The post-2015 development agenda is focused squarely on sustainability, transitioning from simply achieving specific targets to sustaining progress and impact in health and development.
Two key elements in attaining sustainability include reducing donor dependency and increasing country ownership. By looking beyond traditional sources, public sector leaders are increasingly able to diversify health funding, reducing reliance on any one donor or investor. Many private sector actors recognize engagement with the public sector has business value and promotes social benefits. Improving population health can have further positive effects for employees and consumers: A healthier population generally has stronger purchasing power.
Public-private partnerships have been lauded as a way to increase country ownership, as well as diversify funding sources for health programming. However, mobilizing private sector investment for public programs is not easy. The private sector and public sector often operate in distinct ecosystems and have different characteristics; alignment of their varied objectives is challenging. Key differences include:
About the authors
Kimberly Switlick-Prose
Kimberly is a specialist master with Deloitte Consulting, where she leads and manages health programs. She applies her skills in strategy and business transformation, sustainability, and performance and financial management to lead multidisciplinary teams to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of health care organizations and public health programming for vulnerable population groups.
Meg MacWhirter
Meg has nine years of experience supporting nonprofit and public sector leaders as they design, implement and evaluate strategic initiatives and partnerships. Experiences include gender programming, change management and capacity building at the community level as well as with national public sector entities.
