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Good Practice Toolkit

Commitment 5.2:
We have a shared understanding of respective contributions, expectations, responsibilities and accountabilities of all parties.

Compliance Indicators

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.

To demonstrate compliance, members will have all of the Verifiers in place, commensurate with their size and the nature of their work. Members will also ensure that their policies, processes and guidelines are implemented and subject to regular review.  

5.2.1 Members negotiate shared goals and respective contributions with partners and those they collaborate with.

  • 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: 
    • Value and contribution of each party. 
    • Shared goals, roles and responsibilities of all parties. 
    • Financial and non-financial resources and support offered by and required of each party. 
    • Dispute resolution process. 
    • Mutual accountabilities for reporting, sharing information and communication. 
    • Specific statements about child protection, prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, policies, procedures and incident reporting (see 1.4 and 1.5).
    • For formal partnerships, members and partners ensure shared understanding of responsibilities under partnership agreements (e.g. through inception workshops or periodic partnership reviews) 

Guidance

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. See the Resources Section for Member examples. 

5.2.2 Members coordinate with and complement the work of others.

Development and humanitarian initiatives consistently show evidence of coordinating with others.

Guidance

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.

Good Practice Indicators

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.

  • Partnership management procedures are documented in a manual or equivalent. 
  • Training is provided for key personnel and partners on their partnership related policies, procedures and tools. 
  • Formal agreements with partners are periodically reviewed through a process which encourages discussion and feedback.  
  • Active steps are taken to collaborate with other INGOs and donors to reduce the resources required by local partners to manage compliance obligations. 

Good Practice Guidance

Here are some practical suggestions for your organisation to further deepen and improve practice over time.

Engagement with Partners

  • Devote adequate time to discussions between you and your partners to develop partnership arrangements whether these are for time bound project activities or broad ongoing engagements.
  • Invite partners to develop content for agreements.
  • Discuss and negotiate the content of agreements with partners rather than imposing predetermined templates or contracts.
  • If using standard partnership agreement templates as a basis for negotiating the terms, conditions and content of agreements with partners, ensure these facilitate agreement rather than impose a particular vision or idea.
  • Conduct discussions in a manner which encourages the autonomy of partners and recognises the unique strengths and contributions of all parties, and is sensitive to power imbalances, language and cultural barriers.
  • Use the process of signing agreements to acknowledge the autonomy of partners and the shared value that comes from partnership.
  • When discussing partnership, make sure the joint purpose of serving the community stays central, whether the partnership is focused on capacity building, drawing evidence for advocacy initiatives, collaboration for learning or to influence duty bearers, or program implementation.

Partnership Agreements

  • Develop clear guidelines for the establishment of partnerships that include documented partnerships agreements. Documentation could vary from an exchange of letters, a strategic level agreement broadly governing an ongoing partnership or a partnership agreement covering a time bound set of activities. Documented agreements ensure that organisations clearly spell out what they can expect from one another. The process of signing agreements acknowledges the autonomy of partners and the shared value that comes from partnership. As important as the documents themselves, is the process of discussion and agreement of the content between signatory organisations and partner.
  • Develop a policy statement on approaches to partnership which includes a commitment to joint negotiation (between signatory organisations and partners) of respective roles and responsibilities.
  • Encourage partners to develop similar documentation with their other partners and key stakeholders.
  • Regularly review partnership documents to ensure they are up to date and reflect the needs, experience and changing contexts of the program.
  • Partnership agreements or other such documentation could include:
    • An outline of agreed roles and responsibilities between partners in the support and implementation of projects.
    • Resources and support needed to achieve identified development outcomes.
    • Resources and support needed to fulfil respective roles and responsibilities.
    • Whether the agreement is ongoing or for time-bound activities.
    • The strengths and contributions of each party to the agreement.
    • Broader organisational development objectives or participation in each parties’ activities.
    • Joint involvement in communications, marketing and development awareness-raising activities.
    • Agreements for joint training.
    • Agreed mechanisms for dispute resolution and conflict management.
    • An agreement on terms for termination.
  • Regularly assess joint progress against agreed roles and commitments to ensure mutual accountability.
  • Ensure that all mechanisms (agreements, procedures, etc.) place equal value on financial and non-financial contributions to the partnership to help balance power relations by highlighting the kinds of non-financial contributions often made by the local partner.
  • Create a partnership agreement in discussion and negotiation with partners rather than imposing predetermined templates or contracts.
  • Include clauses describing the value add of each party.
  • Invite partners to develop content for the agreement.
  • Develop a joint agreement on the elements of effective partnership and how to manage any conflicts that may arise.
  • Develop a communications policy statement that acknowledges respective roles and responsibilities clearly, honestly and accurately.
  • Communicate this to your stakeholders (your partners, members and the public) using communication platforms such as websites, newsletters and reports.
  • Reference the full name of your partners in communications except where the partner has expressly requested for this not to happen, for security or other concerns related to identification.
  • Acknowledge the roles and responsibilities of partners in communications with other in-country stakeholders.

Coordination

  • Partner with governments, where appropriate, and vulnerable communities in disaster preparedness, planning and risk reduction.
  • Identify other actors who you may be able to support in emergency responses.
  • Join, develop, maintain and contribute to emergency response networks.
  • Require field staff to report on network meeting attendance and lessons learned.
  • Where the cluster approach has been implemented, participate in cluster meetings.
  • Contribute to joint needs assessment, monitoring and evaluation activities.
  • Develop field manuals and engagement guidelines that emphasise the need for coordination.
  • Maintain mechanisms for effective information management and reporting.
  • Undertake research to identify other players working in same sectors or space as your organisation.
  • Organize coordination meetings to share information and identify areas where investments could be shared or allocated amongst the group.
  • Consider sharing responsibilities and resources amongst similar organisation working in the same area.
  • Coordinate with government agencies where appropriate.
  • Consider working in consortiums.

ACFID Resources

Decolonisation & Locally Led Development: Discussion Paper

This resource is an ACFID discussion paper emphasises a shared process of 'yielding and wielding power' between ANGOs and local partners. This resource is suitable for organisations interested in fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion working with others. This is relevant to the Code by highlighting the importance of addressing power dynamics in working together globally. This discussion paper is also available as an interactive e-learning toolkit.

How to collaborate with Pacific Churches for development research

This resource is about developing partnerships with faith-based organisations in the Pacific. This is suitable for all organisations working in the Pacific and would like to develop culturally-appropriate and effective partnerships with churches (a significant institution of the Pacific community). This is relevant to the Code in delving into diverse ways to negotiate shared goals and respective contributions with partners and those they collaborate with.

How to Partner for Development Research

This resource provides guidance on creating policies and guidance documents committing members to ethical and effective partnerships. This provides a framework, in which to, define formal partnerships, detail the value and contributions of each party, shared goals, financial and non-financial resources, and dispute resolution processes.

Partnering for development: How Australian NGOs partner with private sector organisations in international development

ACFID's private sector survey provides a snapshot of how Australia’s aid and development NGOs engage with private sector organisations to achieve development outcomes.

Promoting Voice and Choice

This resource was developed by ACFID’s Development Practice Committee (DPC) to explore Australian NGO accountability for development effectiveness - that is 'strengthening the voice and capacity of local actors'. This is suitable for large organisations building their practice on research and evaluation. This is relevant to the Code because compliance requires evidence of the voices and decision-making of local actors.

Template: ACFID’s Partnership Agreement Template

This resource is an ACFID template for partnership agreements. This is relevant to all organisations. This is relevant to the Code in supporting members in developing an agreement that meets the exact criteria for compliance with the Code of Conduct.
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Other Resources

Decolonising Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles,

This resource addresses common questions from non-Aboriginal individuals: 'So, what DO Indigenous people want?' and 'What can I Do?' It explores the complexity of these questions, considering their origins, the appropriate respondents, and the nature of the issues involved. This is suitable for all organisations work with Indigenous peoples and communities in various settler contexts.

Our Silenced Voices: What we lose while working with international “humanitarian” organizations

This resource is about the lived experiences of a humanitarian worker on ineffectively coordinating with others in the sector. Ineffective partnerships or duplication of initiatives leave primary stakeholders and staff at odds with the mandate of 'Do No Harm'. This is suitable to organisations that instinctively understand that working with others and complementing their work is also understanding the work that local stakeholders are doing for themselves.

Respecting communities in International Development: languages and cultural understanding

This resource details recommendations of a three-year project (2015–2018), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), examining the role of languages and cultural understanding in development and humanitarian settings. This is suitable for all organisations that want to develop and evidence working with others while acknowledging power dynamics, language inequities, and the provision of language/cultural mediation. This report is also available in French, Spanish, and Russian.

Template: Free Partnership Agreement

This resource is a free tool for developing simple partnership agreements. Formal partnerships can be officialised by clearly outlining expectations, responsibilities, and rights of each partner in the contract. In Australia, each state and territory has its own Partnership Act. This is suitable for emerging and small organisations with limited resources or limited access to legal staff. This is relevant to the Code by supporting members to achieve compliance with formal documents.
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