No Longer Vulnerable Partnership Satisfaction Learning Note
July 2015
BACKGROUND Partner satisfaction surveys have been a core part of Oxfam Australia’s (OAU) approach to improving our relationship with partners in South Africa. These have been conducted since the inception of the Joint Oxfam HIV and AIDS Program, to the most recent No Longer Vulnerable (NLV) Program when all programs were integrated under one umbrella. The surveys were administered on a regular basis and allowed Oxfam to monitor its relationship with partners overtime against clear outputs. The surveys provided Oxfam partners with a confidential mechanism to report back on how it perceived Oxfam was doing against these outputs. During NLV, the surveys were carried out in 2013 and 2015. All of the surveys were conducted online and included an average partner response rate of over 50%. During this time, the survey results were shared internally with Oxfam staff in order to improve the delivery of support to partners. They were also shared with partners as part of the biannual program reports. As we lead into the closure of the OAU operations in South Africa we felt it would be useful to share a consolidated report on the partnership satisfaction trends over the course of the NLV program with staff as well as partners.
STRENGTHS
86% said the frequency of visits was just right
82% found Oxfam visits supportive
86% described Oxfam as a supportive partner
approachable partner
2013/15 averages:
81% described Oxfam as an
Throughout the program there were key areas which Oxfam consistently excelled in according to partners. These areas were the frequency and nature of the visits by Oxfam staff, and Oxfam’s partnership approach. Across the two surveys (2013 and 2015), over 80% of respondents on average chose the highest category for these indicators.
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PROGRESS According to partners, there were a number of areas where Oxfam improved in its quality of support. Firstly, overall satisfaction in the partnership improved with 20% more partners rating that they were ‘Very Satisfied’ in 2015 compared to 2013. Other areas which saw progress were efficiency in responding to queries, frequency and relevance of communications, and interest in the content of Oxfam publications. It is very encouraging to note increases in the quality and nature of Oxfam’s support which gives some indication of the hard work from both partners and Oxfam in maintaining openness, addressing weaknesses, and deepening working relationships. The improvements represented by the increases reflect Oxfam’s commitment to its relationships to partners and to providing quality services that are relevant and timely. Oxfam will continually strive to maintain these standards during the exit phase.
2015 70% 87%
87% 65%
74% 68%
52%
relevance
Content interest
64%
frequency
64%
Overall satisfaction
40%
Response Efficiency
2013
communications
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CHALLENGES One particular arena which was rated slightly less by partners in the ‘Excellent’ category in both 2013 and 2015 was the quality of feedback and input from staff to partners. Oxfam did score highly if we combine this with the ‘Very Good’ category in both of these surveys, but as Oxfam wishes to maintain a level of excellence, the organisation has noted this to ensure it improves the quality of feedback given to partners during the exit phase. Excellent
Very Good
Quality of input
49%
35%
28%
44%
2015
2013
A FINAL NOTE ON PARTNERSHIPS
support
Working together
progress change
Partnership
Oxfam’s partnership approach plays a key role in its theory of change and its sustainability strategy. For these reasons, and that it is currently in an exit phase, this year Oxfam decided to use the survey to dig a little bit deeper with partners into the way the Oxfam partnership works. To do this Oxfam chose three principles which it felt demonstrated a strong partnership; these were mutual respect, trust, and collaboration. Results from the survey showed that, from a partners’ perspective, these principles were being practiced across the Oxfam partnership by the different organisations with the vast majority rating in the ‘Good’ category and above. However, partners often viewed themselves as demonstrating these principles more than they saw them in their peer organisations. For Oxfam, this means that there is still some work to do to encourage Oxfam partners to work together more during this exit phase and beyond. A challenging area as reflected by partners was the principle of collaboration among partners. Here only 19% of partners rated the practice of this principle among themselves as ‘Excellent’, and 24% rated it poorly. However, even in this space, the majority of partners (57%) rated one another as either ‘Very Good/Good’. Oxfam will seek to build on this relatively strong foundation of partnership during its exit phase and will provide spaces for partners to find areas of collaboration post-Oxfam Australia.
strong
foundation
quality
Mutual respect communication
Challenges
trust
collaboration
No longer vulnerable principles
If you have any questions/comments/thoughts regarding these results, please contact Caili on CailiF@oxfam.org.au and/or 031 277 0352.
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