What is interesting about this definition is that it begins to venture into the idea of social partnership. This is an increasingly popular form of collaborative action in which organizations from multiple sectors interact to achieve common goals. It carries the idea of collective strategies, problem-solving networks and tools for action.
The literature abounds with many concepts about partnership as can be seen from our focused review and annotations which are placed at the end of the report as Appendix A. Many of these ideas about partnership principles influenced the project direction and research design and are important to summarize here.
There are many different types of partnership.
The purpose of this in-depth case study was to document a government initiative through Human Resources and Social Development Canada’s (HRSDC) National Literacy Secretariat called the Business and Labour Partnership Program. The overall intention was to understand the process of partnership development and the strategies that were used to engage business, labour, practitioners, and provincial and territorial governments in adult work-related literacy at a time when no such program model existed. It was also interested in documenting the ideas and approaches that were used as well as the different types of partnerships that developed at a time when most Canadians did not believe that a literacy problem existed. It was felt that this type of information might help demonstrate what a partnership program in real action looked like so that public servants and literacy practitioners could learn from the approach. From an historical point of view, the case study also recorded many of the major events and activities of the partnership program as described by the pioneering people who contributed significantly to Canadian adult work-related literacy.