Create a small scale project or network among small partners

Creating a small-scale project or network among small partners enables organizations to build trust-based collaboration, respond flexibly to local needs, and pilot innovative approaches with relatively low risk; however, partners must ensure a shared vision and realistic objectives to prevent fragmentation or loss of focus. Such initiatives encourage peer learning, mutual support, and capacity strengthening, but they require clear coordination mechanisms and agreed communication practices to avoid over-reliance on informal arrangements. Small-scale collaboration can enhance visibility and collective voice for partners that may otherwise be overlooked, yet participants should carefully manage expectations, ensure equitable participation, and guard against dominance by any single partner. While these projects or networks are often more agile and cost-effective, organizations must still establish basic governance, transparent financial arrangements, and simple monitoring processes to ensure accountability, sustainability, and potential scalability.

Building small partnerships between small entities can be a useful path for many reasons. Generating small projects online optimizes the use of resources of small managers and facilitates the construction of local itineraries that make sense for visitors. It is also a way to train structures to work in partnership, learning to organize coordination and manage budgets and resources in a shared manner. Examples of small Partnerships can be cross-border projects between local associations, or local tourist rings that make sense. One of the essential elements is to respect, in the composition of the Partnership, the presence of the different essential elements to offer the visitor a complete experience:

1. Determine what values ​​and objectives the managers of the sites share, regardless of their size and type.
2. Clearly define what benefits each manager can gain from the Partnership or from participating in the network.
3. Define the specific objectives of the Partnership.
4. Develop a plan that defines the activities that will be carried out.
5. Establish the methods of collaboration and the responsibilities of each management body.
6. Define the resources that you want to share as a common knowledge, in material and immaterial terms.
7. Establish shared internal communication channels.
8. Ensure that all decisions are taken in a shared and democratic way. The adoption of a horizontal organizational scheme is suggested.
9. Start the search for public and private funding to support common activities.
10. Involve local communities and create or strengthen the link with the territory.
11. Verify that the network’s activities comply with current regulations on cultural heritage and associations.
12. Clearly define the legal responsibilities of each association.
13. Seek the support of a body that guarantees historical and scientific quality, a museum for example, or a government or regional body.