Giving Compass' Take:

• This United Nations Foundation post details recommendations from a World Health Organization (WHO)/civil society partnership to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.

• Among the takeaways are building a more productive policy dialogue and expanding country-level leadership to respond to emergencies. How can aid groups support such goals?

• Here's why the key to universal health care in India may be community providers.

In 2015, all governments stood together as they approved the Sustainable Development Goals and made a commitment to achieve health and well-being for all. To not leave anyone behind on this journey, it’s critical to have diverse voices – especially the voices of the most vulnerable – represented across all levels of global health programs and policies.

Under the leadership of Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized that health for all isn’t possible without inclusive partnership.

In January, Dr. Tedros invited the UN Foundation and RESULTS to co-facilitate the formation of a task team to identify areas for enhanced collaboration between civil society organizations and WHO. It’s been an almost year-long process, but drawing on the insights of 21 civil society leaders we have engaged from 17 countries and after close consultations with constituencies around the world, the task team has put forward a set of recommendations to get us closer to achieving WHO’s strategic goals of promoting health, keeping the world safe, and serving the vulnerable.

Civil society organizations have a unique perspective of seeing where the rubber meets the road in global health and development. They represent, support, and organize communities at all levels and are often the most passionate advocates who can push decision makers to tackle new issues impacting people’s lives. Civil society organizations implement programs, deliver health services, and design and deploy new technologies. They research which programs are working, and more importantly, see which programs need to be changed to better meet people’s needs.

Read the full article about a new era of partnership between WHO and civil society by Kate Dodson at United Nations Foundation.