Partnerships

Working together is vital to preventing crime and victimization. The underlying causes of crime and victimization are so complex one group or organization alone cannot be responsible to address this important work. The best results in preventing crime and victimization come from community working together. Community members, groups, businesses, agencies, and government working together make lasting impacts in a community.

This guidance document is intended to help you choose the right partners for your project, define the roles clearly, and create a lasting and positive impact on your community.

• Who should be our crime prevention project partners?
• The roles partners play
• Ingredients for successful partnerships:
• Reap the rewards
• Learn more about building community partnerships

Who should be our crime prevention project partners?

You may wish to include former community partners as well as explore new relationships that can bring vision and resources to the project. Ensure everyone having an interest in the project or the issue is invited to participate. Youth oriented projects, for example, thrive when youth and their champions are part of project planning, implementation and celebration of results. Points to consider when choosing partners could include:

• Have we included individuals and groups most affected by the issue?
• Have we engaged people who have an interest or stake in the solutions?
• Have we included partners who can provide the skills and talents needed for the project?

The roles partners play

Partners may add value to your project by contributing many different ways, the following are the different roles that can be fulfilled by your partners, whether individuals or organizations.

Role of partner

Cooperation

Person/group is not significantly involved in planning or running the project, but provides and/or offers advice, supplies, resources, space, equipment, materials, etc.

Communication

Person/group supports the project idea and shares experiences.

Coordination

Person/group is involved in planning the project, provides financial or in-kind contributions and actively coordinates their part of the project. Your organization is the lead organization.

Collaboration

Person/group is an equal partner with your organization. They are equally responsible for decision making and managing the project and finances.

Ingredients for successful partnerships

The following are important aspects of partnership building:

• Shared vision
• Common goals
• Cooperation
• Accountability
• Communication
• Commitment
• Constructive means of resolving conflict
• Leadership
• Desire to work together
• Flexibility
• Shared decision-making

Reap the rewards

Building good partnerships takes time, energy and trust. Seek to understand everyone's perspective. Strive to engage everyone. Honour everyone's contributions. Whatever the nature of the partnership, however diverse the roles and backgrounds, you will create a greater impact on the community by working together toward a common goal.

Learn more about building community partnerships

The following resources were referenced for the development of this document. To obtain further information on partnerships refer to these helpful resources:

• The Partnership Handbook (MS Word version) by Flo Frank and Anne Smith
• Working in Partnership: Recipes for Success from Alberta Community Development

Date modified:

2015-12-17