A term from outcome mapping, describing the
people, organizations, and other parties who
directly interact with a project and with whom
the project hopes to influence change.
Working with different partners
In defining its goals and scope, Open Forum
will cooperate with other actors involved in
Social development. It will coordinate closely
with all Grassroots Communities, which has the
main responsibility for the development of communities.
Boundary Partners are those individuals, groups,
or organisations with whom your programme or
organisation interacts directly and with whom
you can anticipate opportunities for influence.
These actors are called Boundary Partners because,
even though you l work with them to effect change,
you do not control them. The power to influence
development rests with them. Your programme
or organisation is on the boundary of their
world.
When working with any given Boundary Partner,
your organisation provides access to resources,
ideas, and opportunities for a certain period
of time. A single boundary partner may include
multiple individuals, groups, or organisations
if a similar change is being sought in all.
When identifying boundary partners, the focus
should be on the actors with whom an organisation
works directly. If you cannot directly influence
an actor, you need to determine who can influence
them and then work to influence that actor.
The actor who can be influenced is then included
as a boundary partner instead. In this way,
the program maintains a focus on its sphere
of influence, but with a broader vision.
Generally, a programme or organisation does
not have more than four or five types of boundary
partners (although each boundary partner can
include multiple individuals, groups, or organisations).
When deciding how to group the individuals,
groups, and organisations with whom you work,
the crucial feature is that your organisation
truly wants to encourage changes in the behaviour,
relationships, activities, or actions of that
partner.
If there are other actors that the your programme
or organisation needs to work with but does
not necessarily want to change, list them separately
as “strategic partners” so that
they can later be considered when developing
strategies. For example, donors would most likely
fit into this category. Your organisation may
want, or need, an alliance with them to achieve
its aims, but it is not necessarily trying to
change their behaviour. Strategic partners are
considered in terms of their contribution to
your organisational mission.
