Box 1 Design aspects of a partnership

• Beginning of the relationship

○ Deliberate effort to learn about the culture of partner institutions and countries (Understanding context)

○ Capacity/resource and needs mapping

○ Understand power dynamics, which are not always stable

○ Setting strategic direction for the relationship

○ Shared inception and agenda

• Framework of relationship

○ Transparency regarding allocation of resources

○ Joint leadership and agreement on coordination

○ Results-based, anchored in values

○ Formal institutional agreements

○ Assess equity over time, including in publications

• Maintaining relationship

○ Regular/planned communications (at least monthly scheduled implementation level exchanges) with feedback

○ Flexibility

○ Facilitation of mobility

○ Visiting appointments

○ Celebration of achievements and accountability

• Forward looking

○ Begin from the outset

○ Focus on both the now and the future (forward looking relationships are more productive in the now and more sustainable)

○ Review institutional relationship framework and adjust accordingly

○ Consider longer-term joint institutional relationship with joint ownership

○ Work on next generation relationships