Multi-sector Partnerships Moray Firth Case Study
Project: Effective structuring of multi-sector partnerships
Client: Moray Firth Integrated Coastal Zone Management Partnership
The Challenge
The Moray Firth Integrated Coastal Zone Management Partnership (MFP) involves a plurality and diversity of partners drawn from the public, private and voluntary sectors, including community representatives and the lay public. The Partnership Board was conscious that the partnership’s complexity was compromising its ability to achieve improvements in coastal zone management, and needed advice on how the partnership could best be reconfigured.
The Solution
Working closely with the client, we undertook an analysis of the structure and operation of the partnership, based upon an innovative approach to partnership working developed at Westlakes in collaboration with Newcastle University. This focuses on four key attributes of partnership working:
- Trust - between individuals and organisations
- Values - of individuals and the organisations and interests they represent
- Network Attributes - including the degree of centrality and resource constraints on the partnership network
- Communication - including the quality, extent and appropriateness of dialogue, both between partners within and without the MFP
Based on this analysis, we recommended a multi-level action-orientated architecture that was designed to assist the MFP optimise its operations.
The Benefits
The Partnership Board has accepted our recommendations as a basis for reconfiguring the partnership, and as a result has secured improved effectiveness in meeting its objectives for coastal zone management.