Partner with Us
Building the organisational capability that makes digital health transformation actually work
Digital health keeps failing for the same reason, and it's not the technology.
It's the absence of what every other sector takes for granted: an IT organisation. Not a project team. Not a vendor relationship. An actual, permanent capability that operates systems, evolves them over time, and survives when funding priorities shift.
We're a network of practitioners who've built exactly that—in health ministries, yes, but also in industries where "system downtime" means planes don't fly and payments don't clear. We believe global health deserves the same operational seriousness. And we've spent a decade proving it's possible.
The Conversation We're Having
Digital health transformation isn't a technology problem—it's an organisational capability problem that happens to involve technology. For three decades, global health has been learning this lesson the expensive way. eSHIFT exists to change that trajectory.
We bring together practitioners who've actually built and sustained IT organisations—in health systems, certainly, but also in aviation, banking, telecommunications, and other sectors that learned these lessons decades ago. Our work centres on what we call the 'missing engineering layer': the organisational structures, governance frameworks, and human capabilities that determine whether digital investments produce lasting transformation or become cautionary tales.
The eSHIFT Partner Network operates as a Swiss Association with a focused board and an expansive vision. While our governance remains deliberately streamlined, our partnerships span continents and sectors. We're rather good at the unglamorous work of making collaboration actually function—programme management, technical governance, and the patient capacity building that outlasts donor cycles.
If you believe that operations are strategy (and everything else is presentation slides), you may have found your people.
How We Work Together
We engage with partners at multiple levels—from strategic advisory relationships to hands-on project collaboration. Below you'll find the perspectives we most value and the kinds of engagement each enables. Our 30+ country implementation experience has taught us that the best partnerships emerge when expectations are clear from the start.
Ministries & Government Digital Health Leaders
For Directors of Health Information, Chief Technology Officers, and those building national digital health capability
You're facing substantial HIE procurements with three-year timelines and fifteen-year capacity requirements. Your vendors are making promises; your donors are making demands; your staff are making do. Sound familiar?
eSHIFT works differently. We don't compete with your vendors or your consultants—we help you develop the internal capability to manage them effectively. Our blueprints for Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and 30+ other countries weren't just technical specifications; they were roadmaps for building the organisational capacity to govern digital health futures.
What partnership looks like:
- Access to validated frameworks, governance templates, and technical standards
- Candid conversation about what capacity development actually requires
- Connection with peer countries navigating similar challenges
- Programme and project management support that transfers knowledge rather than creating dependency
Private Sector IT Leadership
For CIOs, CTOs, Enterprise Architects, and IT Operations Leaders from aviation, banking, telecommunications, and enterprise IT
Here's an uncomfortable truth: the organisational patterns that make your IT infrastructure reliable, your vendor relationships manageable, and your total cost of ownership predictable are largely absent in global health digital initiatives. The sector keeps reinventing wheels that other industries perfected decades ago.
eSHIFT believes cross-sector learning is essential to breaking this cycle. If you've built service desks, managed enterprise architecture evolution, negotiated sustainable vendor contracts, or designed infrastructure for high availability, you possess knowledge that could transform how ministries of health approach digital transformation.
What partnership looks like:
- Advisory input on how proven IT organisational patterns translate to health contexts
- Thought leadership opportunities connecting your sector's lessons to global health
- Collaboration on frameworks that bridge the 'engineering layer' gap
Researchers & Academics
For those studying health systems strengthening, implementation science, or IT organisational management
Most digital health research focuses on what systems do. Very little examines why the organisations that operate them succeed or fail. Yet our field experience across 30+ countries suggests this organisational layer is precisely where most initiatives come undone.
We're particularly interested in researchers exploring questions like:
- What distinguishes digital health implementations that achieve vendor independence from those that don't?
- How do total cost of ownership patterns in health IT compare to telecommunications or banking?
- What organisational structures predict sustainable digital health capacity?
What partnership looks like:
- Access to de-identified implementation data and frameworks
- Collaboration on measuring what matters: organisational capability, not just system functionality
- Joint publication opportunities on the 'missing engineering layer'
Enterprise Architects & Technical Governance Professionals
For those who build and sustain IT organisations—not just implement systems
The global health sector is awash in people who can deploy applications. It desperately lacks people who can design enterprise architectures that evolve over fifteen years, establish technical governance frameworks that outlast donor cycles, and build procurement specifications that prevent vendor lock-in.
If your background includes TOGAF, ITIL, PRINCE2, or similar frameworks—and crucially, if you've applied these in real operational environments—you represent exactly the capability global health needs to develop.
What partnership looks like:
- Opportunities to contribute to framework development and blueprint refinement
- Training programme development building sector capability
- Deployment opportunities with countries developing digital health governance
Development Partners & Donor Organisations
For those funding digital health transformation who want to see returns that outlast grant cycles
You've likely funded digital health initiatives that delivered impressive demonstrations, generated enthusiastic reports, and then quietly collapsed when funding shifted. This isn't because the technology failed—it's because the organisational capacity to sustain it was never developed.
eSHIFT's approach inverts the typical project logic. Instead of funding implementations and hoping capability emerges, we advocate for capability investments that make implementations sustainable. Our experience suggests this approach transforms success rates from single digits to majorities.
What partnership looks like:
- Technical governance requirements that can be embedded in funding criteria
- Assessment frameworks for evaluating country readiness (not just enthusiasm)
- Honest conversation about realistic timelines—because fifteen-year problems don't solve in three-year cycles
Implementation Partners & Vendors
For organisations deploying digital health systems who want sustainable relationships, not dependency creation
The current model often pits vendor interests against country interests: you're incentivised to create dependency; they're incentivised to achieve independence. This dynamic produces predictable friction and unsustainable outcomes.
eSHIFT believes a different model is possible—one where vendors compete on quality, not lock-in. Where technical standards enable marketplace competition. Where knowledge transfer is built into contracts, not added as an afterthought.
What partnership looks like:
• Frameworks for structuring sustainable vendor relationships
• Technical standards that enable interoperability and prevent proprietary lock-in
• Partnership on implementations that build rather than replace local capacity
Support our work
We are a registered Swiss Association (Association) with a clear agenda for scaling what works. Our methodologies are proven across 30+ countries. Our frameworks are validated. What we need is the investment to systematise and multiply this capability faster than the sector is making expensive mistakes.
We welcome:
Grant Funding — For framework systematisation, training programme development, and country capability assessments
Venture Philanthropy — Strategic investment in scaling the 'missing engineering layer' across the global health sector
Programme Partnerships — Collaboration on multi-country initiatives where proper technical governance can transform outcomes
Every dollar invested in organisational capability creates multiplier effects across subsequent implementations. We've documented this. We can show you the numbers.
