Partnership
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he Partnership Triad has interdependence, networking and clustering as its three defining corners. Partnership is a relationship between individuals or groups that is characterized by mutual assistance and responsibility for the achievement of a agreed, specified goal.
The key to effective community partnership is that members of a community bring to the table different resources, skills and knowledge needed to take action. This calls for mutual respect of each members strengths and weaknesses (interdependence), of interacting with people who have similar interests or concerns, or providing support (networking), and bringing together the different skills and resources needed for a particular/specific action (clustering).
Partnership also includes such issues as building credibility, trust among the community members, equality of the partnerships etc.
The Communidades Programme in Fortaleza, Brazil involved three components: Housing, Job Creation and Revenue Generation, and Training, and the creation of a broad-based and participatory institutional framework for urban governance. The concept behind the "Communidades" approach is to strengthen civil society and citizenship by providing access to affordable housing, jobs and training.
Success of the programme was attributed to the "building of bridges" between partners that normally do not work together. State and local government, community groups, training and educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations partnered together in the programme and contributed to various components of the programme.
In 1995, the decision was made by the Supreme Court in Hawaii, stating that the landownership in Hawaii is not only based on British and American common laws, but include the traditional Hawaiian land tenure. The decision also stated that the State of Hawaii has an obligation to protect the traditional and customary practices of Native Hawaiians. The decision, called, "Public Access Shoreline Hawaii (PHSH)", was made as a result of the lawsuit brought by one of the Native Hawaiian community group, the Protect Kohanaiki Ohana, protesting against the Hawaii County Planning Commission and Nansay Hawaii, a group of developers seeking for building a 450 acre shoreline resort. The community group claimed their lack of opportunities to participate in the permit processes, and thus being denied to raise concerns regarding the impact of the proposed development plans on the traditional and customary practices of Native Hawaiians, as well as natural and cultural resources that are necessary for the practices.
Following the decision, in 1997, the Hawaii State Legislature introduced two bills, supported by large landowners and developers, to mitigate the PASH decision by imposing restriction and regulations on Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practitioners. In order to protest against the decision, Native Hawaiian cultural groups, in partnership with environmental groups, worked together by highlighting the link between the native cultural rights and the natural environment. It was epoch-making in citizen's activities in Hawaii, that Native Hawaiian groups partnered with environmental groups, in fighting against development issues that threaten the protection of cultural, traditional, and natural resources in Hawaii. The Native Hawaiian cultural groups and environmental NGOs, including Ilio Ulaokalani Coalition, The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance, and the Environmental Defense Fund, had continuously worked together to fight against the bills, by organizing workshops where they invited the Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners, environmentalists, scientists, and fishermen.
In 2000, the State Legislature passed the bill (HB 2895, Act 50), the amendment of the Environmental Impact Assessment law, that requires an assessment of the effects of development on the cultural practices of the communities in the State. It also requires to amends the definition of "significant effects" to include adverse effects of development on cultural practices. One of the elements that successfully mobilized the Native Hawaiian groups to effect the decision making by the State was their abilities to network and make coalitions with environmental groups - that have well developed skills in web based communication as well as lobbying, and scientists - who provided with concrete data necessary for the activities
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Return to the cover page Contact: Hari Srinivas - hsrinivas@gdrc.org |