ABSTRACT
The important role that the private sector has in providing health care in low-resource countries is widely recognized. Implementing properly designed and financed public health policies are operationally much easier when private providers are organized into formal associations or networks, yet in many settings the private sector is disorganized or loosely grouped through professional associations. Networks can take many forms but, in general, they can be considered as an affiliation of providers grouped together under a parent organization. Social franchising is a variant of the commercial franchise model, which is defined as “a contractual relationship between a franchisee and a franchisor in which the franchisee agrees to produce or market a product or service in accordance with an overall blueprint devised by the franchisor.” Social franchises are an important and unique form of private sector initiative. Many issues germane to their development cut across other types of private provider networks clustered around individual private practitioners.
