Collaborations and Partnerships (original) (raw)

Partnerships are considered as, 'the development approach of our time' (Rein M, 2009). The strategic relationships are important if global health goals have to be achieved like reducing MMR since they provide technical, contextual and administrative expertise to the City of Harare. These partnerships come in various forms either as alliances, coalitions, or networks to address health issues the City of Harare Health Department would not have managed alone. As for the City Health the partnership for maternal health considers a research and advocacy platform to guide in its activities to achieve MDG 5 based on mutual respect, complementary strengths and shared vision and commitment (USAID, 2013). In its endeavour to reduce maternal mortality the City Health Department would adopt a collaborative partnership approach. Literature available points out that for a partnership to be solid and successful there is need for strong management, clear goals, the right membership, open communication, good M & E and the right strategies to address barriers (Lob-Levyt J., 2011). The health issue that will be looked at in this paper is maternal health in Zimbabwe. MDG 5's main goal is to improve maternal health. Zimbabwe has been experiencing high cases of maternal deaths of 960 deaths per 100 000 live births. The mandate was to reduce it by three quarters but instead there was a major increase from the 2005 deaths of 612 to 960 deaths in 2012. This clearly shows a nation in crisis thus it is imperative to engage partners if maternal mortality ratio has to be reduced. Normally a partner is that organisation that is actively involved in issues of maternal health and should be willing and be capable of giving positive contributions to MMR issues. In my endeavour to engage partners what I need to do for the City Health Department is to communicate to the identified partners what the City wants to achieve. The City's program vision should be clearly articulated. I should ensure the partners have the opportunity to intervene and be heard. As a city we must be able to incorporate partners views and suggestions for failure might discourage future engagement. The city should also make sure its processes are transparent and collaborative. One important thing to note is that partners come in with diverse views and inputs that will improve maternal health outputs and deliverables. Partners should constantly be updated on ongoing activities and be involved in programme implementation. Thus to engage partners I need to consider the factors that make the partnership successful namely programme delivery, HRD, Resources mobilisation, Research and innovation and public information, education and advocacy. There are key competencies that are need to improve outcomes in maternal health. The first thing in the engagement process is to build support. That's were strong relationships with various stakeholders is set. In an effort to intervene in maternal mortality the City needs to establish partnerships with key stakeholders and interact with the private sector, facilitate integration with other disease programs like HIV/AIDs, Malaria and Hypertension. Once support has been gained the next step would be to design and evaluate the program. It is important to develop and implement interventions that are evidence based and assessments should be done for feedback and effectiveness. Once that done we need to influence policy and change the current systems affecting the marginalised rural populations. The next step would be to then be a strategic leader in the intervention. The city should be able identify the health needs and work as a catalyst for change to ensure more funding and support from partners. To achieve this the city needs to be capable of managing people, i.e. overseeing the performance and growth of its staff. The city should also be able to mobilize and manage resources so that the intervention implementation can be sustained and opportunities built. Finally we should be able to obtain, analyse, interpret and disseminate research findings so that we are able to identify needs, priorities and assess change. Partnership usually fail because of poor planning, poor organisation, lack of trust, conflict of interest, and