Project Management/Outcome Mapping

Boundary Partner
Boundary partner is a term consistent with the mapping analogy in the sense that it is meant to identify the people with whom you work directly or are in contact with directly and therefore have some opportunities to influence. Your wider networks, and your strategic partners (such as the people who fund your work), are people who may be indirectly influenced by what you or your program do, but you have not direct relationship with them so cannot be very intentional about creating change with them. So the notion is that people with whom you share a boundary - or direct relationship - are the ones you have an opportunity to influence. Just as on a map, contiguous territories are more likely to affect each other. It is also meant to help you make those distinctions, to sort out who you work with and in what ways (boundary partners for influence, strategic partners for money or political/social access, networks for sharing ideas with the wider community, etc.).