Introduction

Between 1992 and 2011 Ros led the cutting edge partnership work of the International Business Leaders Forum. During that time, she co-created both The Partnering Initiative and the Partnership Brokers Project (now the Partnership Brokers Association – PBA). A prolific author and widely recognised trainer, advisor and thought leader in this field, she has worked for a range of agencies and in many locations across the globe. Since 2012, Ros has been PBA Lead for New Initiatives and a Strategic Advisor. Alongside her partnering work, Ros was also a co-founder, director and board member of Trigonos until August 2020 – a not-for-profit retreat centre in North Wales where she was able to put into practice some of her ideas on social action, community-building and providing people with ’space to be’.

Educational and Professional Qualifications

2012 Authorised Lead Trainer, Partnership Brokers Association, UK
2010 Post-graduate certificate in Coaching & Mentoring, University of West England, UK 2010 Belbin Accredited Practitioner, Belbin Team Roles
2008 Mentor, Partnership Brokers Association, UK
2006 Accredited Partnership Broker, Partnership Brokers Association, UK
2002 Certificate in E-Moderating, University of Cambridge, UK
1994 Post-graduate work in Action Research in Professional Practice, University of Bath, UK 1981 Post-graduate diploma in Social Policy Research, City University, UK
1971 Diploma in Drama and Theatre, London University, UK

Key Skills

Workshop & meeting facilitation; Coaching; Organisation development; Learning case studies; Mentoring; Resource mapping and mobilisation; Partnership collaboration agreement development; Partnership reviewing; Strategic planning; Story-capture / story-telling; Training/ workshop design and delivery

Partnership Brokering Style

Essentially, Ros is a ‘shaper’ and ‘implementer’ with a strong sense of direction and a preference for action and delivery and a tendency to prefer throwing a stone into a pond rather than standing and counting the ripples. A natural social innovator all her life, with an enthusiasm for challenging and changing things where necessary, she has enjoyed working with colleagues that are different (more ‘science’ than ‘art’). Her training in drama (and strong interest in the arts) enables her to ‘think outside the box’ and to work for innovative / imaginative solutions.

Partnership Brokering Work / Track Record

ADVISORY WORK, MENTORING, PROBLEM SOLVING, SENSE-MAKING AND TEAM-BUILDING:
Aids Alliance; CDAC-Network; Rural Secretariat Newfoundland; Start Network; UN Volunteers; Oxfam; Care Canada; AusAID; BBC report on partnering in the cultural sector in the UK (partnership adviser)

PARTNERSHIP LEARNING CASE STUDIES / REVIEWS INCLUDE:
CDAC Network; International Union for Conservation of Nature; Microsoft’s educational partnerships; Oxfam International; Rio Tinto‘s environmental partnerships and partnerships with green INGOs; Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN); Global Alliance for Community Philanthropy (an alliance of 6 major US-based funders including USAID); PAX for Peace; Standard Chartered Bank’s Seeing is Believing programme; Start Network; World Food Programme; World Vision

FACILITATION WORK INCLUDES:
Business Community Foundation (India); Coops Europe; CDAC Network; DFID GNDR; Business Links (Indonesia); Sea Alarms (Belgium); Seachange / DSM (Singapore); Start Network – Board meetings and retreats (UK); World Vision (SE Asia, Southern Africa, USA, UK and Geneva)

NEW INITIATIVES:
Co-founder and co-director of the University of Cambridge Post-graduate Certificate in Cross-sector Partnering (2002); Co-founder of The Partnering Initiative (2003); Co-founder of the Partnership Brokers Accreditation Scheme (2003); Founder of the Partnership Brokers Association (2012) and currently acting as a Senior Associate & Strategic Advisor

PLATFORMS INCLUDE:
Devonshire Initiative (Toronto); Evaluating Partnerships (Wageningen University, Netherlands); People in Aid event (Hungary); Planning Commission (India); Shifting the Power conference (South Africa); Social Innovation conference (Toronto); ICVA annual conference (Geneva); Start Network Annual Conference (London)

GLOBAL TRAININGS INCLUDE:
For the Partnership Brokers Association:
4-day Partnership Brokers Training (open and commissioned, ~ 70 courses completed); 1 or 2-day tailored workshops for teams; Co-trainer on the Advanced Skills in partnership brokering course; Co- lead in the development and delivery of an online course: Brokering Partnerships Remotely (now into its 10th cohort in December 2020)

Commissioned workshops / training for a range of organisations including:
Alberta government; AusAID; Africa Development Bank; Care Canada; Coops Europe; Nike; Oxfam International; PAX for Peace; Porticus Foundation; Save the Children; Rio Tinto; Start Network; UN Development Programme; UN Systems Staff College; World Vision

Publications Include:

2019 What do Partnership Brokers Do? Author— chapter in Shaping Sustainable Change published by Routledge / Greenleaf Publishing
2019 Follow the Leader? Leadership in a Collaborative Model; Co-author—chapter in Shaping Sustainable Change published by Routledge / Greenleaf Publishing
2019 Shifting the Power; Author; Funded and published by the Global Fund for Community Foundations
2018 Animating Alliances: What does it take to make these forms of multi-stakeholder collaboration efficient, effective and transformational? Author
2018 Power Shifts when Power is Shared: Re-framing the Role of Donors in Development; Co- author; Funded by the Global Alliance for Community Philanthropy published by PBA / GFCF
2018 Remote Partnering Workbook; Author / Editor; Published by PBA
2018 Defying Distance – An On-line Remote Partnering Tool Box; Commissioned and funded by
Start Network (www.defyingdistance.org)
2017 Emerging Partnering Lessons from Diverse Contexts; Editor / lead writer; Commissioned by PEP Initiative funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
2014 Brokering Local Collaboration; Editor / lead-writer; Commissioned by World Vision; Published by PBA
2014 Collaboration Complexity; Editor / lead-writer; Part of a project funded by DFATD, Canada; Published by PBA
2013 Dealing with Paradox: Stories and Lessons from the first three years of Consortium- building; Commissioned by Start Network; Published by PBA
2012 Partnership Brokers in Action: Skills, Tools, Approaches; Training course manual for PBA
2007 Talking the Walk: A Communications Manual for Partnership Practitioners; Co-author; Published by The Partnering Initiative (TPI)
2006 The Case Study Toolbook: Partnership Case Studies as Tools for Change; Project-director and publication co-author; Published by TPI
2005 The Brokering Guidebook; Published by TPI
2004 The Partnering Toolbook; Commissioned and published by GAIN, IBLF, UNDP and IAEA;
Published by TPI
2003 Institutionalising Partnerships: Lessons from the Front Line; Commissioned and published by The Resources Centre for the Social Dimensions of Business Practice; Funded by DFID UK
2003 Getting Real; Commissioned and published by IUCN for WSSD (Johannesburg)
2000 The Guiding Hand: Brokering Partnerships for Development; Co-author; Commissioned and published by UN Publications
1998 Managing Partnerships; Published by The International Business Leaders Forum 1994 Partners in Action; Commissioned and published in India; Funded by DFID UK

Statement of Intent / Interest in Partnering and Partnership Brokering:

“I have been involved with partnership-building work since 1991 – exploring and helping to shape the partnership paradigm worldwide. This has been exciting but also frustrating – specifically in trying to impact institutions and organisation cultures to be better able to partner more productively.

In the late 1990’s it became very clear from my observations of many partnering projects ranging from local to global, that it is critically important to invest in the partnering process if multi-stakeholder collaboration is to maximize its potential. This was the basis of my early thinking (in 2002) about partnership brokering as a specific set of skills and, probably, a new and important profession.”

It remains a deep belief that effective multi-stakeholder collaboration (aka ‘partnerships’) is essential to the future of our planet and our survival as a species – and this informs everything I do in this field. Partnership building and working as a partnership broker is both a passion and a privilege.“