Who to involve

Several members of the partnership may come from the stakeholder group that was assembled in the previous phase, but there are a couple of factors to consider before deciding who to involve.

It could be that not all of the existing stakeholders will be able to commit the necessary time and resources to this phase of the process. Or perhaps there are other people or organisations that you, or the other stakeholders, feel should now be brought in. It’s worth checking again at this point if any of the stakeholders know of existing partnerships that might be interested in accessibility planning.

In most cases you’ll have to contact at least some potential new partners. Again, use the guidance described in Partnership Resource 8 for contacting and motivating people. Be aware, however, that at this stage in the process there’s a good chance that you’ll be asking people for considerably more commitment than you have done so far.

The first meeting at this phase is crucial—it’s an important opportunity to make sure that everyone is aware of the partnership’s purpose and what each partner can contribute. You might find the following resources useful at this point:

• Skills Resource 12—offers some ideas for running the first meeting




• Skills Resource 8—is a sample of a workshop programme that might help you to structure the first meeting




• Skills Resource 9—provides guidance on facilitating meetings

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