Partnership between universities, municipalities and NGOs: How insights from academics can shape the future of social services

ENThe article provides a concise overview of aspects of cross-sectoral cooperation, emphasising the value created by different stakeholders (including universities) and the potential challenges that may be encountered. In order to provide a more illustrative presentation of these aspects of cooperation, a practical example of networking is presented. The selected case study for this research is the case of collaboration between Mykolas Romeris University and the Marijampole municipality in R&D project, the aim of which is to develop cooperation with NGOs that provide social services at local self-government level. During the study, potential stakeholders were identified and publicly available information on service provision specifics in the municipality was analysed. A qualitative study was also conducted to evaluate the maturity level of the cooperation and identify ways to improve current stakeholder interaction. Keywords: municipalities, universities, NGOs, partnership, Stakeholder Relationship Management Maturity (SRMM), public services development.