Partnership between government and voluntary organisations
The emphasis on partnership in recent government policies has given voluntary, community and user organisations a more central role in both the delivery of services and in policy-making.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported a number of research projects which track the impact of this trend at local level. This thought-provoking report draws together the key findings from this body of research to summarise the experience of partnership so far. It looks at whether this move toward partnership has increased the activity of the voluntary sector, and whether this has benefited users and society generally.
The study identifies the key tensions that partnerships need to address and provides guidelines for both government partners and voluntary organisations.