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(CoP on) Partnership: what’s in a name? Benedict Wauters COP coordinator

(CoP on) Partnership: what’s in a name? Benedict Wauters COP coordinator Deputy Director ESF Flanders. A “Community of Practice”….?. on “partnership”….?. Origin of the CoP.

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(CoP on) Partnership: what’s in a name? Benedict Wauters COP coordinator

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  1. (CoP on) Partnership: what’s in a name? Benedict Wauters COP coordinator Deputy Director ESF Flanders

  2. A “Community of Practice”….? on “partnership”….?

  3. Origin of the CoP • 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

  4. Mission 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.

  5. Current members of the CoP • Malta • Portugal • Greece • Italy • Belgium Flanders • Sweden • Poland • Czech Republic • Austria • Romania Small and large, North, South, New Member States Partnership Experts Managing Authorities and Partnerships

  6. Source: E. Wenger Stages in CoP development

  7. Key success factors to deal with issues identified Identification of broad issues 1st base camp Interviewing members 2nd base camp Launching calls, selecting contractors, recruiting first members setting up technology Interactive website operational Setting up steering group September 2007 December 2006 June 2007 COP potential stage “Potential” stage completed

  8. -Presenting and discussing deliverables with others -Recruiting new members More deliverables online First deliverables presented and online Malta exchange event Continuing work and exchanges on practices (4th basecamp) 3rd base camp Continuing work and exchanges on practices January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 COP coalescing stage Coalescing stage: almost there…

  9. COP extension? In Vienna, next to the 4th OECD LEED platform 6th base camp Continuing exchanges 5th base camp Continuing exchanges February 2008 April 2008 Stewardship? COP maturing stage Into the maturing stage…

  10. 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)

  11. 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)

  12. 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)

  13. 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)

  14. 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

  15. Visitor 1. Reading only (generally only finalised outputs and some announcements) Visit the website 2. Reading more + first step writing (comments) Registered Community Member Register on the website 3. Routine writing (blogs, fora, etc.) Premium Community Member Register on the website + contact the coordinator 4. Further engagement (all site functions + meetings/tasks) Join the work? Go to the website!

  16. www.partnership.esflive.eu Join the work? Go to the website!

  17. Join the work? Go to the website! TEMPORARY “REGISTERED MEMBER” LOGIN User: malta Password: malta (lower case)

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