IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v159y2016icp22-29.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding global health and development partnerships: Perspectives from African and global health system professionals

Author

Listed:
  • Barnes, Amy
  • Brown, Garrett W.
  • Harman, Sophie

Abstract

Partnership is a key idea in current debates about global health and development assistance, yet little is known about what partnership means to those who are responsible for operationalising it or how it is experienced in practice. This is particularly the case in the context of African health systems. This paper explores how health professionals working in global health hubs and the health systems of South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia understand and experience partnership. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 101 professionals based in each country, Washington DC and Geneva between October 2012 and June 2013, the paper makes four key arguments. First, partnership has a legitimating function in global health policy processes for international development institutions, government agencies and civil society organisations alike. Second, the practice of partnership generates idiosyncratic and complicated relationships that health professionals have to manage and navigate, often informally. Third, partnership is shaped by historical legacies, critical events, and independent consultants. Fourth, despite being an accepted part of global health policy, there is little shared understanding of what good partnership is meant to include or resemble in practice. Knowing more about the specific socio-cultural and political dynamics of partnership in different health system contexts is critical to equip health professionals with the skills to build the informal relations that are essential to effective partnership engagement.

Suggested Citation

  • Barnes, Amy & Brown, Garrett W. & Harman, Sophie, 2016. "Understanding global health and development partnerships: Perspectives from African and global health system professionals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 22-29.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:159:y:2016:i:c:p:22-29
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.04.033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616302076
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.04.033?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aveling, Emma-Louise & Martin, Graham, 2013. "Realising the transformative potential of healthcare partnerships: Insights from divergent literatures and contrasting cases in high- and low-income country contexts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 74-82.
    2. Sophie Harman, 2015. "15 years of 'War on AIDS': what impact has the global HIV/AIDS response had on the political economy of Africa?," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(145), pages 467-476, September.
    3. Amy Barnes & Garrett Brown, 2011. "The Idea of Partnership within the Millennium Development Goals: context, instrumentality and the normative demands of partnership," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 165-180.
    4. Sridhar, Devi & Craig, David, 2011. "Analysing global health assistance: The reach for ethnographic, institutional and political economic scope," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(12), pages 1915-1920, June.
    5. Buse, Kent & Harmer, Andrew M., 2007. "Seven habits of highly effective global public-private health partnerships: Practice and potential," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 259-271, January.
    6. Claudia R. Williamson, 2008. "Foreign Aid and Human Development: The Impact of Foreign Aid to the Health Sector," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(1), pages 188-207, July.
    7. David Lewis & David Mosse, 2006. "Encountering Order and Disjuncture: Contemporary Anthropological Perspectives on the Organization of Development," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 1-13.
    8. Rosalind Eyben, 2010. "Hiding Relations: The Irony of ‘Effective Aid’," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 22(3), pages 382-397, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Croft, Charlotte & Currie, Graeme, 2020. "Realizing policy aspirations of voluntary sector involvement in integrated care provision: Insights from the English National Health Service," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(5), pages 549-555.
    2. Han, Lu & Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias & Opsahl, Tore, 2018. "The social network of international health aid," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 67-74.
    3. Perez, Marybel & von Schnurbein, Georg & Gehringer, Theresa, 2022. "Mitigating health policy fragmentation through interlocks. The networks between American and Swiss public-private partnerships," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(11), pages 1163-1172.
    4. Lise Woensdregt & Lorraine Nencel, 2023. "‘Fundermediaries’ in Nairobi, Kenya: Development Partnerships in the Aid Chain," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(2), pages 280-303, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Han, Lu & Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias & Opsahl, Tore, 2018. "The social network of international health aid," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 67-74.
    2. Saurabh Arora & Naomi Baan Hofman & Vinod Koshti & Tommaso Ciarli, 2013. "Cultivating Compliance: Governance of North Indian Organic Basmati Smallholders in a Global Value Chain," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(8), pages 1912-1928, August.
    3. Changbyung Yoon & Keeeun Lee & Byungun Yoon & Omar Toulan, 2017. "Typology and Success Factors of Collaboration for Sustainable Growth in the IT Service Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-20, November.
    4. Sakiru Oladele Akinbode & Tobi Michael Bolarinwa, 2020. "Effect of Foreign Aid on Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa:A System GMM Approach," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 18(1), pages 19-38.
    5. Donaubauer, Julian & Meyer, Birgit & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2016. "Aid, Infrastructure, and FDI: Assessing the Transmission Channel with a New Index of Infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 230-245.
    6. Geetilaxmi MOHAPATRA & A. K. GIRI & Madhu SEHRAWAT, 2016. "Foreign aid, macroeconomic policies and economic growth nexus in India: An ARDL bounds testing approach," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(4(609), W), pages 183-202, Winter.
    7. James Copestake & Richard Williams, 2014. "Political-Economy Analysis, Aid Effectiveness and the Art of Development Management," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 32(1), pages 133-153, January.
    8. Markus Fraundorfer, 2016. "How to Confront the Threat of Ebola? Arguing for Reinforced Efforts to Promote Transnational Solidarity," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 7(3), pages 340-350, September.
    9. Afridi, Muhammad Asim & Ventelou, Bruno, 2013. "Impact of health aid in developing countries: The public vs. the private channels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 759-765.
    10. David Lewis & Dennis Rodgers & Michael Woolcock, 2013. "The Projection of Development: Cinematic Representation as A(nother) Source of Authoritative Knowledge?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(3), pages 383-397, March.
    11. Arora, Saurabh & Romijn, Henny, 2009. "Innovation for the base of the pyramid: Critical perspectives from development studies on heterogeneity and participation," MERIT Working Papers 2009-036, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. David Lewis & Stephen Biggs & Scott E. Justice, 2022. "Rural mechanization for equitable development: Disarray, disjuncture, and disruption," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(5), September.
    13. Lewis, David & Biggs, Stephen & Justice, Scott, 2022. "Rural mechanization for equitable development: disarray, disjuncture and disruption," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112769, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Artan Karini, 2016. "Coordination Without Effectiveness? A Critique of the Paris Agenda in the Experience of Development Aid in Albania," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 28(4), pages 741-757, September.
    15. Catherine M. Jones & Carole Clavier & Louise Potvin, 2020. "Policy processes sans frontières: interactions in transnational governance of global health," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 53(1), pages 161-180, March.
    16. Easterly, William & Williamson, Claudia R., 2011. "Rhetoric versus Reality: The Best and Worst of Aid Agency Practices," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 1930-1949.
    17. Klaus H. Goetz & Ronny Patz & Erin R. Graham, 2017. "Follow the Money: How Trends in Financing Are Changing Governance at International Organizations," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(s5), pages 15-25, August.
    18. Elena Sondermann & Cornelia Ulbert, 2021. "Transformation through ‘Meaningful’ Partnership? SDG 17 as Metagovernance Norm and Its Global Health Implementation," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 152-163.
    19. Wilson, Sven E., 2011. "Chasing Success: Health Sector Aid and Mortality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 2032-2043.
    20. Claudia Williamson, 2010. "Exploring the failure of foreign aid: The role of incentives and information," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 17-33, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:159:y:2016:i:c:p:22-29. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.