Collaborating to Advise - new report from Baring Foundation

The Baring Foundation has published a new report on collaboration by legal advice organisations called Collaborating to Advise.

The report, by consultant Kevin Ireland, focuses on Avon, Coventry and Nottingham where the Foundation is supporting a range of organisational development work amongst local advice organisations through the Strengthening the Voluntary Sector (STVS) grants programme.

They say that they wanted particularly to look at the benefits and challenges of collaboration and what can be done to facilitate and improve the impact of collaboration.

In terms of facilitating collaboration, the report highlights:

- a clear vision, between partners and funders,
- strong leadership, trust amongst partners and confidence to commit,
- time and money as being crucial factors to consider,
- the need for an engaged strategic authority, usually the local authority,
- the presence of external expertise and facilitation,
- a structure for decision and delivery,
- noting external funding and policy environments.

For a full copy of this report, see Collaborating to Advise; Lessons from Avon, Coventry and Nottingham (pdf file)