Global Health Projects: Nicaragua
Strategic Alliances for Social Investment Project (Alliances2 para la Educación y la Salud) (2010-2013)
Client/Agency
United States Agency for International Development
Description
Alliances2 is an innovative project designed to address high-priority health and education issues in Nicaragua. Alliances2 helps establish and maintain public-private partnerships (PPPs) with corporations, foundations, universities, nongovernmental organizations, national agencies, and the donor community—as well as among local governments, civil society, and the private sector--to increase social sector investments in communities.
Alliances2 aims to sustainably build the capacity of local organizations to improve health and education in Nicaragua. To achieve this goal, funds leveraged from the PPPs are distributed as grants to local organizations to implement projects that improve the quality of basic education and increase access to and the quality of maternal and child health and nutrition services.
In the education sector, PPPs support programs that improve the learning environment by addressing quality, access, and efficiency of basic education services. Alliances2 supports activities in private schools, including training teachers in the latest classroom methodologies and improving school facilities and materials.
In the health sector, Alliances2 engages and mobilizes the private sector to support programs in high-poverty areas that increase access to and the quality of maternal and child health and nutrition services and help to prevent HIV/AIDS among most-at-risk populations.
The program builds upon USAID's successful predecessor project in Nicaragua, also implemented by RTI, which leveraged over $11 million in funding and funded 21 projects.
More Information
- Building Alliances for Healthier, More Educated Communities in Nicaragua (newsletter article)
- USAID|Alianzas Facebook Page (website)
Strategic Alliances for Social Investment (Alianzas) (2006-2009)
Client/Agency
United States Agency for International Development
Background
In this era of diminishing public resources, the Alianzas project is an innovative strategy to increase social investments. As part of USAID's Central America Regional Strategy, RTI is implementing Alianzas to increase private sector investments in health, nutrition, and education by forging public/private strategic partnerships. Alianzas builds on the growing corporate social responsibility movement that has emerged in the region and on the willingness to seek new ways to achieve mutual goals of social investment.
Purpose
To identify, develop, and manage public-private alliances that contribute to
- Increased and improved social sector investments
- Increased access and improved quality of basic education
- Increased use of quality maternal-child and reproductive health services.
Activities
Based on the success of the Alianzas project in Guatemala, in March 2006 Alianzas was expanded to Nicaragua. The program aims to leverage $2 in cash and in-kind donations for every $1 of USAID funding.
The Alianzas/Nicaragua program has exceeded these targets with a leveraging ratio of 2.5 to 1. As of June 2008, total investments in Nicaragua were $5.3 million, of which $3 million was raised by RTI through private sector investments.
One partnership with the private sector has enabled the building of a library in a remote rural school in north central Nicaragua, where 1,276 students and 25 teachers will have access to books and other learning resources. The Alianzas project has been successful in facilitating public/private sector collaboration, increasing capacity of local organizations, and contributing to improved health and education outcomes among disadvantaged populations in Central America.
Alianzas has also recently expanded into El Salvador. In addition to the activities carried out in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, RTI also plans to develop regional alliances with companies who work throughout Central America. Regional alliances provide private sector companies the opportunity to streamline their social investments and make them more efficient by rolling out similar programs in multiple country settings.
More Information