As the complexity of global health issues and infrastructure has increased, the ability of
global health leaders to form and work in coalitions is becoming a more critical skill. Over
the past decade, the role of coalitions and partnerships designed to address important global
health problems has become more prominent. Leading organizations that fund or actively
participate in collaborative ventures are questioning the value of these coalitions. Although
they have found them to be valuable many global health coalitions have not been as successful
as they had hoped. In fact, many fail to reach their full potential. Simply put, collaboration
is difficult.
Because coalitions are both important and challenging, The Task Force for Global Health initiated a research project in 2004, funded by the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Rockefeller
Foundation, to investigate practical lessons from those with experience working in coalitions
in global health.
One of the results of our research is the newly released book: Real Collaboration: What it Takes for Global Health to Succeed, authored by Mark Rosenberg and Elisabeth Hayes, with Margaret McIntyre and Nancy Neill. Bill Foege wrote the preface to this book and presents the book as a starting point for making the lessons of collaboration widely available. In fact, this book provides case studies that can be used for lesson plans, curricula, program plans, and evaluations of public health collaborations. The book was published by the University of California Press and is distributed through the UC Press website. To order copies of the book, click here. Use source code 10M9071 for a 20% discount on the book. For information about using the book for global health, or for information about curricula and the toolkit focused on collaboration, email the Task Force collaborations team at RealCollaboration@taskforce.org.
REAL COLLABORATION is designed to provide a practical handbook to guide the stages of collaboration and includes a DVD with video presentation about a collaborative effort, as well as a toolkit to support the design and implementation of collaborations. Components of the toolkit can be downloaded to support your collaboration or for use as an instructional step in building or assessing your efforts. There are five components to the toolkit, corresponding to the stages of your collaboration journey defined in the book. Click on the related component in the list below, to review steps or to begin using the toolkit.
Click here to go to the First Mile Worksheet.
Click here to go to the Journey Management Worksheet.
Click here to go to the Journey Leadership Worksheet.
Click here to go to the Last Mile Worksheet.
Click here to go to the The Donor Worksheet.
REAL COLLABORATION draws from case studies of teams struggling to combat global health challenges and threats. Case studies are based on interviews the authors conducted with key figures involved in collaborations in several areas of global health and addressing challenges facing communities around the world. The Task Force for Global Health offers 25 years of experience with collaborative efforts, building
effective coalitions, forging consensus, and leveraging scarce resources. This practical
experience has yielded lessons that can be shared to help others build effective coalitions
and address the concerns of donors and participants alike. Drawing on experience from global health and other fields, such as business and political
science, REAL COLLABORATION outlines the challenges affecting collaboration including
external forces, the culture of public health actors and agencies, the nature of the
disease being addressed, and the internal dynamics of coalitions to understand the
context that brought forth the collaboration, the thought process of why collaboration
was needed, how partners were chosen, barriers to success, obstacles they faced, and the
value added through the collaboration.
Based on our research, the Task Force for Global Health offers several products to support collaborations, in addition to the book:
- Case studies on coalitions and collaboration in public health that will be used
as the basis for a symposium, book and teaching cases for Schools of Public
Health/Leadership Institutes and global health organizations such as the CDC and WHO,
or large NGOs.
- Proceedings from a symposium at the Carter Center on October 19-20, 2006 gathering public health
leaders to share their stories of collaboration and coalitions and the lessons learned
for today’s public health leaders and future leaders.
- A research agenda to explore collaboration and coalitions in
public health.
We are committed to continuing to work with those in the field to identify additional case studies. We welcome input from the field of global
health and invite input from others to help us understand challenges faced, issues
to consider, insights into what makes a coalition or collaborative effort effective
and why collaborative efforts and partnerships can be so difficult. For more information, or to offer suggestions for future case studies,
please contact Lisa Hayes at
lhayes@taskforce.org.
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Program Staff
Mark Rosenberg, MD, MPP
Program Director, Executive Director
Lisa Hayes, MBA
Assistant Program Director
For more information please contact:
Lisa Hayes, MBA
Tel: 1.404.592.1471
lhayes@taskforce.org
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