Cross-sector partnerships are collaborative efforts that include partner organizations from two or more sectors, such as the business sector, civil society and NGOs, and the government or public sector. Cross-sector partnerships are a means to address complex social and environmental challenges. Cross-sector partnerships address global issues such as urbanization, climate change, youth employment, and access to clean water. Within cross-sector partnerships, members recognized that each sector brings specific competencies to the collaboration and that together, they can deliver results beyond those that each sector could have achieved on its own. Different sectors contribute to partnerships in different ways. The private sector provides financing, commercial expertise, innovation abilities, and market and product development abilities. The public sector regulates the private sector. It can provide financing, incentivize the private sector to act, and facilitate partnerships. NGOs bring legitimacy that they have in the communities in which they operate, as well as their knowledge and expertise and implementation capacity. While every partnership is unique, there are similarities in partnership development. The different steps in the life cycle of a partnership are; identifying and developing, implementing and managing, assessing and revising, sustaining impact, and closing down and exit. The first step includes partner identification and selection and resource mapping. The second step includes designing and creating the partnership, deciding on the partnership agreement, and the partnerships governance structure. The third step includes the monitoring and evaluation of the partnership and reporting on partnership outputs and outcomes. The fourth step includes scaling up, the implementation of lessons learned, and exit assessment. In the final step, individual members may exit while the partnership is still ongoing. Partnerships can also end for a number of reasons. Some end up not being successful while others are set up for a limited amount of time until they reach their goals. An example of a cross-sector partnership is the UN's Global Compact, founded in the year 2000. The Global Compact is the largest voluntary initiative that exists today. It tries to address a range of social and environmental concerns. Initiative participants commit to following 10 principles on human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption by aligning their strategies and operations with these principles. Currently the initiative has over 10,000 active participants from all over the world covering different sectors and industries. Partnerships are not easy and can be complicated to manage. To have a successful partnership, it is important to understand why the partnership is needed, what the issue to be addressed is, who the key stakeholders and beneficiaries are, who the right partners are, and which resources are needed. It is also important to understand what value each partner brings, what is driving the different partners, and what the partners' limitations are, as well as to build and maintain trust among partners. Partners should create a partnership agreement laying out clear roles and responsibilities and their clear governance structure, identify clear partnership objectives, and create an implementation strategy to reach those objectives. The partners should decide on the length of the partnership, established milestones, and sets expectations of what can and cannot be achieved. Capable individuals shouldn't be placed in project management roles and the partnership should have a network of people who are committed to the success of the partnership. There should be strong internal communication within the partnership and strong external communication to other stakeholders to notify them of the partnership's progress and results and to build support. The partnership should be assessed regularly. By doing so, partners can learn from their mistakes and adapt by implementing changes to improve partnership effectiveness. Finally, individual members need to be able to assess when the partnership is useful for their organization and when it is time to exit. Partnerships can provide benefits at the organizational and at the societal level. Public, private, and non-profit organizations may all benefit from their participation in cross-sector partnerships. Private sector actors can enjoy better reputation and legitimacy, better firm performance, access to new competencies, markets and technologies that are cost-effectiveness, stakeholder relations, and the achievement of corporate social responsibility objectives. Public and non-profit partners can get funding, gain new skills and knowledge, visibility, partake in innovation efforts and achieve a greater impact. Societal benefits may include poverty reduction, improved livelihoods, and the creation of services and products to help the poor. Cross-sector partnerships bring together market, community, and policy-based approaches to create a more sustainable world.
