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Section 3. Promoting Coordination, Cooperative Agreements, and Collaborative Agreements Among Agencies

Why should you work with another organization?

___You have considered what your organization wants to accomplish, and determined that another organization shares your goals, and you can accomplish them better together than apart

Which kind of organizational relationship is necessary to accomplish those goals?

___Networking

___Coordination

___Cooperation

___Collaboration

___Multisector collaboration

___Is there sufficient trust and commitment to support the kind of relationship you chose?

Resources are available for this kind of organizational relationship, such as:

___Time

___Skills

___Financial resources

___Community support

___Commitment of everyone involved

___If not, these resources can be accessed

You have considered how you will overcome the challenges that organizations confront when they are working together:

___People's belief that individual effort is more beneficial than cooperation

___ Mistrust

___A lack of communication skills

___ Racism and other forms of discrimination that keep people and organizations isolated from each other

___ A lack of strong leadership

___People's internalized sense of powerlessness

___Private and public funders requirements

You have decided if you will involve the following stakeholders:

___Leaders of the organizations

___Staff who will implement the programs

___Constituent groups of the organizations

___People who will be involved in the programs

___The larger community

___People who may be affected indirectly

You have begun to build trust with the other organizations:

___You have built some one-to-one relationships

___You have planned time for trust-building with the individuals who will be working together

___ Each person involved has had time to talk in the group about themselves, their organization, their stake in the issue and community, their interest in the partnership, and their concerns about the relationship

___The group has established guidelines that people will be honest with each other, respect confidentiality (when decided upon), and be responsible to the group

___A tone of cooperation has been established

___You have planned a time to build communication skills

___Each organization has clarified the goals they want to accomplish

You have established procedural ground rules for the following points:

___How decisions will be made

___Who will speak to the media

___What should be considered confidential

___How information will be distributed

___The role of representatives

___Any other important procedural guidelines

___People know how to listen to each other

___People are building on points of agreement

People have learned about each other's cultural group through:

___Cultural celebrations

___Discussions and exercises

___Hiring a trained facilitator when needed

___People in each organization are assured that they don't have to give up their identities

___People are prepared to handle problems and disagreements

___You celebrate every success