LPG: Local Partnerships & Governance

PARTNERSHIP MAPS

Search Partnership Maps by Locations:

NATIONAL
WAITAKERE
CHRISTCHURCH

The first database identifies and connects to the main 'headline' partnership based projects in New Zealand. This will be complemented by two locality based databases that document the range and scope of partnerships in Waitakere and Christchurch, completed late in 2003. The aim of these 'partnership maps' is to provide a comprehensive overview of the scope, range and broad characteristics of local partnerships at a national level, and in more depth in Christchurch and Waitakere.

These mapping exercises do not aspire to be fully comprehensive in that they are not inclusive of every partnership forum, strategy and/or initiative in Aotearoa New Zealand. Instead we have attempted to identify nationally pre-eminent local partnerships in the social arena. We are very aware that there are overlaps and grey areas, and that sometimes economic, environmental and social partnership projects masquerade as each other, but start from the understanding that social partnerships are usually focused on public good goals, including building community capacity as well as service delivery.

We use the term local partnerships to describe multi-level collaborative arrangements that bring actors together in new ways. We are particularly interested in local partnerships that aspire to join up central government agencies, local institutions (eg. councils, schools, hospitals), and/or community and voluntary sector groups and iwi/Maori groups. That is, they are likely to involve a tri-partite structure that crosscuts more traditional vertically organised relationships.

The National partnership map focuses explicitly on those local partnerships that have central government involvement. These 'headline' local partnerships have been initiated under a nationally developed framework as a new way of delivering government services and/or doing government funded community development. Larner and Butler (2003) discusses in detail the methodology used to identify and distinguish 'headline' local partnerships from other forms of partnership working.

The Christchurch partnership map also focuses on the multi-level collaborative arrangements that aspire to join up central government, local institutions and/or community and voluntary sector groups and iwi/Maori groups, but also includes other regionally significant local partnerships.

The Waitakere partnership map defines local partnerships more broadly again. In this mapping exercise, local partnerships are defined in the following way:

Be composed of two or more organizations working together on a specific project, program or as part of a wider inter/intra sector coordinating body
Be mandated by and remain accountable both to the partnering organizations, and/or to a wider membership, forum or project.
Have developed some kinds of formal arrangements to support the partnership eg. shared values/visions, governance structures, strategic plan etc
Be specific to, or of special significance in Waitakere.

While these working definitions of local partnerships vary slightly, reflecting both local contexts and differing frameworks for analysis, a sub-set of local partnerships will provide the basis for subsequent comparative analyses.