is good - for example, funding applications are carefully co-ordinated to avoid mixed messages to donors
  • there is trust, confidence and 'creative spark' between the two Directors

"We trust each other and because of that, we accept criticism from each other in the belief that it is done for the good of the programme."
Dr Dan Taylor, Director, Find Your Feet

A few trustees were at first uncertain of the value of working in partnership. Explaining the benefits - ranging from cost saving through to mutual learning - helped the agencies convince trustees of its worth. Annual meetings between both trustee boards in the UK now reflect the way that both sets of staff work together on the Malawi programme. The collaborative relationship therefore works at all levels of the organisations.

Management and funding roles

Programme strategy is jointly defined by both organisations and negotiated with staff in the Malawi office before it is finalised, but key responsibilities are divided. Find Your Feet line manages the Malawi Programme Manager while Harvest Help has responsibility for financial management. This split was worked out according to who was most appropriate for each role.

"We have to be disciplined in going through Find Your Feet on line management issues."
Andrew Jowett, Director, Harvest Help

Find Your Feet and Harvest Help decide which agency will lead on developing each project funding proposal. The decision is based on who identified the potential donor or who has the stronger relationship with them. Once the proposal is agreed by both organisations and then funded, its lead agency is responsible for implementing that project. However, Find Your Feet continues to take overall responsibility for liaison with the Malawi office on programme matters.

Allocating funds

Find Your Feet and Harvest Help share core costs equally and this reduces the agencies' overheads. They aim for an overall 50-50 balance on project costs, but the exact funding mix for each of the four main projects varies. Some projects may be wholly funded through one of the two agencies. However, since all projects form part of the joint programme, they can be referred to in each other's literature.

Each organisation raises funds for the Malawi office or transfers a proportion of its income raised from the general public to the Malawi programme to cover 50% of its costs.

Find Your Feet and Harvest Help have also entered into a funding agreement with Development Fund, a Norwegian NGO, which has recognised the quality of work of the collaborative programme. Development Fund is currently a donor, but may in time become a third partner in the programme.

Internal communication

Regular meetings take place at the UK offices of each organisation in turn and joint field trips provide an opportunity to meet with local staff and deal collectively with issues raised. The joint strategy is modified on such occasions. Bi-monthly reports from Malawi provide the UK agencies with progress updates.

"Regular and open communication between us led to agreement on how we'll acknowledge each other in fundraising literature and that we'll co-clear visitors going to Malawi - both initially sources of confusion which reflected our different fundraising strategies."
Andrew Jowett, Director, Harvest Help

"Email enables everyone to be kept in the loop, but there are so many interested parties that sometimes someone is left out - we get back to the issue of trust - but this is never deliberate."
Dr Dan Taylor, Director, Find Your Feet

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Shelter and Stonewall Housing - Sexuality and Housing Project

Shelter and Stonewall Housing ran a 15-month long joint project to tackle housing problems faced by lesbian, gay and bisexual people and promote good practice in the services that support them. Together, the two organisations worked with local authorities, housing associations and other housing providers in London on training, information, policy and client monitoring.

 

The project combined the expertise of Shelter and Stonewall Housing and was guided by:

 

  • Joint steering group - with management committee & staff representation
  • Service Level Agreement - signed by both organisations & intended as legally binding
  • Project Plan - how the Policy, Training & Development Worker operated within agreed workplan

 

The project had one staff member, a Policy, Training & Development Worker who was selected by both organisations. Shelter paid her salary and took on the legal responsibilities of employing her such as monitoring absence. Stonewall provided monthly line management support to her as they had more expertise in the project area.

The Policy, Training & Development Worker was based half time in each organisation. She used:

  • a laptop networked into both organisations
  • a mobile phone instead of two land lines

This arrangement worked because the project was a discrete piece of work which drew on the expertise within each organisation, but could also stand alone.

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Faith Regen UK and East London Mosque - capacity building & outreach

Faith Regen UK is a national multi-faith organisation which designs and delivers programmes to combat social exclusion and empower disadvantaged individuals and groups. Faith Regen uses partnership working to reach otherwise excluded target groups through local and culturally appropriate points of entry such as places of worship. It receives government funding for many of its projects of this type.

Small faith organisations can have difficulty gaining funding for services in isolation, despite having experience of local delivery. Faith Regen can co-ordinate activities which take advantage of faith organisations' local strengths and build their capacity to deliver services. Their partnerships begin with needs analysis and may involve service delivery by either Faith Regen's outreach workers, staff from local organisations or a combination of both, depending on existing capacity.

Faith Regen's Faith Initiating Regeneration (FIR) project addressed the capacity needs of faith based organisations in East London. Faith Regen recognises that, although these organisations have limited resources themselves, they do have the potential to support government regeneration objectives. They have access to large pools ofvolunteers and the ability to provide easily accessible facilities suitable for training and other community regeneration activities.

The FIR project, funded by the Learning and Skills Council London East, brought together a number of partners including East London Mosque. Faith Regen's capacity building partnership with East London Mosque established an ICT centre which can be hired out for training sessions. The ICT centre has been used by Faith Regen, the schoolchildren at London Muslim Centre and local community members for activities such as job searching and IT training.

Imams have also supported outreach activities by mentioning support services in their sermons. They encouraged worshippers to attend job surgeries held in the mosque after prayers when a Faith Regen outreach worker set up a laptop and advised people on job opportunities. Having local access to guidance and information which is provided in a culturally and faith sensitive environment gave confidence to the residents of East London that the project supported.

A partnership agreement between Faith Regen and East London Mosque outlined how the two agreed to work together, while their service level agreement stated specific outputs to be achieved.

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South London CVS Partnership

South London CVS Partnership covers Bromley, Croydon, Kingston-upon-Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton. The Directors of the six Councils for Voluntary Service from these boroughs are responsible for its governance. 

Reviewing structure 

The Partnership's governance structure is currently under review with CVS Directors and trustees exploring whether to establish the Partnership as a separate legal entity. They are exploring whether this would help the Partnership to: 

  • minimise risk for individual CVS while maximising income for local service delivery
  • develop the capacity to trade via a social enterprise model
  • provide economies of scale where appropriate
  • act as a central resource for bidding and contracting

The Partnership aims to: 

  • facilitate and provide representation for the voluntary and community sector at sub-regional level
  • facilitate sharing of best practice, skills and expertise
  • establish and develop relationships with sub-regional/regional bodies
  • develop common policy positions and operational strategies reflecting the diversity of the sub-region 

Staffing 

The Association of London Government provides core funding for the Partnership's three core staff and Richmond CVS (RCVS) employs them on behalf of the six CVSs. The Workforce Development Manager's post, also employed by RCVS, is funded by the London South LSC and ChangeUp. RCVS receives a management fee for employing the staff, administering the budget and managing the Manager who then manages the other three staff. 

Identity & communication 

The staff were initially based at RCVS, but now work from an independent office, albeit in a building managed by RCVS. The move has emphasised the Partnership's neutrality and independence, particularly as it now has its own website and its email addresses are @slcvspartnership rather than @richmondcvs. 

"The move improved our ability to create an identitiy for the Partnership which has been very valuable. It sends the message that the Partnership is there for all the partners.

"Working as an informal Partnership not constituted as a separate legal entity, we have to constantly review how we communicate with CVSs and their trustees about our work. We currently rely a lot on individual CVS Directors providing this communication role locally. We are looking at how we could use electronic means more effectively, like a web forum to keep staff in the loop and enable them to share resources, skills and ideas across the six CVSs. We have also begun to produce a quarterly newsletter."
Jacqui Finn, Partnership Manager, South London CVS Partnership

Leading on Partnership projects

The Partnership currently operates on an informal basis with individual CVSs leading/hosting partnership projects according to the Partnership's terms of reference. For instance, Sutton co-ordinates work on Adult & Community Learning. Richmond is the accountable body for the staff and funding of the Partnership so never chairs its meetings in order to avoid a conflict of interest.

The Partnership Manager liaises with each CVS Director on implementing their aspect of the Partnership's Business Plan. The Business Plan is reviewed at an annual residential event for the CVS Directors and key Partnership staff.

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Joint company for livestock registration

Three livestock breed societies - The British Limousin Cattle Society, Suffolk Sheep Society and Texel Sheep Society - have together set up BASCO Data Ltd. BASCO is a company owned by the participating societies. Its board of directors are appointees from the boards of the three societies. 

Developing joint work 

Discussion between the societies, two of which are based on the same site, found that they had a common need for replacement data systems. They jointly commissioned a specialist database to act as an online herd/flock book for the societies' members, providing them with a focal point for registration of animals and recording of pedigree, performance and health data. The BASCO Livestock System helps members make informed decisions about managing their livestock and cuts administration costs for each society.

"The two sheep societies now realise that co-operating brings huge benefits at a low cost."
Robyn Hulme, Commercial Director, Suffolk Sheep Society

Separate company 

From the start, the three believed the system had the potential to expand into a wider resource for the livestock industry. They decided to form a separate company for this work to put it on a professional footing. Distancing the work from the societies' other activities in this way also ensures that none of them unfairly benefit from their involvement. A partnership agreement formalises how the societies share the running of BASCO and covers areas such as roles and responsibilities and intellectual property. 

Future expansion 

In addition to the attention of other breed societies, BASCO has attracted the interest of the Meat & Livestock Commission and attracted a grant from DEFRA's Agriculture Development Scheme to enhance the system's capability. BASCO's three shareholding societies are encouraging other breed societies to join the scheme as the technology can also be used for information particular to other breeds. 

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National Library for the Blind & National Blind Children's Society - Junior Giant Print Library

The National Library for the Blind (NLB) identified that there was nowhere for partially sighted children or teenagers to borrow large print books without having to buy them. Public libraries' stock was mainly geared towards adult readers.

In 2005, NLB was able to address this by launching a new children's Giant Print free postal lending library service in collaboration with the National Blind Children's Society (NBCS).

NLB run the service, buying books from the range that NBCS produces or commissioning NBCS to produce new Giant Print books where the braille version has already proved popular or where a book has won a prize and demand is expected to rise. The two organisations choose the books together, then NBCS produces the Giant Print books in 24 point type with exactly the same covers as the ordinary print books in shops and public libraries.

Working together means more children's books reach more partially sighted young people at no cost to them. The Giant Print collection is continually growing and includes over 200 titles produced for NLB by the NBCS. The service has proved popular with a growing young membership, their parents and schools.

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