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    • #HealthyMeans Working Together

    Can't we all just get along?

    We talk about them endlessly, but the complexity of of global health partnerships make them challenging and often just plain messy. Lisa Cohen, executive director of the Washington Global Health Alliance, offers five tips on how to choose the right partner in this #HealthyMeans column.

    By Lisa Cohen // 03 December 2014

    Partnership — is there a bigger global development buzzword in 2014?

    We talk about it endlessly, but it’s often lip service or a necessity dictated by a funder. The complexity of health and development demands collaboration, yet despite best intentions, partnership is challenging and often just plain messy.

    Organizations tend to default to their comfort zones and silos, such as discipline or disease-specific approaches. Combine this with perceived competition for limited funding, and the result is often program redundancy and missed opportunities for creativity and innovation.

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    Read more #HealthyMeans articles:

    ● How big pharma can be convinced to share intellectual property
    ● How to forge successful R&D partnerships
    ● Want to build more trust in partnerships? Do independent evaluations
    ● Delivering on the promise of multisectoral collaboration

    • Global Health
    • Worldwide
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).
    The views in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect Devex's editorial views.

    About the author

    • Lisa Cohen

      Lisa Cohen

      Lisa Cohen is the Executive Director of the Washington Global Health Alliance, a coalition of more than 60 leading global health research, development and civic organizations. WGHA activates governments, corporations and non-profits in Washington state through shared efforts to advance global health equity.

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