3.29 As outlined previously, a key requirement of a successful partnership is to identify and engage appropriate partners. The most common approach outlined in the responses, involved the lead department identifying and recruiting those organisations that might be interested in joining and would be of benefit to the partnership. Comments in the responses, indicate that this approach has led to particular difficulties for social partners. It is common for such requests to be issued to a relatively small number of well established groups, i.e. NICVA, NIC-ICTU, CBI etc. The capacity of such groups to continue to meet such requests is limited and their long-term ability to contribute effectively to the partnership process may be impaired by the ever-growing number of partnerships in Northern Ireland.