Partnerships and networks in work with young people

# 2.6.3 Conflicts of accountability

Processes of accountability can be particularly complicated in partnership working:

> … the individuals from the various organizations who are directly involved in collaborative activities need a fair degree of autonomy in order to make progress. The problem is that the activities of the collaboration will affect the ‘parent’ organizations, so the individuals also need to be accountable to the various organizations or other constituencies which they represent. Unless these individuals are fully empowered by their organizations to make judgements about what they may commit to, there will need to be continual checking back to the parents before action can happen. Much lapsed time can pass in this process, during the course of which impetus and energy levels for the proposed action can wither.

> (Huxham, 1996, p. 5)

OpenLearn - Partnerships and networks in work with young people
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