(CoP on) Partnership: what’s in a name?(CoP on) Partnership: what’s in a name?

Benedict WautersBenedict WautersCOP coordinatorCOP coordinator

Deputy Director ESF FlandersDeputy Director ESF Flanders

A “Community of Practice”….?

on “partnership”….?

• Communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better (E. Wenger)

• The European Commission, EQUAL MAs of Flanders, Portugal, Austria, Czech Republic and Malta decided in 2006 to fund a CoP on partnership in the ESF:– to capitalise on experience gained in EQUAL – to take into account the emphasis placed on

partnership in the new ESF regulation

Origin of the CoP

•The mission of the CoP on partnership in the ESF, is to stimulate more creative partnership thinking and implementation in the structural funds, especially in the ESF•This is to be achieved by convincing programme managers, including from new member states, of the importance of partnership and enabling them to provide high quality support to partnerships in a structural fund context.

Mission of the CoP

Managing Authorities

andPartnerships

Small and large,North, South, New Member

States

• Malta• Portugal• Greece• Italy• Belgium Flanders• Sweden• Poland• Czech Republic• Austria• Romania

Partnership Experts

Current members of the CoP

Stages in CoP development

Source: E. Wenger

Setting up steeringgroup

Launching calls,selecting contractors,

recruiting first memberssetting up technology

Interviewing members

1stbasecamp

Identification of broad issues

2ndbasecamp

Key success factors to deal with issues identified

Interactive website operational

December 2006 June 2007 September 2007

COP potential stageCOP potential stage

“Potential” stage completed

Continuing work and exchanges

on practices

3rdbasecamp

First deliverables presented and

online

November 2007 January 2008

COP coalescing stageCOP coalescing stage

December 2007

Continuing work and exchanges on

practices

More deliverables online

Maltaexchange

event

-Presenting and discussing deliverables with others-Recruiting new members

(4th basecamp)

Coalescing stage: almost there…

Continuing exchanges

5th basecamp

Continuing exchanges6th

basecamp

COP extension?

April 2008

COP maturing stageCOP maturing stage

February 2008

Stewardship?Stewardship?

In Vienna, next to the 4th OECD LEED platform

Into the maturing stage…

Partnership focus

• Territorial:– Some OPs, such as in the Flemish ESF OP, do not

associate partnership with any specific territorial level– Some such as the Austrian ESF OP (with Territorial

Employment Pacts) have a specific regional focus

• Thematic:– Some OPs (e.g. in the Czech Republic) emphasise

added value of partnership for any given issue– Others link partnership to more specific issues (e.g.

vocational training in Portugal)

Application forms

• Many OPs (e.g. Malta) inquire about the nature (e.g. what type of organisation is it) of each partner and their role / added value in the project

• Some also ask for coordination / decision-making structures and/or specific task and budget allocations (e.g. Flanders)

• In some cases, no specific questions relating to partnership are asked (e.g. Poland)

Requirements for partnerships -1

• Some OPs require relatively informal agreements between partners before operations can start:– in some cases these contain quite a few operational

details (memorandum of understanding referring to working programme, codes of conduct, rules and procedures,…) (e.g. Italy)

– sometimes these state only committments to work together e.g. letters of intent (for example in Malta)

Requirements for partnerships -2

• Others require more formal agreements and /or set other requirements:– sometimes a separate legal entity has to be

constituted (e.g. Portugal)

– in other cases legally binding contracts have to be signed between partners (e.g. Czech Republic)

– there may also be specific rules governing the composition of the partnership and/or other operational details (e.g. Sweden)

Challenges

• time investment required to start up and build partnerships

• top-down, non-collaborative traditions of some institutions

• national legislation e.g. on awarding grants • difficulties of ensuring engagement with local

actors / civil society• technical abilities of prospective partner

organisations not developed• partner organisations not representative• bureacratisation of partnerships• conflicts of interest

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finalised outputs andfinalised outputs andsome announcements)some announcements)

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2. Reading more +2. Reading more +first step writing first step writing

(comments)(comments)

3. Routine writing3. Routine writing(blogs, fora, etc.)(blogs, fora, etc.)

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4. Further 4. Further engagementengagement

(all site functions +(all site functions +meetings/tasks) meetings/tasks)

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+ contact the coordinator

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www.partnership.esflive.eu

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