Multi-Sector Partnerships (EMPA)

Approaching today's complex social problems – be they local or global – demands joint work from multiple actors from the public and private sectors. Yet the actors’ distinct assumptions, work styles, and disciplinary backgrounds in each domain make collaborative work difficult, particularly when leaders do not have the skills and competencies to bridge the gap. Using an evidence-based lens, the course offers knowledge and frameworks that encourage students to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with developing and managing cross-sector collaboration. Academic and practitioner literature, guest speakers and problem-based learning exercises serve to provide a structure for sustained dialogue around specific cases of public, nonprofit and private sector collaboration in various countries and in the global commons. Students are invited to contrast the assumptions of stakeholder
participants from each sector, and to clarify and challenge their personal assumptions about the sectors’ motivations to partner, in order to enhance their own collaborative leadership capabilities.