Academics and NGOs can work together in partnership but must do so earlier and with genuine knowledge exchange

Partnerships between academia and NGOs remain rare. Following his latest post highlighting the findings of a recent InterAction report on this subject, Duncan Green considers what more can be done to overcome the barriers to collaboration that persist. Effective, mutually beneficial partnerships can indeed be forged but these should be initiated earlier than currently happens, and with greater encouragement of exchange of ideas and personnel.