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Knowledge Systems for Sustainable Development

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    • Partnerships between BOTH THE public and THE private sector, A KEY ISSUE FOR DEVELOPMENT
      • How can cooperation between actors in a market economy be a success? - Pierre Marc JOHNSON

How can cooperation between actors in a market economy be a success? - Pierre Marc JOHNSON

As regards major public health issues, the fact that there are two confluent situations must not be forgotten:

  • on the one hand, the needs of developing countries are evident and frequently desperate. Although mention of them has raised public awareness, one seldom gets the impression that the actions required to alleviate this poverty are launched with efficiency, perseverance, and vigour.
  • secondly, it is essential to understand that the market economy framework plays an essential role in relations between fellow citizens, and in relations between citizens and the State. Sustainable development issues are part of that context. The market economy cannot be left out of the equation when the ways to remedy even public health problems are analysed and deployed.

However, demand is largely made up of social needs, which implies value choices and a definition of the challenges of social solidarity; it is therefore unreasonable to allow the market to be the sole instrument to respond. To respond to these needs, a multiplicity of actors have a role to play: States, the private sector, civil society, the world of education, academia, and others. One of the contemporary issues is to find the way that would allow the different actors to find their specific role in meeting these social needs, without upsetting the existing economic framework.

Cooperation between actors: a complex but necessary challenge

It cannot be concealed that working in partnership can lead to conflict, particularly with influential people who are reluctant to allow some part of their authority over local populations to be taken away. It is also difficult to obtain financial support from donors when one is not on the spot, but presence in the field inevitably increases costs. Therefore, to design and manage a long term project is a particularly complex task that must integrate numerous organisational parameters..
Renaud PIARROUX, Professor of Parasitology and Mycology, Director ot the Rural Health and Environment Group (SERF - Santé et Environnement Rural) at the University of Franche-Comté