Bridging boundaries : the case of cross-sector collaboration in the youth policy field

Abstract

In an effort to deal with the complexity of today’s public policy problems, public administrations have been increasingly engaging in collaborative efforts with actors beyond the public sector boundaries. Such collaboration between the public, private and non-profit sectors, known as cross-sector collaboration (CSC), has come to be understood as an optimal governance apparatus when tackling wicked policy issues. However, CSC is hardly easy. Managing an alliance between different social sectors can be as complex as the problems it aims to solve, and many CSCs fail to deliver. This study investigates the state of play of CSC, taking the youth policy field as a context. It highlights the benefits and challenges experienced during CSC. The study also examines the organisational environment that needs to be nurtured so that, given the right opportunities, the youth policy field would capitalise on such benefits and minimise the challenges. Using a qualitative approach this study adopted a case study design, making use of both primary and secondary data sources. The former was collected during 23 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from public, private and non-profit sectors. The latter was collected through a document analysis of all five national youth policies published to date. The data was eventually analysed thematically. This study presents a number of findings. First, CSC in the youth policy field, is perceived as desirable and is commended both by key stakeholders and in policy documents. This is due to a number of benefits that CSC confers, namely, added public value; access to otherwise unavailable resources; increased legitimacy and decreased organisational uncertainty. However, this study also revealed that such a positive perception does not automatically find currency in actual successful CSC. Collaboration across sectors is a relatively recent phenomenon and it is not yet considered the natural way of organising, it is rather a last resort option. In this regard, examples of CSC in the youth policy field are few, sparse and largely uncoordinated resulting in what could be described as ‘ad hoc collaboration arrangements’. This study posits that this is due to a number of challenges experienced during CSC such as limited resources; power asymmetries; scale and incompatible values. Interestingly however, this study also reveals that a number of actions could counter such challenges amongst which are identifying common grounds, setting clearer roles and responsibilities; investing in collaborative capacity and boundary spanning skills and trust development. Finally, the study puts forward a number of recommendations that could help create an optimal organisational environment where to foster successful CSC in particular through a lead-organisation network arrangement.