An economic framework for transitioning to capacity building

Abstract

Global Health Organizations (GHOs) often focus on resource provisioning strategies to assist communities in need, especially when disaster strikes. While such strategies are commendable, how should GHOs approach the challenge of developing sustainable strategic objectives after critical needs have been addressed? Leveraging the context of GHOs partnering with communities in need of support after disaster strikes, we propose an economic framework for use in strategic assessment and transition planning. We focus on a strategic process by which GHOs can systematically assess and manage the temporal shift from resource provisioning to capacity building strategies. The proposed framework is applied to pragmatic field experiences undertaken by the American Red Cross in the aftermath of the 2007 Peru earthquake. We specifically develop and propose: (1) An economic strategy assessment framework for GHOs seeking to provide support to communities characterised by high risk variances, incentive complexities and contingencies, and, (2) A practical strategic transition model for GHOs that emphasises proactively moving towards capacity building programme objectives through an emphasis on co-creation of value with community partners.

Keywords:

• economic framework
• strategy
• resource provisioning
• capacity building
• Peru 2007 earthquake

Acknowledgements

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American National Red Cross.