ABSTRACT

People know that what they want to achieve can only be done with others. They have made a first guess that perhaps there are influential potential collaborators out there who might collaborate with them. Fiona describes the early search for potential collaborators: A starting point is to go to or phone each person who may have an interest or a stake, and test the water before taking the big step of offering to host a project. Effective collaborations are made up of organisations with complementary skills, constituencies and responsibilities. Collaborative approaches to protecting and improving water catchments in the UK typically include the relevant regulator, the local water company, a river-specific charity, local authorities, farming interests and so on. Collaboration does not mean that people need to become like the organisation they are collaborating with, or give up their values or unique mission. Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future, has been involved in catalysing many collaborative initiatives.