Coordinating cooperation in the area of health and social protectionMission

The mandate of GIP SPSI (groupement d’intérêt public Santé et protection sociale internationale - public interest group for health and social protection in the international arena) is to support and facilitate the development of a unified French service offering in the area of international cooperation in the health and social welfare sectors.

GIP SPSI’s founding agreement, which was approved by departmental order of 12 May 2005, describes the organisation as a “platform for interaction and information sharing between public, parapublic and private operators providing cooperation and technical assistance to partner states and foreign institutions in the area of health and social welfare”.

To accomplish that task, GIP SPSI gathers together the main French players in the sector. Without supplanting the latter, it has several missions as specified in the founding agreement:

• to provide expertise, advice, logistical support, publishing facilities, training and, where relevant, coordination, for GIP SPSI members;

• to identify technical assistance needs of third countries through in—country scoping missions, in line with the priorities identified by government;

• to generate a French response to cooperation programmes funded by the international agencies;

• to assist GIP members in their relations with the international agencies, third countries and requesting countries (preparation of calls for tender, outreach activities, etc.);

• to lay the groundwork for a coordinated response to requests or calls for tender in cases where no individual response is feasible;;

• to facilitate, where necessary, collaboration between French and European operators on projects in requesting countries..

Each member of the group maintains complete freedom of action.

Once the initial groundwork has been laid, the project is implemented not by GIP SPSI itself but by the GIP member(s) concerned.

The principles governing the GIP SPSI are set out in an amendment (passed by unanimous vote) to the Act of 4 March 2002 concerning patient rights and the quality of the health care system. The founding agreement was adopted on February 2005 and approved by departmental order of 12 May 2005.

GIP SPSI has been fully operational since 2006.

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