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4.0 FINDINGS

The key SIDPD findings are presented followed by lessons learned from the projects themselves and what is emerging about the nature of collaboration.

4.1 Key SIDPD Findings

4.1.1 Government and Sector Capacity

Virtually all the interviews conducted indicated that there has been increased voluntary sector policy capacity along with real changes in the way in which the voluntary sector partners are working together.

We learned that a partnership does not mean 50/50.You need to identify mutual interests and be reasonable about the limitations of each partner and acknowledge that there will be differing perspectives and opinions. We also learned that each voluntary organization has a different operating style and ways of working and we had to make adjustments for that. It was really a capacity building process for all of us. Voluntary Sector Manager

However, in the context of strengthening the voluntary sector's opportunities for input into departmental policy development, the reports are more mixed. While there are several interesting examples of improved opportunity to input into departmental policy development processes, limited innovation is reported to date across government.

The inability of many departments to capitalize on the projects appears to be related to multiple factors including the absence of active departmental champions and staff turnover.

Our relationships have been sustained. We’ve created a broad partnership that includes the local Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Labour. We learned early on that we had to start developing relationships across the province. The province is also an important player. The federal government participation has weakened through changes in personnel and lack of clear direction from NHQ. Voluntary Sector Project Partner

Interviewees indicated that there were capacity issues for representatives of both the government and the voluntary sector.

The federal department seemed interested and engaged at one level but did not seem committed to understanding the importance of the work. A stronger federal presence on the project might have strengthened it. Voluntary Sector Project Manager

4.1.2 Process vs. Policy: Engaging Stakeholders

The majority of the activities occurred around process - there was limited input into actual policy development.

This is not a negative finding however, because in fact SIDPD has built a great deal of social capital. The majority of interviewees indicated that as result of their project, sustainable relationships had been built with partners and other key stakeholders, they had developed a greatly enhanced understanding of the subject matter being addressed and all involved had a much deeper appreciation of the public policy process.

The private sector is beginning to let go of some of their myths about the voluntary sector. They are becoming better informed and beginning to understand the importance of the voluntary sector to the health of Canadian communities and their requirement to support the sector.

In addition, SIDPD has significantly contributed to the development of a number of VS Networks –these represent a broad range of issues and stakeholders and could be used as a vehicle for public consultation, policy development.

The emphasis on process was also linked to the fact that policy development by definition has long historical time frames. The design of SIDPD did not take this into consideration and thus many projects did not get past organizing to identify and address policy issues due to their limited time frames. Despite the limited timeframes for SIDPD early indications are that some projects are being sustained beyond SIDPD.

Project managers reported receiving funding from provincial and territorial governments and foundations as well as the federal government for follow-up activities. Several project mangers indicated the funding had come as a result of the increased profile that the funding from SIDPD provided.

Our goals in terms of partnership building and collaboration were not realistic. We spent all our time getting the infrastructure in place – e.g. website, newsletter and resource library. Now we are ready to deal with the issue we formed around. The good news is that the territorial government has moved from year to year funding and has provided us with three year funding to build organizational sustainability. Executive, Director, VoluntarySector Organization

Many of the projects represent a very broad range of stakeholders—interestingly many included provincial and municipal officials and some even included the private sector. This broad range of stake-holders is innovative in many instances and again represents a promising new development.

4.1.3 A New Way of Working

In some significant instances the voluntary sector interviewees described the role that their project officer had played as very helpful or facilitative. They described a role for the federal government that was not one of leader or controller but rather that of facilitator or coach—helping the project partners understand the complexities of government and in many instances helping identify the right people to talk to—in particular where the issue was within the purview of another jurisdiction or department.

Much of the credit for the success of our project was due to our project officer. She was there for us the whole time and was an active participant in the project. She knew how to work within the bureaucracy and at the same time help us to make things happen. We had an open relationship with lots of trust on both sides. This was a very different experience then most of our dealings with federal departments.

Many interviewees reported that SIDPD provided them for the first time with both significant resources but more importantly the credibility with departments to undertake policy development—they were not seen any longer as “just advocacy organizations”. A limited number of projects also indicated that they are beginning to experience some success with accessing senior management in government as a result of their SIDPD Project.

“I learned early on that I had to participate. I needed to make personal visits to monitor progress but more importantly in order to be engaged and helpful. The learning curve was steep but in the end the relationship was collaborative and positive.” Government Project Officer

4.1.4 Getting the Word Out

Knowledge transfer and the dissemination of results is now a major issue for all government funding programs, foundations and granting councils. It was intended to be an integral part of SIDPD. Developing a dissemination plan is relatively easy compared to actually carrying it out. For example, project staff have often moved on when dissemination occurs.

We have to understand the power of the voluntary sector. We need to find ways as a sector to foster the exchange of information and learning about policy development and partnership building. Voluntary Sector Project Manager

The interviews indicate that any one dissemination strategy is a weak approach– a dissemination strategy has to be broad—it is not enough to post a report on a website for example. Interviewees indicated that face to face workshops and other opportunities are still preferred—many are searching for practical ways to communicate the learning from these projects.

4.1.5 A Values Shift?

And lastly, it appears that this movement to more collaborative practices is in fact a values shift. In many ways it is a paradigm shift –from government control to collaboration, from the lack of information sharing on how the business of government is done to increased transparency and from misunderstanding to a deeper appreciation of the challenges inherent in any public policy process.

What SIDPD did was enable the creation of warmed up spaces for interaction and connection. Nothing in humankind has ever happened without this. We don’t think of the space that we create as the basis of operations. It is a given. Telephone systems allow people to talk. Because we can talk we can do things. You have to value the spaces that we create as worthwhile. Voluntary Sector Initiative (VSI) Leader

4.2 Key Success Factors of the Projects

To begin, it is important to acknowledge that many of the elements discussed are consistent with good project management. However when taken together successful projects with high degrees of collaboration exhibit the same characteristics.

Some of our most successful activities were unplanned. However, as it turned out our multi-sectoral approach was exactly what the government was looking for and we had uptake from a number of departments that we had not anticipated. There was a confluence of ideas outside and inside government. Voluntary Sector Project Manager

4.2.1 Receptivity and Timing

Although it seems like common sense after the fact, projects were most successful when there was receptivity to the ideas. Real success occurred where the policy issues were already on the government’s agenda, or there was other political support and most importantly, where there was already considerable experience/familiarity with the issue within the sponsoring voluntary organizations and the government.

Policy Development is driven by the government in power. The issues that get acted upon have political backing. Government Project Officer

It was noted that projects were less successful that were trying to raise emerging policy issues or where the organizations or government representatives did not have a lot of experience on the file. This was very apparent in the significant number of project representatives that indicated they had difficulty engaging senior management or decision makers.

When we started-sometime ago- our issue (child care) was not exactly on anyone's agenda. However things have changed and we even had a meeting with the minister. Provincial Government Partner

The design of SIDPD did not allow for developmental projects. The design assumed that public policy issues could be formulated, organized around and addressed within a one-two year time frame. This has lead to greatly raised expectations and unnecessary frustration on the part of both voluntary sector and government representatives.

4.2.2. Leadership: Passion and Commitment

Not surprisingly, passionate, committed leadership was seen as essential to the success of the projects—leadership needed to be evident in both the voluntary and government sectors for the project to have a good chance of achieving its final objectives

We need communication on both sides and the right people doing it—we need government staff who are committed and want to be working on the project. Frequently government staff are given a job and they do not have the heart for it. Government Project Officer

Voluntary organizations are under funded but the people who work there are committed and often subject to burnout. People work on these issues because they are passionate about them Project Manager

.4.2.3 Thoughtful and Deliberate Processes/Clear Governance Structures

Very importantly and interesting was the finding that successful projects were very intentional and deliberate in the way they went about implementation. Project managers talked about hours spent identifying issues, mapping strategies, identifying stakeholders, determining a process, confirming and clarifying objectives, identifying indicators of success and preparing for evaluation. Related to an intentional, deliberate process is a clear governance structure. Governance includes identifying roles and responsibilities for all the key players, identifying areas of authority and clear lines of accountability. Projects with good governance structures had signed Memorandum of Understanding or Partnership Agreements signed by all parties.

You need to be very clear with your partners what you are collaborating about. You need to negotiate on language and on a joint agenda with very clear boundaries for the respective organizations. And you need lots of personal contact between the key players—we spent hours on the phone negotiating next steps and what our respective roles were. Voluntary Sector Manager

Project managers also spoke about the need to understand that partners had different agendas but that what collaboration offered was a common agenda that would require continuous evolution and development. Interviewees also made it clear that there was always the potential for the various agendas to come into conflict but that the MOUs and governance structures provided means by which to deal with the conflict.

We had a process whereby we had monthly meetings with key players on the project. We saw this as a learning opportunity for everyone and we assumed that the government people wanted to share their ideas—that they were more than administrators. The meeting provided us with an open, safe, well animated space in which to learn. Voluntary Sector Project Manager

4.2.4 Effective Engagement Strategies

Successful projects had well thought out engagement strategies that operated at multiple levels –that ensured that the strategy included key players including senior management, other key bureaucrats community organizations, ordinary citizens etc.

We had a very focused agenda-poverty reduction. We were able to reach out to government in very concrete terms. Voluntary Sector Manager

These engagement strategies were notable for their inclusiveness and sensitive approach to ensuring that the full range of issues and sub-issues were addressed and people associated with those issues engaged.

4.2.5 Capacity of Key Players

Project managers talked about the need for lots of personal contact amongst key players to sort out conflict and the project details So engagement was seen as a multi- layered notion with the need for both personal and private spaces for dialogue. Collaboration is such that no-one has the skill sets required-much of it has to be learned experientially

There are big language differences between the voluntary sector and government. I had worked in government and understood both languages—I was “bilingual”—so I was able to go back and forth between the two. Voluntary Sector Project Manager

However it was clear from the interviews that the projects that were very collaborative also had key players that were highly skilled and that this skill level impacted all aspects of the project, key players had good understanding of the business of government and of the voluntary sector and very importantly understood the need to and could speak the other’s language That skill set also included openness to ideas and the flexibility to back up and change a course of direction if that is what was required.

4.2.6 Relationship (Trust) Building and Role Definition

Interviewees spoke about high degrees of trust and respect for their partners but also the requirement to balance relationships; that when the relationship is out of balance there needs to be some process to get the balance back.

There was a high level of trust and confidence between the partners. Each partner had to develop a very clear sense of their area of responsibility and respect for each others skill sets. There were times when we had different perspectives and priorities and we had to openly caution one another about our concerns. Voluntary Sector Project Manager

They also noted and understood that not all relationships are equal. Interviewees spoke about the time required to both define the parameters of the relationship and develop the relationship required to make the project work.

We had a policy person who we had come to know quite well and she was very helpful—then she left the position. We were never able to find another person to connect with. It was very frustrating as we had invested a lot of time in the relationship. Loosing the relationship with the departmental representative had a big impact on the project. Voluntary Sector Manager

4.2.7 Continuous Learning

And lastly successful projects exhibit the ability to continuously learn throughout the life of the project, to build in review mechanisms and to be open to evaluation as a learning tool. In the end collaboration is about transformation—of agendas, skill sets, understanding of how the world works and ultimately public policy

We realized early on that the community groups did not understand the policy process and that we needed to work to help local partners understand the process. Some of our local partners took that on but it was not built into the project in a systematic fashion. We have now built local development in to the follow up project. Our topic was very broad and the project spun out a number of sub issues—we were trying to do too much. The follow up work will be more focused and have fewer sub committees. Voluntary Sector Project Manager

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