Quality Principle 5 recognises that the complexity of creating development change demands multiple actors working together in different ways, and that quality collaborations are based on mutual respect, transparency and understanding. Accordingly, this Quality Principle places a strong emphasis on mutuality and accountability in partnership. Understanding of partnership principles and partnership practice has evolved considerably in recent years, and the Code’s Compliance Indicators have been crafted to emphasise the importance of joint negotiation, shared goals, and effectiveness in partnership approaches. The emphasis on mutuality and accountability received strong endorsement during Member consultations.
The partners of Australian NGOs have also become significantly more diverse during this time, with more development actors in many developing countries. To achieve social change, it is imperative to build coalitions. In response, the structure and nature of partnerships have also evolved and become more diverse. The partners of development organisations include individuals, affiliated groups, organisations, governments and universities. All of these can collaborate with signatory organisations to achieve mutually agreed objectives.
Partnerships of all types are critical to achieving effective development outcomes and investments must be made to ensure they are effective. A healthy partnership needs to understand the context in which partners are working, and recognise and respond to unequal power dynamics. For collaboration to work effectively, organisations must invest in developing the quality relationships with implementing partners that occurs over time, and ideally through spending time together.
The political and security landscape has also changed, and there are greater public expectations and scrutiny of aid-delivery partners. Accordingly, the Code has been strengthened through Compliance Indicator 5.1.2, which requires Members to assess the due diligence and capacity of organisations with whom they formally collaborate, i.e. those with whom they have an agreement in place and provide funding to. This is considered particularly relevant given the increasing breadth of new partner types with whom Members are collaborating, including networks, universities, social entrepreneurs, and the private sector.
Quality Principle 5 is implemented through three Commitments by ACFID Members.
Compliance with the Commitments will be assessed against the following Compliance Indicators. All of the applicable Compliance Indicators must be met by every ACFID Member to be considered compliant with the Code. Each of the Compliance Indicators has one or more compliance Verifiers. Verifiers are the description of evidence that is required to substantiate compliance with each Compliance Indicator. Guidance is also provided.
Policy, statement or guidance document that commits the Member to working in mutually respectful ways.
Members will have different approaches to this depending on their values and culture. A helpful guide to partnership and partnering principles can be found on The Partnering Initiative website. A good example of an ACFID member’s approach to working with others, Oxfam's Partnership Principles, can be found in the Resources Section below.
Download and read ACFID's Collaboration guidance note from the resources section below for some guidance on the different forms that collaboration may take. You may also wish to download and read ACFID's guide to developing and managing partnerships for some practical tools and guidance to use in identifying and working with partners, and the different lifecycle stages of a partnership.
A documented assessment process that includes:
Undertaking due diligence and capacity assessments is a mechanism that enables Members to identify potential strengths and risks and inform their approach to working with partners. Some organisations may choose to combine due diligence and capacity assessment in one tool, or tackle these as separate processes. Due diligence would normally be undertaken prior to initiating an agreement with a partner, whereas an assessment of capacity can be undertaken at different stages of a partnership – including prior to an agreement, during project delivery, or if changes to the partnership occur. The findings of these assessments should guide a Member’s approach to working with its partners, identify any areas of strength and risk and include the development of a capacity-strengthening plan that is jointly agreed with its partners.
Child protection and the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment is a critical area of assessment to ensure our partners ‘do no harm’ either intentionally or unintentionally, and therefore should be explicitly included in any due diligence and capacity assessment tool.
You may also wish to download and read ACFID's guide to developing and managing partnerships for some of the key considerations in identifying and working with partners, as well as ACFID's partnership agreement template which provides an example of an MOU or other agreement that you could customise and use as appropriate to the partners that your organisation works with.
The following Good Practice Indicators describe a higher standard of practice than that set out in the Compliance Indicators. While Members do not need to meet the Good Practice Indicators to be considered compliant with the Code, they will self-assess against these indicators once every three years. This provides a clear pathway for Members to strengthen and improve practice over time.
Here are some practical suggestions for your organisation to further deepen and improve practice over time.
Compliance with the Commitments will be assessed against the following Compliance Indicators. All of the applicable Compliance Indicators must be met by every ACFID Member to be considered compliant with the Code. Each of the Compliance Indicators has one or more compliance Verifiers. Verifiers are the description of evidence that is required to substantiate compliance with each Compliance Indicator. Guidance is also provided.
Policy, statement or guidance document committing the Member to partnership and/or collaboration and the approaches it takes.
For formal partnerships, partnership agreement template or examples of partnership agreements that consistently describe:
Documented agreements (or equivalent) provide a framework for discussion and allow both parties to make clear statements of areas of practice that are important to them for quality and compliance reasons. Discussing and negotiating these in a collaborative manner with partners can assist in relationship building and gaining a better understanding by each party. Child protection and the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment is a critical area of practice to ensure our partners ‘do no harm’ either intentionally or unintentionally, and therefore should be explicitly included in partnership agreements. A helpful guide to partnership and partnering principles can be found on The Partnering Initiative website, a link to which can be found in the Resources Section below. A good example of how one of ACFID's members have documented their approach to partnership is Oxfam's Partnership Principles, which can be found in the Resources Section below.
Development and humanitarian initiatives consistently show evidence of coordinating with others.
There will be many variations on how Members show evidence of coordinating with others. Examples might include participating in consortiums, cluster groups, joint planning or evaluation missions, sharing evidence for advocacy initiatives or participating in referral systems.
Download and read ACFID's Collaboration guidance note from the resources section below for some guidance on the different forms that collaboration may take. You may also wish to download and read ACFID's guide to developing and managing partnerships for some practical tools and guidance to use in identifying and working with partners, and the different lifecycle stages of a partnership.
The following Good Practice Indicators describe a higher standard of practice than that set out in the Compliance Indicators. While Members do not need to meet the Good Practice Indicators to be considered compliant with the Code, they will self-assess against these indicators once every three years. This provides a clear pathway for Members to strengthen and improve practice over time.
Here are some practical suggestions for your organisation to further deepen and improve practice over time.
Compliance with the Commitments will be assessed against the following Compliance Indicators. All of the applicable Compliance Indicators must be met by every ACFID Member to be considered compliant with the Code. Each of the Compliance Indicators has one or more compliance Verifiers. Verifiers are the description of evidence that is required to substantiate compliance with each Compliance Indicator. Guidance is also provided.
Development and humanitarian initiatives consistently show evidence of mutual learning and supporting and building capacity of partners.
There will be many variations on how Members show evidence of building the capacity of their partners. It is important that strategies are identified mutually, so that they respond to the priorities of partners. Examples might include providing training, mentoring, engagement in communities of practice, support to develop policies or systems, support for new innovations, or financial support.
Download and read ACFID's Collaboration guidance note from the resources section below for some guidance on the different forms that collaboration may take. You may also wish to download and read ACFID's guide to developing and managing partnerships for some practical tools and guidance to use in identifying and working with partners, and the different lifecycle stages of a partnership
Documented evidence of the periodic and joint review of key collaborations and partnerships.
Partnerships need to constantly review their purpose, goals, and effectiveness. There are many variations on how members might work with their partners to undertake these reviews. For example, they might be facilitated by an external consultant, assessed through a survey, undertaken in an annual roundtable, or simply undertaken informally through discussion. There are some helpful questions for evaluating and monitoring partnerships in the ' Partnerships: Frameworks for Working Together' tool which can be found in the Resources Section below.
You may also wish to download and read ACFID's guide to developing and managing partnerships for some practical tools and guidance to use in identifying and working with partners, and the different lifecycle stages of a partnership
The following Good Practice Indicators describe a higher standard of practice than that set out in the Compliance Indicators. While Members do not need to meet the Good Practice Indicators to be considered compliant with the Code, they will self-assess against these indicators once every three years. This provides a clear pathway for Members to strengthen and improve practice over time.
Here are some practical suggestions for your organisation to further deepen and improve practice over time.