Strong Together: Building Partnerships Across Cultures in an Age of Distrust

Synergies can be powerful, but building productive partnerships is not easy,. The cases highlighted in Strong Together, as well as the broader research in this book, offer clear answers for those just beginning to build a partnership across cultures as well as new insights for those who have long been involved in such work, in foundations, non-profits, government departments, or international agencies.

Through her research with social enterprises specifically, and international development more broadly, Dr Trice identifies the most damaging contributors to failure as well as what promotes success.

What are the factors that make the difference between a partnership that thrives and is embraced by those it is intended to serve, and one that fails on a familiar pattern of misunderstanding and rejection?

If a partnership does fail, why do such great efforts lead so often to misunderstandings and frustration for both parties, resulting in failed, stalled, or less than optimal enterprises?

Drawing from interviews with 90 Majority World and American leaders working in the social enterprise space, Trice identifies the most common pitfalls that cause international cooperation to weaken and collapse.

Here are fresh insights and compelling examples of what has failed, as well as of what works, offering practical steps and crucial insights that can move decolonization forward.

Such insights include identification of the valuable assets often held by Majority World leaders which usually contrast with the valuable assets held by western leaders,

and provide the potential for authentic connection and real synergies.

So what can actually deliver such synergies? That is what this book is about.

A former member of Purdue University’s faculty, Andrea Nelson Trice holds a PhD from the University of Michigan, and is an independent scholar. Trice has published research on power dynamics and empowerment for more than two decades. She was a Senior Fellow of the Sagamore Institute, and is a Senior Associate of the Institute for Social Impact, working also as a consultant to non-profits and social enterprises operating in the USA and across the Majority World.