Partnerships and collaborations as paucity management practices in rural and regional community-based human service organisations

This paper is based on a study of partnerships and collaborations between the community, government and private sectors in the Central West Region of New South Wales. Australia. The study included participants from all three sectors and found a multitude of relationships between private, public and community-based organisations.' A diverse range of views about their impact on staff, managers, clients and the community as a whole was evident. In this paper, the authors focus on the participating community-based organisations and their views on partnerships and collaborations. The empirical data of the study are used to explore further the concept of paucity management as a set of strategies that community organisations practise in response to a decline of resources. The authors argue that partnerships and collaborations contribute both positive and negative elements to the economic and social working environments of the non-profit human services sector. Within the parameters of this paper, public sector and private sector contributions to the study are not reported.