ABOUT
We support an inclusive and connected community of practitioners working in collaborative conservation, natural resource stewardship, cultural heritage preservation, recreational access, and Tribal and community engagement.
The Partnership and Community Collaboration Academy is a public-private partnership program. Our training and services are cooperatively delivered with agency partners and clients and with our staff of independent consultants.
We offer commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom training, facilitation, coaching, and other consulting and professional development services. We support public agencies and organizations working in the United States, District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories.
Our owner and administrator is Anne Desmarais, dba Desmarais Consulting, based in California.
What Guides Us
We support an inclusive and connected community of practice.
Our programs build interagency cooperation and partner culture awareness. We connect our network with emerging practices, innovative programs, key resources, and each other.
We work to build collaborative capacity.
We support employees in the confident application of professional competencies and best practices for effective communication, resilient relationships, and sustained collaboration.
We walk the talk of partnerships.
We are responsive to the strategic priorities and training needs of partners and clients. We cooperate to design and deliver high-value, transformational experiences that advance mission goals and collective impact.
Impact
The Academy and our agency partners work to create meaningful connections, strengthen capacity,
and increase partnership impact for collaborative conservation and resource stewardship.
WE FOCUS ON:
Our work is grounded in recognized partnership competencies and professional skills. Our programs build capacity for effective communication, respectful and resilient partnerships, and sustained collaboration.
Data from course participants show that our peers are charged with significant partnership responsibilities within their agencies. A majority dedicate 50-100% of their time to partnerships and may work on 20+ partnerships at a time. (1)
Our network represents diverse agencies, programs, communities, values, and perspectives. They consult and engage with Native Nations and Indigenous communities, as well as partners, interested parties, and permittees from every sector.
We are extremely proud of our 1,300+ alumni and network of 2,500+ practitioners, who are building relationships of trust and mutual benefit to advance priority work across the nation.
We are committed to providing opportunities for building cross-sector and inter-agency relationships and understanding. Peer learning is at the heart of what we do. If we want to go far, we go together.
Partner culture awareness is an essential element for generating and sustaining partnership impact. (2) Understanding our organizational culture and context – and those of our partners – allows us to find common ground, define roles and responsibilities, and navigate differences to work effectively together.
Successful partnerships take time to build a collaborative culture among their member organizations. They invest in the capacity of the partnership network, to align strategically and leverage partner resources and expertise for maximum benefit.
We aim to meet each person where they are and support their learning journey and collaborative practice. We are inspired by our many alumni who are in leading agency, program, and partnership positions.
Course evaluations indicate that our participants receive tangible benefits from inter-agency training and peer-learning programs.
On average, Managing by Network participants report an overall 40-50% increase in readiness to implement key competencies on the job. More than 90% agree that course learning supports on-the-job application and reference course learning on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. (1)
Participants have appreciated our commitment to modeling and creating a respectful and inclusive environment for learning. A majority state that course learning is relevant to their job responsibilities and recommend our courses to their colleagues. (4)
Public agencies and program participants leverage the expertise and in-kind resources of our extensive community of practice.
Our courses are led by experienced practitioners. Presentations by agency leaders, collaboration experts, alumni, and peers provide a strategic opportunity for learning and growing together.
Federal cohosts, advisors, and alumni re-invest in our collective knowledge-base by sharing policy updates, guidance, resources, and stories of success and resilience. We encourage you to explore more in the Resource Library.
References:
(1) Managing by Network course participant data from multiple years.
(2) Mickel, A. E., & Goldberg, L. (2018). Generating, Scaling Up, and Sustaining Partnership Impact: One Tam’s First Four Years.
(3) Greenwood, S., L. Singer, & W. Willis. (2021). Collaborative Governance: Principles, Processes, and Practical Tools. Routledge.
(4) Collaborative Conservation: Partnerships in Practice course data from 2019-2023.
History
The Academy was founded in 2008 to support federal agencies and their partners in developing professional knowledge, skills, and practices pertaining to communication, collaboration, and social sciences.
Our founding partners were the BLM National Conservation Lands Division, the BLM National Training Center, and Liz Madison Consulting. The founders developed a vision for an interagency training program that would focus on professional competencies, leverage adult learning models, and provide a cohort-based peer-learning experience.
Managing by Network was the result of this vision. Since 2008, our flagship course has evolved into a 6-month training program, cohosted by six agency partners and offered annually to 120 partnership practitioners. In the years following, BLM was joined by other agency partners who recognized the unique opportunity and value of this interagency program, including the USFWS, NPS, USDA FS, DOI CADR, and the USACE CPCX.
Our team also supported the development of Getting to the Course of Conflict and Communications (GTC3), presented by the DOI Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution. Our role included adapting the onsite course to online platforms, providing additional facilitation and instruction, and developing a Train the Trainer program.
In 2019, we debuted our advanced level course, Collaborative Conservation: Partnerships in Practice, with the USFWS National Conservation Training Center. This intensive, seminar-style course has been offered in a hybrid and online format.
Other training programs of note include: an asynchronous Partnership Foundations course (NPS NCR); a Partnership Fundamentals Train-the-Trainer program (USDA); and an Advanced Communications Training for Partnerships short course (USFWS). Our Spotlight Webinar series has featured several innovative programs from our network’s agencies.
In 2021, co-founder Liz Madison, in consultation with representatives of the Academy’s cohosting federal agencies, selected Anne Desmarais as the Academy’s Director.
Our extensive peer network and collective expertise have positioned us to be effective collaborators with public, private, and nonprofit sector partners. We look forward to working with you.
