Mobilizing the resources of the for-profit sector to support the expansion of family planning services in the developing world

This paper draws on A.I.D."s experience with for-profit projects in outlining a plan to enlist the varied resources of the for-profit sector to increase access to and transfer the costs of FP services in the developing world. Three categories of for-profit FP service providers are identified - companies which provide FP services to employees, organizations which offer FP services on a commercial basis, and voluntary contributions of FP services from private businesses. After a brief discussion of lessons gleaned from prior A.I.D. experience in for-profit FP projects (in areas such as project design, market segmentation, demand creation, service delivery, leveraging corporate resources, staffing/management, and sustainability), individual sections of the report examine (1) the goals and objectives of future pro-profit sector FP projects, (2) the overall strategy of future work in the for-profit sector, and (3) ways of tapping the potential of each of the three types of for-profit providers. The paper also briefly discusses the need to work with publicly owned businesses and organized labor to bring FP programs into the workplace. A discussion of how to draw multinationals into the process is included among the appendices.