Hospital Partnerships (Initiative Klinikpartnerschaften) is a joint initiative of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation (EKFS). The programme is designed to foster sustainable partnerships between German public-sector health facilities and health institutions in low or middle-income countries around the globe.

The programme assists new and established partnership projects with networking, expert exchanges, capacity building and quality assurance. The aim is to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure through training specialists and conducting applied research, thereby helping to optimise healthcare provision in the partner countries. The idea is to extend the strength of peer-to-peer partnerships between health facilities in Germany and abroad to build capacities and generate new approaches to deliver demand-driven services for people in the partner countries.

Funding is provided for partnerships between German health organisations and health institutions in low or middle-income countries, according to the OECD DAC criteria. Eligible to apply are German public-sector health facilities, such as university hospitals, other hospitals and public-benefit organisations in the health sector, such as associations, and their partners. The German partner is the official applicant. On the partner side, the health institution involved must be linked to the public health system.

Partnership projects may be awarded up to €50,000 for a maximum period of two years. If follow-on funding is approved, partnerships may receive up to a total of five years of funding. Funding is provided for travel costs, training costs, materials and equipment, and administrative costs. The programme supports voluntary work of staff at health institutions in Germany. Personnel costs must be covered by the applying institution.

(This Bulletin article was the subject of a ResearchConnect news alert.)