WORKING WITH PARTNERS - OUR PROMISE:                                                               

"We will work together as partners to build stronger and more resilient communities."

This Promise should make a positive impact on the relationship between the public sector and the voluntary and community sector and their joint commitment to establishing effective partnership working where appropriate. It aims to set a framework for:

• Understanding how to be effective when working with partners;
• Encouraging good practice in managing relationships with partners;
• Enabling inclusion and full participation.

In making this Promise, we acknowledge that:

Being ‘Better Together’ to make a difference means the voluntary and community sector and the public sector working together in a way that adds value to, and improves the effectiveness of, service delivery. In particular, when considering a partnership, we agree that there should be:

• Active agreement that one is necessary;
• A shared, clear and defined purpose;
• Confidence in the commitments, capacity and actions of different partners;
• Commitment and the capacity to achieving the best outcomes for end users;
• Leadership by respected individuals;
• A clear and open decision-making process;
• Development of a shared vision of what might be achieved;
• Time to build the partnership;
• Shared or overlapping agendas;
• Good communication between partners;
• Effective partnership management.

Joint Undertakings:

We all undertake to:

• Identify common needs, goals and shared priorities which will be effectively addressed through working together as partners;
• Develop and be part of partnerships where they can add value to existing work arrangements;
• Review the effectiveness of partnerships on a regular basis and if necessary agree a way forward to improve effectiveness or end the partnership;
• Develop open and representative processes and structures;
• Understand what available resources are needed for a partnership to achieve planned outcomes;
• Promote inclusion and ensure that the needs and views of as many and as diverse a range of people as possible are considered by partners together;
• Recognise the value of specific skills and expertise in all sectors;
• Be clear about organisational interests and recognise the limits and boundaries of participating partners or their representatives;
• Provide for induction of new partners and representatives including awareness and the implications of The Wiltshire Compact and its Promises;
• Ensure each partner is clear about their role and the commitments involved;
• Ensure that the role of staff members and volunteers in representing organisations working together as partners, or in partnerships, is fully recognised within their job roles and supported by their employing or sponsoring organisation (including identified training and development);
• Be clear whose responsibility it is to ensure sound organisation, management and appropriate resourcing of a partnership including:

  • Clear Terms of Reference for a partnership including clarity on where it is positioned within a wider partnership structure;
  • Clear and agreed administrative and secretariat function;
  • Strategic Plan with outcomes;
  • Communication and Involvement Strategy;
  • Action planning;
  • Performance management and reporting;
  • Accessible meetings;
  • Costs of participation and representation.

• Identify clearly the role of the Chair, and ensure this person is able to encourage the involvement and participation of all involved;
• Accept ownership for decisions made by the partnership and their promotion;
• Use the representative structures and processes of the voluntary and community sector to identify and encourage sector involvement in policy development and delivery design at the earliest practicable stage.

Voluntary and Community Sector Undertakings:

The Wiltshire Compact voluntary and community sector partners undertake to:

• Ensure voluntary and community sector representatives consult and represent the wider views of the sector in an inclusive and accessible way;
• Respect and work to support the statutory frameworks (including monitoring) within which the public sector operates.
• Ensure that issues concerning voluntary and community sector funding are raised only when directly relevant to the partnership’s current business to hand.

Public Sector Undertakings:

The Wiltshire Compact public sector partners undertake to:

• Recognise and value the skills, knowledge and expertise that voluntary and community sector organisations bring as partners;
• Recognise that voluntary and community sector organisations have a strategic as well as a service delivery role;
• Where relevant, identify an accountable body for performance and/or the acceptance of risk if not to be equally shared amongst partners;
• Be clear whether it is a voluntary and community sector advisor, representative or organisation in their own right that is being requested to participate as a partner.   

                                                                                                                                    

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE WILTSHIRE COMPACT HERE.                                                                                                                                                                                     back to the top