Collaborative Governance and Social Work: Exploring Partnerships between Government, NGOs, and Communities for Social Development

Collaborative governance has emerged as a transformative framework for addressing complex social development challenges through structured partnerships between government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and community stakeholders, is a dynamic and inclusive approach bridging the gap between them for effective social development. In contemporary social work practice, these multi-actor collaborations are increasingly recognized as essential for promoting inclusive service delivery, accountability, and sustainable development outcomes. This review paper examined post-2020 empirical and theoretical contributions to collaborative governance, emphasizing its relevance to social work and social development. Using a qualitative review methodology, the study synthesizes recent scholarly literature to analyze mechanisms of partnership formation, institutional coordination, trust-building, and shared decision-making. Findings from the review indicated that effective collaborative governance is characterized by transparent communication, clearly defined roles, mutual trust, adaptive leadership, and participatory engagement. However, structural inequalities, bureaucratic rigidities, fundings , developing contexts. The review concluded that strengthening collaborative governance frameworks is critical for advancing social justice, community empowerment, and sustainable social welfare systems.