Building social capital through partnerships

1. Building social capital through partnerships Local Government Association Conference on ‘Building Social Capital with the third sector’ Ben Cairns www.ivar.org.uk 19 October 2006

2. Building social capital with the third sector • Overview of the concept of social capital • The policy context of cross-sector partnership working • Learning from the recently completed Partnership Improvement Programme • Conditions required for building social capital with the third sector

3. Overview of the concept of social capital “those tangible substances [that] count for most in the daily lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a social unit.... The community as a whole will benefit by the cooperation of all its parts, while the individual will find in his associations the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellowship of his neighbors.” (L J Hanifan, 1916)

4. Relevance of the concept of social capital • Building networks of relationships • Networks enhance cooperation, trust and resource exchange • Networks are “incubators of collaboration”

5. The policy context of cross-sector partnership working:three overarching themes • Expanded role for third sector in delivery of public services • Civil renewal, social and community cohesion, neighbourhood governance • Pressures, expectations, requirements to work together across sectoral divides: complexities and demands of cross-sector partnership working

6. Learning from the recently completed Partnership Improvement Programme Closing the policy implementation gap: • Governance: partnerships require governance in their own right; needs to be appropriate and dynamic • Trust: built around interpersonal relationships, mutual understanding and respect, acceptance of difference • Improvement: needs to be a collaborative and local process

7. Conditions required for “building social capital with the third sector” • Finding a role for third sector organisations which is appropriate to their mission and distinctive features • Understanding the tensions between the public services delivery agenda and the ‘civil renewal’ agenda • Committing to the principle of proportionality • Moving towards a balance in power • Applying the learning from the partnership improvement programme • Building dense networks, which involve engagement, trust and mutual benefit