Partners Collaboration Model

Since 1998, Partners’ US program has adapted and disseminated Partners’ methodologies domestically in communities of color, building their capacity to peacefully achieve consensus and resolve potential conflicts. Based on this expertise and experience, Partners has developed a Partners Collaboration Model (PCM) training program. PCM integrates a multicultural1 perspective with the cooperative planning process to facilitate meaningful, in-depth social change in diverse communities. This approach is based on the philosophy that only when all cultures in a community are respected, included, and validated, can the community progress beyond divisions to create a better future for all its citizens. Partners’ trainers in the US have conducted PCM training for domestic groups throughout the country. Most recently the model was successfully introduced to the Afghan Coalition, a grouping of Afghan refugees and diaspora members in the San Francisco Bay Area, home to the largest Afghan population in the US.

Partners Collaboration Model (PCM) is a facilitated process that gathers diverse stakeholders to build consensus around concrete issues of concern to a community. In contrast to long-standing theory and practice that only outside professional “specialists” can facilitate a multi-stakeholder social change process, Partners’ model builds on the commitment, passion, and energy of the community organization’s staff to be the facilitators for the promotion of community projects. Trained facilitators identify all the key stakeholders in a community, analyze the situation, design a responsive process, and ensure that all participants have the skills to participate in a constructive dialogue. With the help of their facilitation, the participants jointly identify the issues of concern to their community and decide how to move forward, making a detailed action plan for the future. Throughout this process, facilitators utilize multicultural awareness tools and techniques. With the help of these tools, facilitators:

1) Ensure that all members of a community, especially those traditionally underrepresented, participate actively in the process, and,

2) Facilitate a community change process that not only builds on the diversity of the participants, but also strengthens understanding and relationships between various groups.

By including all stakeholders and focusing on issues in which everyone has an interest, PCM helps build relationships and tolerance and reduce stereotyping among all members of a community. Through its focus on planning around practical issues,2 the process often results in improved quality of life for everyone in the community. Because of its inclusive and empowering nature, the process promotes citizen participation and transparency in local decision-making.

The PCM training takes place over 3-4 days, and is tailored to the specific needs of the participants through interactive role plays, case studies, and small group work. The training agenda typically includes:

1) How to effectively design an PCM process:

• Analyzing issues facing the community utilizing a multi-cultural framework
• Stakeholder identification and analysis utilizing a multi-cultural framework
• Identifying resources and constraints in the particular situation and community
• Selecting appropriate approaches and meeting formats
• Ensuring the process design addresses the needs of all stakeholders (e.g. addressing needs related to language or literacy, access to the meeting venue, safety, cultural norms, etc.)
• Clarifying participant and facilitator roles
• Addressing special considerations

2) How to effectively manage and facilitate an PCM process:

• Preparing ground rules and protocols
• Providing education and training for participants
• Facilitating large group and small task group meetings
• Ensuring facilitation meets the needs of all stakeholders
• Building a sense of partnership among the diverse participants
• Working with constituency groups
• Cultivating a shared purpose among the participants
• Developing options for addressing the issue at hand
• Reaching agreements

3) How to work with external groups:

• Informing the public
• Dealing with the media

4) How to deal with difficulties in the PCM process:

• Dealing with hostility or conflict among the participants
• Dealing with passive, apathetic, or unwilling participants

Following the training, participants return to their home communities and apply their new skills through a range of activities, including:

1) Use of PCM skills to build a broad coalition of individuals and organizations participating in an advocacy or get-out-the-vote campaign

2) Convening an PCM process among citizens, government representatives, local businesses, and other organizations to deal with local environmental and economic development problems

3) Use of PCM process to develop and advocate for new public policy or to influence the implementation of an existing public policy

4) Conducting an PCM process within a diverse neighborhood to deal with surface issues related to garbage or noise, and underlying issues of inter-group tension.

Endnotes:
1Throughout this description, “multicultural” refers not only to perspectives based on race or ethnicity, but also on all other forms of identity, including gender, age, religion, socio-economic status, sexual preference, physical ability, etc.

2 Examples of such issues include housing, infrastructure repair (e.g. roads, street lighting, water, etc.), environmental preservation, economic development, educational facilities and opportunities, health standards and pollution, social services and public safety.