Development projects do not work in a vacuum. All development projects and organizations work within a web of partnerships and relationships. These partnerships and relationships, at the least, influence, and, at the most, determine the success of a development project.

Partnerships and cooperation are intrinsic to international development. The development community recognizes that strong partnerships and cooperation are necessary for the achievement of development goals. Almost every effort by the international development community involves, whether recognized or not, a web of internal and external relationships between internal teams, outside agents, and national actors. We have observed that the quality of these relationships affects every aspect of development projects, including risk, performance, sustainability, scalability, and impact.

The quality and effectiveness of a partnership depends on the capacity of both parties to partner. On the Assessing Partnerships page, the relationship between the cooperative state of the partners and the capacity of their partnership is explained in detail. The application of the cooperative capacity model to a partnership shows that the cooperative capacity, and thereby the effectiveness, of a partnership cannot be greater than the cooperative state of the weakest member. Thus, a critical step in building strong partnerships is the assessment and strengthening of each partner.

Positive sustainable impact requires strong partnerships between permanent institutions in the client country and outside development actors. The achievements of time-bound programs that do not partner well with local permanent institutions dissipate quickly after a program closes. Sustainable impact comes from permanent local institutions adopting, in some form, the changes promoted by the development program. Two problems have hindered successful partnerships: