About us

The project PartneringStarter proposes a permanent service for matching partners, implemented across ANBPR, based on a set of evaluation tools and methodologies, on web-based applications and on a multi-layered database that aggregates and combines the main determinant data for partners’ organizational and professional profile, in terms of complementarity. The idea of this project started from the premise that a Public Private Partnership (PPP) is a service that has been emerging step by step in Romania, with an actual sustainable development potential for a better integration into the European community life.
 
So far, projects generated by PPPs have focused exclusively on infrastructure projects, but we have identified the need for smaller-scope partnerships at the level of local communities who want their members to be educated in the modern community spirit of European inspiration, in fields such as education, culture, community identity, the diaspora etc. For all the layers of society to be covered, the PPP needs, beside a legislative framework, a resource catalyst, identified by the function of Partnership Broker (PB). This project aims at introducing the concept of understanding Brokering Partnerships as being the natural mission of the entities which play catalyst roles in their communities, as it is the case with ANBPR and the Romanian public libraries. In 2013, in Romania, a new law on the Public Private Partnership was launched, being considered an economic and administrative necessary act.
 
Although the concept of Partnership Brokering has been expanding globally (about 2,000 people possess partnership brokering skills), in Romania, there are currently only 20 partnership brokers, trained in an experimental project undertaken in 2013 via a public-private partnership. The main purpose of Partnership Brokering (this time of an organizational type) is to create cohesion among direct, indirect and passive participants, within infrastructure projects or services necessary for the economic and social development of society. In their capacity of public entities with a socio-cultural and communitarian prominent role, libraries need to foster partnerships, as a quasi-mandatory condition for their sustainable development and for the sustainable development of the communities they serve.
 
Project Objectives
  • Improving knowledge about Partnership Brokering practice, by involving libraries, the local authorities, NGOs and other groups of stakeholders in comprehensive partnership activities, via creating a service for partners’ matching, with the participation of at least 20 libraries, 10 NGOs and other public institutions from Romania and from the Balkans region;
  • Informing and stimulating stakeholders’ greater interest in implementing strategic partnerships and collaboration principles in the everyday practice of partner-entities, in a coherent and systematic approach of community services;
  • Expanding interaction between libraries, the local authorities, the NGOs active in the community development field alongside other categories of stakeholders, based on a uniform, credible and institutionalized working methodology which brings together project expertise and connections to the different networks of all the PartneringStarter application beneficiaries.
Geographical Scope
The project will unfold in Romania (Bucharest, Cluj, Dambovita, Ialomita, Arges, Valcea, Mures, Brasov, Sibiu and Braila, Medias, Bicaz, Onesti, Toplita, Avrig, Curtea de Arges, Medgidia, Navodari, Pietrari, and Barlad), but also in Greece, Bulgaria and Albania, by involving institutional partners from these countries.
 
PartneringStarter Mission
The PartneringStarter project proposes a partner identification service implemented at ANBPR but with transnational participation.
The project proposes a set of evaluation tools and methodologies integrated into a web-based application.
The central idea is to create a multi-layered database that collects and combines the main determinants of the organizational and professional profile of the partners on the principle of complementarity..
PartneringStarter will lead to the shaping of a modern, personalized service designed to support libraries in facilitating partnerships.
 
Specific objectives
  • Improving knowledge on the practice of Partnering Brokerage;
  • Informing and raising stakeholders' interest in stimulating strategic partnerships and applying the principles of collaboration in day-to-day practices of partner entities in a systematic and coherent community service approach;
  • Increase the degree of interaction between libraries, local authorities, NGOs active in the community development area and other stakeholder categories based on a credible and institutionalized work methodology that brings together project expertise and connections to different networks of all beneficiaries PartneringStarter;
 
Beneficiaries
Direct Beneficiaries:
Minimum 10 county libraries in Romania
At least 10 municipal, town or rural libraries
Indirect beneficiaries:
Members of the urban and local communities in the professional perimeter of the libraries involved in the project (minimum 500 people)
Employees of NGOs, firms and public authorities whose staff will participate directly in training sessions.
The staff of NGOs, firms, and public authorities located in areas other than those directly targeted by the project but who will have access to the resources available in the PartneringStarter application.
 
Expected results
The project aims to stimulate partner broker skills in participating organizations.
Through the project's activities, a community of over 1000 beneficiaries (direct and indirect) will be formed, which will act in the long term to co-locate viable partnership formulas in the Balkans.
The project will provide a set of partner maching tools and a range of educational resources that will facilitate the study and practice of partnerships in a systematic and coherent way.
 
Activities
  • Organizing a face-to-face training session in the field of Partnership Brokerage - a 2-day session with at least 20 participants - developing the Curriculum Course, developing the training module attached to the ANBPR website, convening participants, enrollment cards , Completed feedback forms, lists of organizations represented, evaluation & monitoring session, follow-up;
  • Developing the PartneringStarter application - purchasing domain, contracting software development services, building and online accessing resources in the partnership development area, identifying links to articles and posts specific to the project theme;
  • Organizing a distance learning session in the advocacy field to raise awareness of library partnerships policies and practices - a 2 day session with at least 20 participants - development Course curriculum, participants conventions, enrollment forms, completed feedback forms, lists Organization identification, evaluation & session monitoring, folllow-up;
  • Making a Practical Guide on the Role and Importance of Partnerships and Introducing the Brokering Partnership - A Guide Made and Distributed in Electronic Format to All Organizations Participating in the Project;
  • Achieving a Position Paper on the role and importance of partnerships and brokerage of partnerships from the perspective of public libraries as aggregators of community initiatives;
  • A social media campaign promoting PartneringStarter;
  • Achievement of at least 2 press releases and a project monitoring report (with links to published articles or scanned versions of articles published on the topic of the project in print or online);
 
Conclusions
Through the proposed activities, PartneringStarter will contribute to:
  • Crystallization of a solidarity community, active in the development of transnational strategic partnerships;
  • Formulating a coherent public policy in the field of promoting public-private partnerships and piloting the model of collaboration in the areas covered by the project;
  • Project beneficiaries will gain the ability to identify new partners and build project partnerships based on partner networks made available through the PartneringStarter;
  • Audio, video and text resources, structured on distinct categories depending on the stage or stage of intervention required in the partner cycle, will provide beneficiaries with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of the dynamics and evolution of partnerships.