DSS sites may need to form collaborations and go into strategic partnerships as part of their sustainability drives.

They may position themselves to benefit from collaborations with donors and institutions of higher learning by offering training to researchers and students, where such persons are being funded by donors for their work.

There may be no immediate financial gains from strategic partnerships where DSSs work in collaboration with the national census offices and bureaux of statistics, etc.  Under strategic partnerships DSSs could provide DSS data for comparisons with national DHS data and analytical backstopping capacity.  Thus benefits from strategic partnerships would become obvious in the long run.

DSSs should clearly identify institutions that consume, or could potentially consume their products, and could benefit from data analysis skills available at their sites, then go into collaborations and strategic partnerships.

The process of getting stakeholders/partners interested in the DSS involves painstaking face-to- face consultations and discussions with various kinds of people internationally and nationally through to the community level. The process does not just mean briefing them or seeking permission to carry out the study but actively involving them in the various discussions and negotiations from proposal development through implementation and dissemination. Possible partners include: universities and research Institutions; Program managers and policy makers; local governments and other health related departments; development partners (UNICEF, WHO, NGO); community leaders and members.