English - EMRC

I nterview
Michel Lavollay
Senior consultant for UNAIDS
Brussels January 2008
Michel Lavollay was practicing medicine in
Paris when AIDS was discovered. He got involved
with this disease in the 1980’s, and cooperated
with French and international institutions
to find responses to deal with the issue.
This led him as far as the WHO in Geneva, the
UNDP as well as at the UN Secretariat in New
York, private foundations, and at the French
Embassy in Washington. He then spent four
years in the early creation of the Global Fund
to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, where he
pushed for the establishment of a public/private
strategy and funding mechanisms.
Considering this heavy experience, he works
now in Brussels as senior consultant for a variety
of organisations and, more recently, UN-
AIDS, where he aims at reinforcing the discussions
on health, HIV, diseases linked to poverty
and partnerships with the private sector.
■ Dialogues: How would you define
UNAIDS’ priorities regarding the poverty
situation in developing countries, since
health problems are often linked to poverty
and impede development?
ML: UNAIDS’ experience is critical, because
a lot of what is being discussed for the moment
on health, partnerships, or mechanisms for delivery
of services in the poorest countries, is
very much related to what was achieved in
responding to HIV. The participation of
UNAIDS as well as other institutions -
like the WHO or the Global Fund, the
World Bank, and the UNDP, is essential
to maintain a discussion on these health
topics and the broader discussions on
development objectives. UNAIDS’ role
is also important in creating partnerships
with the European institutions, governments,
and the civil society. We aim to help the
dialogue between civil society organisations
and local institutions. Actually, just talking
about the problems is not enough! Solutions
and practical mechanisms to bring additional
resources and capacities, in order to improve
the efficiency of delivery of development aid
must be found, and that is a real challenge.
DG DEV (Directorate for Development of the
European Commission) has an important and
clear role in strengthening partnerships.
■ Dialogues: Big organisations created by
the UN or the EU suffer criticism because of
their complexity and delay before action is
implemented. In your opinion, what could be
done for these organisations to acquire a better
knowledge on the matter and to improve
the public/private partnerships?
ML: There is an interesting parallel to draw
between the transitions at the UN in the past
twenty years, and what can happen with the
EU, in the sense that the EU must go through
transitions and transformations that take time
in order to integrate fully civil society in its
work. This is not about theory but reality and
how partnerships can actually exist. The reality
is that private corporations are developing
programmes and partnerships on the ground
with local authorities, NGOs, and are actually
transforming the reality in these particular
regions through these partnerships. It is this
sort of action that needs to be valued and promoted.
T he various institutions, the interested
stakeholders and groups like EMRC, who
have a critical role to play in bringing the people
together like you did it in Lisbon, have to
be supported in establishing a dialogue and to
gradually bring the stakeholders to a common
understanding that there is value and a benefit
in these discussions, not just for the institutions,
but also for the private sector. What is
The problem is not the
lack of resources, because
governments are receiving large
amounts of money. It is more a
question of dialogue
and understanding.
striking in Brussels is that everyone, politically
and in various parts of the EU process,
is convinced that nothing can be done without
public/private partnerships. This takes time
and requires a confidence-building process.
The potential partners must feel confident
that what they bring to the various partnerships
will not be modified or be deviated from
their original purpose because companies get
involved to do business! We have to stay away
from substitution and philanthropy!
I have participated with other institutions and
bilateral entities in developing an approach
that we call co-investment, a simple mechanism
in which partners negotiate the terms of
their partnerships in order for them to achieve
common goals. These co-investments in areas
such as HIV or malaria are being implemented
in Africa. There are even projects now that
benefit not only the partnerships, but also the
eco-systems. For example, in some coastal areas
in East-Africa, the regression of malaria
allowed to promote tourism and other secondary
benefits that are far beyond public health
and have a direct impact on the local economies.
Potentially, this is a constructive way to
look at development.
■ Dialogues: A healthy environment creates
and promotes development. In your opinion,
what could be done to help governments focus
on social issues, allowing therefore private
companies to focus on business issues?
ML: Today it is basically a question of necessity.
If you analyse what public, private and
local NGOs can achieve at a local level, the
political variable is out of the equation. There
is a lot less evaporation of funds nowadays and
we can clearly see what these organisations
can do together. The problem is not the lack
of resources, because governments are receiving
large amounts of money. It is more a
question of dialogue, and understanding.
Discussions are needed, because business
objectives can be compatible with
social objectives. Furthermore, there is a
need to define and promote the kinds of
mechanisms by which the objectives are
not lost. The business community needs
to be confident that its contributions
are respected, that the lines of responsibility
are well identified and that the monitoring is
shared in order to reach common objectives.
The analysis of what actually happens in practice
shows us that common objectives can be
found, that there are methodologies defined
between the parties involved. But at the institutional
level, there is always a tendency
to interpret and mistrust. So the discussions
should be focused on what is happening in
concrete terms. All these elements from real
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