Aligning with partners

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Aligning with partners

Introduction

Finding the right partner is like finding the missing puzzle piece:  the one that completes the picture. The right partner brings complementary strengths, shares your vision, and knows how to get things done on the ground. Choosing well is a strategic move because together, you set the direction and shape the potential of your initiative.

What does it mean?

The right partner isn’t just someone who agrees with your goals. It’s someone who fits strategically, brings different but compatible capabilities, and can collaborate effectively in the real-world context you’re working in. Partnerships thrive on clarity when it comes to clear roles, shared value, and a joint ability to create something that neither could achieve alone.

Why does it matter?

Without the right partners, even the most exciting digital tools can stumble through missing local needs or struggling to sustain impact. The right match turns good ideas into grounded, scalable action.

Ingredients for aligning with partners

1

Ensure “boots on the ground” across all partners

When all partners are active in the same region, collaboration can become smoother. Shared presence helps the partnership move faster and stay closely connected to local needs. Try to use this local presence to tap into existing networks, relationships, and knowledge.

2

Find an ally

Picking the right decision makers from the partner organization with the capabilities you need. This person should be willing to champion the partnership internally, connect you with key stakeholders and decision-makers, help remove roadblocks and maintain momentum. Focus on earning their trust by showing clear value, communicating openly, and aligning on shared goals.

Take time to get to know each other

3

Stakeholder maps are a good start, but relationships aren’t built on spreadsheets. Real understanding comes from spending time together, for instance through workshops or joint projects. Trust and alignment grow slowly, so give them room to develop.

Build on differences, play to strengths

4

Partnerships aren’t built on sameness, but they thrive on complementarity. Look for partners who fill your gaps, bring fresh perspectives, and add strengths you don’t have. The magic happens when diverse expertise, networks, and resources come together toward a shared goal. Once you’ve found that mix, turn diversity into unity. Align roles and responsibilities with what each organization does best, who leads, who implements, who advocates to support the common vision.

Set competition aside

5

Collaborating with competitors may not be something we naturally like to do, but the real win comes from creating more together than we ever could alone. Therefore, it can be helpful to think less tug-of-war, more jazz band: blending knowledge, ideas, funding, and networks into something richer, louder, and far more exciting than a solo act.

Engage a broker

6

In complex, multi-stakeholder settings, a broker can make all the difference. Think of brokers as a matchmaker, someone who connects the right partners, aligns interests, and helps navigate complexity early on.

Illustration

Example for aligning interests and roles of key stakeholders

Example for aligning interests and roles of key stakeholders for developing a Comprehensive Primary Health Care District in Maharashtra.

In Satara, Maharashtra (India) a multi-stakeholder initiative led by PATH India demonstrates how partnerships can drive scalable, innovative healthcare reform. By aligning the unique strengths of government, civil society, and the private sector, the collaboration enhances service delivery, digital integration, and community engagement for more sustainable health outcomes. The case highlights how core capabilities of organizations are used to realize the collaboration and which key gains each organization receives from the partnership. 

Partner

Core capabilities

Key gains

Public Health Department of Maharashtra (Government)

Developing a quality assurance initiative for health centres that can be scaled into a state-wide quality resource package, featuring comprehensive modules on the National Quality Assurance Standards and Standard Operating Procedures.

Identifying deployment-ready, scalable solutions that advance the quality, accessibility, and affordability of primary healthcare in India; advancing public health goals but also strengthening public confidence and the government’s legitimacy as a responsive and effective institution.

Path India (NGO)

(Technical) expertise, project management, on-the ground support (standardized guidelines), engaging with communities, strong relationships with donors, coordinating and managing relationships

Advance health equity through purposeful innovation and strategic partnerships

NIRAMAI Health Analytix (Start up)

Developed a novel AI-based screening solution—a portable, affordable, radiation-free, and privacy-sensitive medical device for early breast cancer detection

Strategic opportunity to amplify its impact; validate the solution in real-world public health settings; opened doors to deeper engagement with government stakeholders; received support in refining its operational model, navigating complex regulatory frameworks, and better understanding market access dynamics.

Philips (Multi-national company)

Technology expert and catalyst for innovation and scale; served on the jury of the PHC Tech Challenge, evaluating digital health and MedTech solutions aimed at bridging critical gaps in primary care. The Philips Innovation Campus in Bangalore contributed by screening and assessing promising innovations, Philips Foundation co-funded and supported resource mobilization

Drive systemic change by contributing not just solutions, but also vision, expertise, and resources to co-create integrated healthcare models; contribute to mission to improve people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation.

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