Chronic shortages of basic services for the urban poor have been a common phenomenon in the developing countries. Bangladesh is no exception. Policy makers are trying to find new approaches to service delivery as conventional methods have not been successful. Partnerships in basic services have been discussing in the political discourse in Bangladesh in recent times. Against this backdrop, the prime objective of this paper is to seek a sustainable solution to basic services delivery for the poor. This paper tries to theorize at first on partnerships concept. Also attempts to explore if partnerships work in the socio-political context in Bangladesh and then try to find what are the potentials and limitations in fostering partnerships in basic services delivery in Bangladesh cities.