Community of Practice on partnership in the ESF 8 October 2007 Open Days Benedict Wauters Deputy Director Flemish ESF Agency COP partnership coordinator.

Community of Practice on partnership in the ESF

8 October 2007

Open Days

Benedict Wauters Deputy Director Flemish ESF Agency

COP partnership coordinator

Mission of the COP as defined by its members

What is it about?

More and fresh/creative partnership thinking and

implementation in structural funds (especially the ESF)

COP origine

• Initiative came from DG EMPL and ESF

Managing Authorities of Czech Republic,

Austria, Portugal and Belgium Flanders

• Flanders is coordinating

• Linked to an exchange event in Malta (January

2007)

How do we want to achieve this?• Convincing programme managers, including from

new member states of the importance of partnership

• Produce/share and provide easy access to practical tools, models, guidance notes/fiches, good/poor practice descriptions, contextualised case studies and real life stories anchored in reality (including from EQUAL)– For the exchange event in Malta– For the Community website

• Engage in two-way interaction with other networks, initiatives, wider work environment…

Mission of the COP as defined by its members

Source: E. Wenger

COP lifecycle

Where are we now?

Setting up steeringgroup

Launching calls,selecting contractors,

recruiting first memberssetting up technology

Interviewing members

1stbasecamp

Identification of themes to work on

2ndbasecamp

Teams and workplans for two themes set up

Interactive website operational

October 2007December 2006 June 2007 September 2007

COP potential stageCOP potential stage

Moving up to Malta

Implementingteam workplans

3rdbasecamp

First deliverables online

November 2007 January 2008

COP coalescing stageCOP coalescing stage

December 2007

Implementingteam workplans

Final deliverables online

Maltaexchange

event

-Presenting and discussing deliverables-Recruiting new members-Planning next steps

(4th basecamp)

After Malta

Implementingnext steps

decided in Malta

5th basecamp

Implementingnext steps

decided in Malta

Finalbasecamp

COP continues?

April 2008

COP maturing stageCOP maturing stage

March 2008

Stewardship?Stewardship?

Two main themes defined

• What possible partnership structures, forms and

collaborative approaches might be developed

and supported by Managing Authorities under

the new ESF regulations?

• In what ways can partnership commitment at

different levels be encouraged and maintained

and how can Managing Authorities support the

engagement process?

Managing Authorities

andPartnerships

Small and large,North, South, New Member

States

Start-up group

• Malta• Portugal• Greece• Italy• Belgium Flanders• Ireland• Sweden• Poland• Czech Republic• Austria

Partnership Experts

Planned deliverables

• Comprehensive rationale for partnership

• Key success factors at partnership level

• Tools and practices to be used at Managing

Authority level to support the key success

factors

• Country fiches describing what partnership

means and how it is implemented

Key success factors for ”mechanisms”1. Finding a model that adapts to context 2. Aligning your structure to a defined mission and

scope 3. Getting buy-in of all partners 4. Considering the number of partners5. Deciding on levels of formality/informality 6. Building accountability into governance systems 7. Selecting appropriate management options8. Enabling input from target groups and wider

stakeholders9. Learning from reviewing 10.Flexibility

Key success factors for “engagement”1. Identifying and selecting the ‘right’ partners 2. Understanding individual partner drivers 3. Well-defined roles and responsibilities4. Accountable systems and procedures 5. Clear and appropriate communication channels6. Good leadership 7. Involving target groups and key stakeholders8. Developing partnering skills 9. Building institutional engagement10.Impacting wider society and policy-making

organisations

Country fiches• Function of partnership within the OP: ranging

from implementation of activities on the ground (e.g. through projects) to high level strategic decision making

• Stability of partnership: ranging from supporting ad hoc, task oriented partnerships to permanent, institutionalised partnerships

• Importance of ESF funding for partnership: highly dependent to small influence

• Mainly cross-sector partnerships or within a sector• Mainly cross-(sub)regional partnerships or within a

(sub)region

Country fiches• Highly formalised (e.g. legally binding agreements) to

informal• Linked to specific thematic issues / objectives (incl.

possible targeting of specific groups / links with policy) or bottom-up?

• Types of organisations typically involved in partnership (eg. social partners, NGOs, companies, academia, public sector etc.)

• If partnerships are embedded within existing national, regional or local structures, how are these different levels linked to each other and how does this facilitate mainstreaming

• Strong and weak points of the chosen partnership form?• …

Exchange event in Malta

• 17-18th January 2008• 2 representatives per Member State (Managing

Authority or Implementing Body)• Sharing and discussing the COP deliverables• Experiencing the COP way of learning• Discussing future ambitions• Recruiting new members

Interested to join?

• To know what’s going on but:

– Go to www.partnership.esflive.eu

– Register

– Gain access to and read (public) discussion fora, wiki’s,

blogs etc.

• Ready to engage further? Contact the coordinator

[email protected]