12-13 December 2005

From: "Business Unusual: Partnerships as Strategic Investments" Conference

 

Berlin, 12-13 December 2005

 

Resource persons:

 

Achim Deja, Corporate Social Responsibility, Karl Storz AG

Sarah England, Medical Officer, Stop TB Partnership, World Health Organization (WHO)

David Kim, Global Health Initiative, World Economic Forum

Andrea Knigge, Global HIV/AIDS Strategy, DaimlerChrysler AG

 

Moderator:

 

Paula-Marie Hildebrandt, Project Manager, GTZ and Global Compact Focal Point Germany

 

 

Key Outcomes:

 

-          Cross-sector partnerships need to find the right mix of government, NGO, and business participation with appropriate and effective roles for each.

-          The most successful health partnerships in the private sector were able to evolve into self-supporting projects drawing from the company’s core competencies and integrated into its business model.

-          Advantages of partnerships involving the private sector:

• Business often operates in areas where the public sector does not have reach.
• Companies often have direct contact with local employees and governments.
• Enterprise can encourage social change from the inside.

 

-          Partnerships need to build on the success of mobilizing large multi-national firms to participate in HIV/AIDS partnerships and expand to other health issues including disease prevention.

-          Create a set of guidelines similar to the UN Global Compact for NGOs and governments to encourage consistency of behaviour.

 

Building partnerships for health constituted a true growth industry during the past decade. The number of collaborative, multi-sector initiatives has grown exponentially since the early 1990s and sought to ameliorate and prevent the devastation created by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), polio and many other diseases. In addition, partnerships have been formed in other aspects of the diverse health field, such as to create new medicines and improve sanitation.

 

The workshop "Promoting Health through Partnerships" brought together practitioners who have worked hands-on with the creation and implementation of health related partnerships. Representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), Karl Storz AG, the World Economic Forum, and DaimlerChrysler AG, presented current health partnerships, and a group of 25 participants discussed common problems and collectively brainstormed solutions. One theme of the workshop, also echoed in other parts of the conference, was how to create sustainable partnerships, including how to incorporate a new partnership into a corporation’s core business model, how to measure success, and how to act without inadvertently harming other areas such as local markets. Another central thread to the discussion was how to achieve the right partnership mix—a balance of local governments, non-governmental organizations, and private enterprises specific to each endeavour.

 

Dr. Sarah England of the Stop TB Partnership at the WHO iterated the threats of TB and outlined WHO partnerships with the public and private sectors on various aspects of fighting the disease. She gave examples of collaboration with pharmaceutical companies to make drugs available, with local manufactures to improve manufacturing standards, with drug developers to design new drugs, and with private health providers. She spoke of current efforts to improve partnerships by increasing the representation of local governments on the boards and working groups of the WHO and by creating more partnerships at the local government level.

 

Next, David Kim of the Global Health Initiative (World Economic Forum) talked about the advantages for both sides of creating health partnerships with the private sector. For one, he stressed that companies often operate in areas where the public sector is not present or does not have the same depth of connections to the local community. To illustrate the advantages of partnerships for private enterprise, he gave the example of workplace programs where through a partnership with a health organization, company employees are given medical treatment and receive access to medical clinics and labs. Often, he said, finding a way to address social issues is not an option for business—they cannot ignore them. His desire to see such workplace programs extend beyond current employees to include employees even after they leave the company as well as local community members was seconded later in the discussion.

 

Continuing the focus on workplace partnerships, Andrea Knigge spoke of her own experience leading the well-regarded global HIV/AIDS Strategy department of DaimlerChrysler AG. She discussed the recent successful transition of this program from a stand-alone partnership into the core business of the company. However, not content to define success at the current 37% of employees who take advantage of the program, she set out a challenge to redefine success and continue to improve what many already consider to be a model program.

 

Achim Deja of Karl Storz AG also highlighted the necessity of folding partnerships into the business practice. Saying that a business can’t live in charity forever, he described a Karl Storz initiative that began as a charity project and developed into a self-standing program. He detailed a current partnership with the GTZ to improve women’s health in India, in which Karl Storz will set up Endoscope Training Centres, train gynaecologists, and provide counselling via videoconferences.  The GTZ will be responsible for monitoring the project and recording its progress at the local level.  He described Storz’s partnerships as a self-learning process, whereby continuing improvement is much more realistic than a firm master plan.

 

In the discussion that followed, the need to create more programs at the national and local levels was recognized as was the inhibiting challenges of raising awareness and creating interest in some countries. However, it was suggested that in some cases, businesses and civil society can act from within to begin to increase awareness and change. On the other hand, Botswana was given as an example where there is already extensive government involvement, but positive results have been slow in coming. Thus, the right mix of cross-sector partners must be considered individually for each situation. Many agreed that a written code for business similar to the MDGs or a clear compact similar to the UN Global Compact’s 10 points would be helpful to creating consistent behaviour and giving businesses tangible results for which to strive.