Partnerships between local governments and community‐based organisations: exploring the scope for synergy

Abstract

The utility of both local governments and community-based organisations can be considerably enhanced when these agencies work in partnership with one another. Different roles will be played by local governments and community organisations in different types of partnership arrangements. Distinguishing among these roles helps allocate responsibilities better among the partner agencies, and it is also helpful for scheduling implementation, devising appropriate capacity building programmes and designing suitable accountability mechanisms. An analytical framework to help with these tasks is developed and presented in this article.

Assessing sanitary mixtures in East African cities

“…The voluntary sector includes non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community based organisations (CBOs) and faith based organisations (FBOs) (Hasan, 1990(Hasan, , 2002Picciotto, 1995;Gaye and Diallo, 1997;Krishna, 2003;Tukahirwa & Mol, 2010;Schwartz & Sanga, 2010). Picciotto (1995) notes that for effective market operation, voluntary organisations are needed in countries where the market and the state are poised in relative to fill gaps in provision, restrain the state, point out excesses of market, and provide avenues for participation and cooperation.…”

“…Gaye and Diallo (1997) note that local sanitary problems can be solved by local communities in partnerships with NGOs, local authorities (LAs) and support from other agencies. This view is supported by Krishna (2003) who argues that the utility of both LAs and CBOs can be considerably enhanced when agencies work in partnerships with one another, with each playing different roles and responsibilities. Moreover, strong civil society strives in strong state, democratic and good governance and thus their entry in services provision does not mean weakening the state, but a strengthening and alteration of state intervention in delivery of services (Stewart, 1997).…”

Community collaboration in development work with young people: perspectives from Zambian communities

“…A notable exception is a series of papers by Batley and colleagues (2008) derived from a research project that examined 'collaboration' between governments and non-state providers of education services. However, Batley's research project concerned collaboration at the level of national and organisational policy and there are far fewer studies of collaboration within specific communities (Krishna, 2003).…”

Managing Paradoxes in Public Partnerships

“…In fact, the academic work that theoretically and empirically addresses the theme of public collaborations (e.g., (Barretta & Busco, 2011;Barringer & Harrison, 2000;Grafton et al, 2011;Krishna, 2003) makes it clear that any or all of the above pressures are often inter-related and concurrent. But how can we read those situations in which an institutionalised collaborative practice is openly discarded or 'left to its fate' by its own promoters?…”