Lucy Jay-Kennedy, Senior Media Manager, Public Affairs, +1 917 209 9483, +50765398327, lucy.jaykennedy@weforum.org
Panama City, Panama, 2 April 2014 – Successful partnerships between the public and private sectors are needed to strengthen economic development and innovation in Latin America, according to a new report by the World Economic Forum.
The report, Creating New Models: Innovative Public-Private Partnerships for Inclusive Development in Latin America, provides 15 case studies that highlight the ways in which innovative collaboration between governments and private actors has improved the quality of public goods and services or contributed to sustainable development.
“The report highlights key success factors and valuable recommendations that will provide ideas for more innovative public-private partnerships and policies to address the growing concerns of the region’s societies and beyond,” said Espen Barth Eide, Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board, World Economic Forum.
A key component of an effective partnership lies in the financial sustainability, notes the report. The nature of the financing framework needs to be set from the beginning of the collaboration as to reduce the dependency on a single actor and to ensure the continuity of the work. For example, the Digital Health Project of the Federation of Internal Medicine (FEMI) in Uruguay showcases economic and financial sustainability as its funds are divided between the contributions of its institutions as well as 3% of the amount paid by the national health fund to health service providers.
“The combination of specific skills and knowledge of different actors is a powerful driver in the generation of the next policies and measures to tackle social and sustainable development challenges,” said Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). “Governments of the region should provide incentives, enabling environments and new spaces for building trust, long-term common visions and innovative collaborations among all these actors,” she added.
The case studies, prepared by Members of the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Latin America, cover a broad set of thematic areas, including education, health, sustainable development, climate change, access to and use of information and communication technologies, post-disaster prevention and reconstruction, and gender equality.
The World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils is a unique, global community of over 1,500 premier thought leaders who are the foremost experts in their fields of academia, business, government, international organizations and civil society.
Notes to Editors
The World Economic Forum is an international institution committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation in the spirit of global citizenship. It engages with business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
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