This study was designed to develop a benchmark for effective partnership among the government, non-governmental organization, and donor agencies for effective administration of adult education programmes in the South East zone of Nigeria. The purposes of the study were to ascertain forms of partnership among the government, NGOs and donor agencies in decision making process, financial provision, human resources provision and management, material resources provision, monitoring and supervision of adult education programmes in the South East-geo-political zone. Five research questions were posed and five hypotheses were stated to guide the study. The study was a descriptive survey research design. The simple random sample technique was used for sample composition. The sample of the study consisted of 394 respondents made up of 62 proprietors of adult education centres, five directors of state agencies for mass education, 15 coordinators of the state donor agencies and 312 instructors of adult education in the five states of the study. Questionnaire for Developing Benchmark for Effective Partnership in the Administration of Adult Education Programmes (QDBEAAEP) was the main instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts and its reliability coefficient was 0.91. The data were analyzed using mean scores to answer the five research questions while the ANOVA and post-hoc test were used to test the five hypotheses formulated. The data analyses revealed among others that there is need to consult non-governmental organizations and donor agencies in problem identification in decision making process of adult education programmes. There was an agreement among respondents that government should sponsor instructors from NGos adult education centres on regular training and extend financial subsidy to NGOs adult education centres in order to reduce the fees paid by learners. Adult education centres managed by NGOs should submit quarterly the records of their staff strength to NMEC for planning purposes, among others. Based on the findings, it was recommending among others that state agencies for mass education, NGOs and donor agencies should be involved in the problem identification and cooperate in policy implementation system in adult education. They should also organize regular conference programmes on adult education for their staff.