We now deal with the second question of why some public service partnerships are more successful than others and what we can learn from CBIE's experience with public service partnerships.
Based on our experience, let us briefly outline the four top factors that contribute to successful partnerships.
First is clarity of purpose and principles. The first success factor is to proceed with a partnership based on clarity of purpose and sound guiding principles. This requires the partners to work collaboratively to develop a project charter that gives expression to their overarching values that will guide the overall partnership. It includes setting clear project milestones and defining evaluation criteria upfront in the project design phase. Collaboration doesn't just happen; it requires planning if it is to work and be sustainable.
Indeed, we believe that part of our success in Ukraine is because we have not simply tried to superimpose our model of public administration on our partner. Rather, we have worked with them, first of all, to design an incremental series of projects tailored to local needs and capacities and focusing on knowledge and skills transfer to ensure long-term sustainability. Second, we have worked with them to identify and support reformers and change agents. And lastly, we have worked with them to strengthen their individual and institutional capacities.
The second key factor is the presence of concrete incentives for success. Having clear and tangible objectives in mind also matters. Public sector partnerships are likelier to be successful when progress in a certain area of public service activity, say for improving gender equality or better enforcing intellectual property laws, is a precondition for qualifying for a structural adjustment loan or membership in an international body like the European Union.
The third key factor is a long-term commitment by both parties. From our perspective, a clear and tangible expression of commitment by both parties to the project and its results is essential. For donors, this can take the form of a public endorsement by senior political and bureaucratic leaders, a financial or in-kind contribution, or even something as simple as citing the project in official planning documents or reports to multilateral agencies.
In the case of our Ukrainian civil service reform project, we have the benefit of all of these expressions of support, but it is a two-way street. We would not have achieved the same degree of success without our Ukrainian partners knowing that we were there for the long term; that project staff and access to experts would remain stable, so that relationships and friendships, once begun, could be properly consummated; and that the project wasn't developed on a whim or in response to a fad, but because of an enduring commitment to progress in a specific country and a specific sector.
In the past, some well-intended programming was supply-driven and not based on or well enough informed about the needs and priorities of the beneficiary countries.
Our experiences show that demand-driven, responsive undertakings are a better foundation for forging and facilitating durable public service partnerships. The process of transformation is not, by nature, a static one: partners must be willing to be continually engaged in the process.
Now to relate the operational factors....