After a brief discussion of governance as a context for approaches to combating poverty, this paper presents tri-sector partnerships as an emerging strategy with the potential of being more effective than more narrowly conceived public-private partnerships.

These partnerships, involving the public sector, the private sector, and civil society organizations, are then examined in a systematic evaluation of such cases included in the UN-Habitat Best Practices database. The findings produce several specific policy implications and the key conclusions that effective partnerships include civil society groups in meaningful roles and function around clustered programme domains, the synergistic interrelationships of which can be strengthened through appropriate policy interventions.

There is no one best way to set up and manage a town-level multi-stakeholder forum. The composition of the multi-stakeholder forum and issues to be addressed will differ from one town to another. This Step-by-Step Guide has been developed with the understanding that one-size-does-not-fit-all. The users of the Guide are, therefore, encouraged to be flexible in developing multi-stakeholder partnerships in line with their local needs and resources.

A substantial part of the Guide is based on UN-HABITAT’s own learning and experiences gained in the first phase of the Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Initiative. Current thinking on multi-stakeholder partnerships and the experiences and practices of other development partners are also used to illustrate some points.