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Inter-Ministry Agreements

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Inter-Ministry Agreements and protocols are essential to effective, coordinated delivery of programs and services. These agreements provide a clear description of the inter-locking and independently delivered programs, services, policies, procedures and organizational practices for school-based and school-linked programs. These agreements can be established on an ad-hoc, time-limited or issue/initiative basis but it is preferable that an over-arching agreement or framework between and among all ministries be established with addendums or specific agreements written as needed.

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Inter-Ministry Agreements and protocols are essential to effective, coordinated delivery of programs and services. These agreements provide a clear description of the inter-locking and independently delivered programs, services, policies, procedures and organizational practices for school-based and school-linked programs. These agreements can be established on an ad-hoc, time-limited or issue/initiative basis but it is preferable that an over-arching agreement or framework between and among all ministries be established with addendums or specific agreements written as needed.
To be effective, these agreements should:

• be mandated or required by the central government authority for all major issues and needs of children and adolescents to be addressed by or with schools
• be part of all multi-component approaches, multi-intervention programs and interventions promoting inclusion, equity, health, safety, personal and social development
• name all of the ministries to be involved, with designated senior officials as well as units or teams within each ministry identified
• where possible and relevant, these inter-ministry agreements should be included in or referred to in legislation and related regulations or procedures (e.g. education act, public health act, child protection etc.)
• be signed by the Ministers of each participating ministry
• require that local school districts, agencies and authorities of each ministry establish similar agreements at the local level that include relevant duties or job descriptions of personnel such as school nurses, school social workers, school counselors, school psychologists, school resource officers, teachers, school principals and others
• describe how the inter-ministry agreement will help each ministry to achieve its core mandate and programs related to children and adolescents

Each inter-ministry agreement should

• establish a framework which describes the services, programs or policies to be covered in the agreement
• define objectives, ministry structures, practices and procedures that will improve coordination and decrease fragmentation of ministry activities delivered in or with schools
• describe how these coordination-related activities will increase the accessibility of programs &  services locally, and increase the responsibility/ability of local agencies/authorities communities for their provision
• establish an agreed-upon comprehensive range of inter-ministry coordination activities services and mechanisms for their ranking in the light of available resources
• obtain agreement on the areas of responsibility of each Ministry in the provision of services, programs or policy implementation & maintenance
• collaboratively identify the services/programs to be provided in the long term (4-5 years) and jointly put forward ideas and issues issues for consideration by appropriate committees within Government for accessing the required financial and human resources,
• define an inter-ministry process for developing joint proposals to the central government authority preparing the annual and longer term budgets of government
• establish a process to identify annually priority inter-ministry actions or activities that support the priorities of each ministry wherever possible  
• provide a reporting procedure, criteria and feedback mechanisms for middle managers within each ministry and front-line managers in local agencies and authorities
• define a process at the outset for assessing the impact of the inter-ministry agreement on the delivery of programs and services, including administrative data sources, surveys of pront-line professionals, parents, students and stakeholders

Sources:

• Ministry of Education British Columbia (2012) Inter-ministerial Protocols for the Provision of Support Services to Schools, Victoria, BC, Author
• Ministry of Community & Social Services, Ontario (2011) Summary Report: CAS/VAW Collaboration Agreements - Stakeholder Consultation, Toronto, ON, Ministry of Community & Social Services
• Guillermina Benavides Rincón (2012) Inter-Ministerial Coordination and Collaboration In Social Programs: A Case Study Of The Human Development Program Oportunidade, Thesis, University of Texas at Arlington
• Saner, R., Toseva, G., Atamanov, A. et al. (2008) Government Governance (GG) and Inter-Ministerial Policy Coordination (IMPC) in Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia. Public Organ Rev 8, 215–231 (2008). doi.org/10.1007/s11115-008-0051-x
• UN Women (2011) Strengthen inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms at the national level, New York, Author
• UNESCO (2018) Taking a whole of government approach to skills development (See sections on inter-ministry coordination) Paris, Author

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This summary was first posted in June 2012. Currently it has been posted as  an "excerpt/adaptation", "first draft" or "revised draft" and "first or revised edition" version..We encourage readers to submit comments or suggested edits by posting a comment on the Mini-blog & Discussion Page for this section or posting a comment below:

 Bibliography/Toolbox on
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Research	Reports, Resources
Understand the Approach/ Program & Its Effectiveness in Different Contexts on Different Aspects of HPSD, Populations How to Implement, Maintain, Scale Up, Sustain, Build Capacity, Leverage to Support Core Components. How to integrate within Education Systems Use of Ecological/ Systems Approach Research Questions/ KDE Agenda	Understand the Approach/ Program & Its Effectiveness in Different Contexts on Different Aspects of HPSD, Populations How to Implement, Maintain, Scale Up, Sustain, Build Capacity, Leverage to Support Core Components. How to integrate within Education Systems Use of Ecological/ Systems Approach Research Questions/ KDE Agenda

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