There is a heavy focus on tri-sector collaboration — or bringing together business, government and civil society actors — to solve development dilemmas, but little on how to prepare people for that kind of dialogue.
“We train people in completely different ways and completely different mindsets,” Ann Florini, professor of public policy at Singapore Management University, told Devex’s Kate Warren. “Then we throw them out into the real world and say, ‘You actually have to interact with each other.’ And they have no idea how to do it. We figured it was time to change that.”
Florini helped to develop a master’s in tri-sector collaboration at the university to train professionals on the partnership mindset. Scenario building and bringing disparate people together to come up with common definition of a problem, she indicated, is a hugely important space.
About the author
Kelli Rogers@kellierin
Kelli Rogers has worked as an Associate Editor and Southeast Asia Correspondent for Devex, with a particular focus on gender. Prior to that, she reported on social and environmental issues from Nairobi, Kenya. Kelli holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and has reported from more than 20 countries.