How corporate social responsibility programs help build human capacity in low income countries: An evaluation of the Pfizer Global Health Fellows Program

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Frank G. Feeley, JD¹, Sarah C. Richards, PhD¹, Taryn Vian, MSc², Patrick Connelly, MPH¹, and Kelly McCoy, MPH¹. (1) Department of International Health/School of Public Health, Boston University, 715 Albany St., T4W, Boston, MA 02118, 617 414 1263, mccoyk@bu.edu, (2) Department of International Health/School of Public Health, Boston University, 715 Albany St., T4W, Boston, MA 02118

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the health sector is a growing area of debate, especially in light of the AIDS epidemic. Activists have challenged pharmaceutical companies to develop new models of CSR, to assure that market power is not abused and companies act with integrity. Traditionally, corporate philanthropy has involved free or reduced price drug distribution programs or cash donations to assist communities. Yet, these programs do little to build long-term, sustainable solutions to health system problems. Pfizer Corporation has piloted a new approach to complement traditional philanthropy: a volunteer program through which Pfizer employees work with NGO staff to develop the capacity of frontline agencies responding to the HIV-AIDS epidemic in the developing world. Since 2003, over 70 Global Health Fellows have worked for 3-6 months with local NGOs in 15 countries. In late 2005 and early 2006, a team of academic researchers evaluated the Pfizer Global Health Fellows program. Through site visits to five countries and over 120 interviews with fellows and supervisors, the evaluation team documented success factors and analyzed the outcomes of the program for NGOs, fellows, and their Pfizer work units. This presentation will present the evaluation findings and suggest lessons learned for public-private partnerships.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to

Describe a corporate social responsibility program that provides voluntary technical assistance by pharmaceutical industry employees to NGOs doing frontline development work in resource-poor settings;
Recognize design and implementation factors that increase the effectiveness and sustainability of corporate social responsibility programs.

Keywords: Sustainability, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation

Building Human Capacity in Resource Poor Settings

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA