Collaborative Working
Are you considering working with another organisation or a group of organisations?
Do you want:
- New or improved services
- Wider geographical reach or access to new beneficiary groups
- More integrated or co-ordinated approach to beneficiary needs
- Financial savings and better use of existing resources
- Knowledge, good practice and information sharing
- Sharing the risk in new and untested projects
- Capacity to replicate success
- Stronger, united voice
- Better co-ordination of organisations' activities
- Competitive advantage
- Mutual support between organisations
Currently you may be working together with another organisation; sharing 'back office functions' like office space and equipment, developing joint services, tendering as a consortia, or even planning a full blown merger with another group.
BVSC offers a ‘Collaborative Working Resource’ to help voluntary, community groups and social enterprises form partnerships and joint working arrangements.
We offer
- Advice: The Collaborative Working Officer has experience of listening to the needs of organisations and supporting them to design appropriate ‘Collaborative Working’ responses. This work often starts with an exploratory meeting either with a lone organisation or with two or more prospective partners.
- Workshops: Some partnerships are larger and opt for help through a workshop. Such an event is designed to explore the possibilities of Collaborative Working. We identify the purpose and appropriateness of the various collaborative working models and select the one which best fits the partnership’s requirements. Such workshops usually are concluded with a decision about which collaborative working model to explore (if any) and this then ‘kick starts’ further...
- Development Work: Some organisations want specific help with the development of partnership documents, service level agreements, issues of governance and the legal aspects of collaborative working, including merger. Though you will also probably need the help of a solicitor.
- Resources: We have a library stacked with information for voluntary and community organisations. We are also developing toolkits to guide you through collaborative working.
To access the Collaborative Working Resource please contact Isata Abdulai, Collaborative Working Officer on 020 8364 8400 ext 224 or email isataabdulai@barnetvsc.org.uk.