Sport England

The Nation's Biggest Supporter

Partnership working

1. Strategic relationships between the organisation and the voluntary sector

The voluntary sector is a key partner for sport and your organisation needs to have negotiated a strategic relationship with it. The Government have promoted this relationship through their “Compact with the third sector” policy.

Partnership working- IDeA Knowledge
As councils become more sophisticated communicators, more are developing innovative schemes to work and communicate with partner organisations in all sectors.
The Connecting with Communities research was mainly concerned with communication with local residents, and only touched on some of the wider audiences. But we did discover some excellent examples of good practice. Many of these are relatively new and haven't been evaluated yet. But we feel they offer useful guidance for authorities looking at new approaches.

Smarter partnerships-Employers Association for Local Government
At the Employers' Organisation for local government (EO), we wish to promote learning and skills development which leads to more effective collaborative working. In response to requests, we have produced this toolkit to assist local authorities and their partners. This is a natural development of our role in advising local authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on skills matters.

National Governments Compact-IDeA Knowledge
In a bid to foster the relationship between local government and the voluntary and community sector (VCS), an agreement was made between the VCS and the Government. This understanding is termed the Compact and it provides a framework for partnership working. The Government agreed its Compact on relations between Government and the VCS in England in November 1998.
http://www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=79993
http://www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=79927
http://www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=79279
http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/activecommunities36.htm

2. Training staff for partnership working

Specific skills and competencies are often required to work effectively with the voluntary sector if the relationship is to be effective.

Training-IDeA Knowledge
Developing the range of skills involved in partnership working takes time. To be truly effective, councils need to invest in the specific skills needed to extend their remit beyond traditional PR functions. This might include developing skills in the following areas:

Developing skills for partnership working- Employers association for local government
Assess your learning needs against those set out in this interactive tool.

3. Capacity building in the voluntary sector

To be effective the voluntary sector needs to be supported to enable it to build the capacity to assist you. This is often more important in the community sector than the paid voluntary sector or grant aided sector.

Resources for partnership working - Employers Organisation for local government
We intend to maintain and develop this part of the Smarter Partnerships website to help meet your needs in developing partnership effectiveness and skills.

CVS Get Trained - CVS
We provide opportunities to learn basic skills and work-based skills. You could gain a national qualification or learn a new skill to boost your confidence.

Working with volunteers - Sport England (80 KB)

Coach training - Sports coach UK

4. Monitoring partnership working & measuring its impact.

It is important that you measure the benefits and costs of working with the voluntary sector and ensure you can assess its impact and value. It is all too easy for long standing relationships to simply continuing without achieving your objectives.

Evaluating effectiveness-IDeA Knowledge
Guidance on evaluating the effectiveness of your consultation and communications
http://www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=81655
http://www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=81909

Listen up - Audit Commission
Evaluating consultation programmes

Performance management framework; local strategic partnerships- Neighbourhood renewal unit
Requirements on what information you should record and report on if your Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) uses its their own Performance Management Framework (PMF)

Evaluating partnerships- Employers organisation for local government
Use this interactive tool to analyse in more depth how your partnership is working and how to improve it.

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