At the Brixton Pound launch event, every participating business had their details posted on the wall, offering a powerful visual representation of the diversity of partnerships behind the scheme.
Context
In order to bring into being STRATEGIC LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE (5.5) and meaningful PRACTICAL MANIFESTATIONS (3.9), as well as to embed DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (2.2) in its work, a Transition initiative needs to have built good working relationships with other organisations in the area. Whether WORKING WITH LOCAL BUSINESSES (3.12) or ENGAGING THE COUNCIL (4.4), forming meaningful partnerships will be key to your success, and to your ability to deliver successful projects.
(We are collecting and discussing these Transition ingredients on Transition Network’s website to keep all comments in one place. Please leave feedback and comments, suggestions for alternative pictures, anecdotes, stories and projects for this ingredient here).
The Challenge
Any Transition initiative that thinks it can go it alone, without the support of, or partnerships with, other organisations will sooner or later find itself isolated and far less effective than it could have been. At the same time, entering into partnerships with other groups or organisations, if not done skilfully, can lead to disenchantment, bad feeling and divisiveness. While creating partnerships is vital, if not done well, they can do more harm than good.
Core Text
It has always been the thinking that a Transition initiative isn’t intended to be the organisation that does a multitude of projects, rather that it tries to catalyse and then support projects, trying to change the cultural story a place tells about itself so that Transition becomes a way of thinking across the community. Doing this requires some skilful collaborative work, and the building of a set of strong local partnerships.
In an interview that appeared on the Mid Wales Permaculture Network’s website, Dave Prescott of Transition Hay-on-Wye reflected on the partnerships his initiative had created. One such as an alternative transport day which was co-created with Herefordshire and Powys councils, Sustrans and local business and environment groups, and they had also done work with the local Chamber of Commerce. He reflected on the role of partnerships thus:
“For me it boils down to the fact that as a group of six individuals there isn’t a great deal we can do, but if we collaborate with existing groups and, over the longer term, encourage other existing groups to recognise that Transition is something they can be thinking about and acting on, then we have a chance of creating meaningful change”.
It isn’t just individual initiatives that can benefit from partnerships. In November 2009, a one-day conference was held in Slaithwaite in Yorkshire called ‘Transition North’, bringing together Transition groups from across the north of England. The event was a partnership with the Co-operative Group and Co-operatives UK, and proved a dynamic coming together of organisations with many overlaps in terms of philosophy and practice.
It is worth remembering that within your community there will be many organisations who, although not obviously aligned with Transition, will overlap with some area of what you do. The partnerships you forge which are the unexpected ones are the ones more likely to lead to some more interesting interactions and interesting new contacts. Offer presentations to a wide range of local groups, and tailor your talk, as best you can, to their interests. I once gave a talk to the local Women’s Institute, and prior to my talk they had been discussing how the price of milk was too low and how that was affecting dairy farmers. It meant that I was able to start by talking about localisation and globalisation, relating it to milk production as an example.
Key events can also be great opportunities to make those connections visible and to bring in the other organisations in the community that overlap with the Transition initiative. For example, at the Unleashing of Transition Town Lewes, those attending entered the hall through another room, which included dozens of stalls, of local groups, food producers, businesses and so on. Much the same thing happened at the launch of Transition Town Chepstow, with various local enterprises and organisations having stalls. The Unleashing of Transition Whatcom in the US featured stall from a wide variety of local organisations in the foyer of Bellingham High School.
Do be careful in making sure that when you enter a partnership with another organisation, however informal, that you both have a clear sense of what you are doing, and what you are committing to submit to the process. Misunderstandings can easily lead to fallout that takes a lot of energy to resolve. In essence, what is vital is that your initiative manages to do some skilful networking, because if Transition is going to work, it will need the input of a far broader range of bodies than has been the case in the past.
The Solution
Think strategically about which partnerships it would be beneficial for your Transition initiative to enter into. Be clear with each organisation what each expects from the arrangement, and how you see roles and responsibilities being divided up. Some arrangements might just be about co-presenting events and sharing speakers, or about collaborating on a project, but might feasibly be as significant as joint funding bids or event merging organisations. What is vital at every stage is clarity and honesty, and having a clear joint understanding of what each party expects, and what is expected of it.
Connections to Other Ingredients
When approaching other organisations to explore possible partnerships, be mindful of HOW OTHERS SEE US/HOW WE COMMUNICATE (1.6), dress the part, prepare what you are going to say, and do your homework in advance. Also, bear INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY (2.2) in mind, go out beyond the usual suspects, beyond organisations that you feel comfortable talking to. There may also be times when building strategic partnerships becomes key to FINANCING YOUR WORK (3.3), such as for joint funding applications. The promotion of SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP (5.2) will also benefit greatly from good, carefully chosen partnerships.
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