ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the growing importance of partnerships in development work with local communities, and it considers the extent to which these relationships are able to achieve high levels of community participation in practice. The chapter suggests that focusing on the nature of development partnerships can help refine participatory development practice. In recent years, development policy makers become increasingly interested in the idea of partnerships, primarily because of their practical benefits. Formal partnerships with other organizations provide a route to accessing a range of resources that might not otherwise be available: money, time, skills, expertise, networks, and political influence. Funding partnerships have a somewhat different dynamic, because relationship is based on transaction between funding partners who provide financial resources in exchange for an activity or service, and implementing partners who deliver the activity or service on the ground. Partnerships provide a format for pooling resources including locally available resources to avoid duplication, exploit synergies, and ultimately do more with less.
