ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how a partnership broker might work with local actors in order to promote and support their meaningful engagement in partnerships. While local actors, or more habitually organisations that ostensibly represent them, may assume roles as internal stakeholders or partners, more often than not they are included in the external stakeholder category. In reality, local stakeholders are also 'rights holders' whose identity and human rights are inextricably linked to the area in which a partnership is being implemented or to the challenge it seeks to address. Local involvement in partnering processes, however, is frequently viewed as being too complicated and easiest to address by working with organisations that 'represent' citizens or communities, often with inadequate attention to their legitimacy, their interest in or relevance to the work of a partnership. Partnership brokers have a crucial role to play in promoting the participation of local stakeholders in partnership processes and activities.
