With a view to creating a deeper awareness of the benefit of truly collaborative partnerships between the social and the private sector, the Apeejay Trust put together a strategic training module for our NGO partners in cross-sector partnering. This was a first-of-its-kind workshop in India and was held in Kolkata. A globally-benchmarked capacitybuilding programme, called "Building a Shared Language" was developed by the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF). The workshop was attended by the senior management of our partners – Nishtha, New Light, Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Cini Asha, Focus, Bikash, North Bengal Council for the Disabled and the Tehelka Foundation.

The unique capacity-building initiative familiarized the participants with the various factors that synergise crosssector partnerships and equipped them with the ability to assess and evaluate the actual and potential benefits of partnering. The participants went away with a useful Tool Kit that will help them to better evaluate the internal and external factors that influence a successful crosssector partnership and effectively use their learnings in all future collaborations with the private sector.