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I’ve been immersed in the world of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for over a decade, and during that time I have seen first-hand how these partnerships can help large-scale infrastructure projects overcome serious challenges. The new APMG PPP Certification Program, a global certification program on PPPs, offers access to knowledge at a scale that has never before existed, and it has the potential to improve the effectiveness of infrastructure PPPs around the world.

Filling a gap

The APMG PPP Certification Program is a significant step forward in the long-term goal of introducing PPPs as an effective option for meeting countries’ basic service and infrastructure needs, while helping to reduce poverty. But until now, people involved in PPP projects have lacked a common professional language, set of terms, and understanding of best practices based on experience. In some cases, this has resulted in PPPs that did not achieve their potential or benefit those in need as originally intended.  

The APMG PPP Certification Program offers a path to higher quality PPPs because it fills these gaps, strengthening the professionalism of those who are actually creating, staffing, and managing those partnerships. On an even more fundamental level, the program will help countries decide which projects are best suited to the PPP approach so that time and resources are used most effectively.

First of its kind

The APMG PPP Certification Program and CP3P, the new professional credential for those who complete the program, are products of a ground-breaking collaboration among multilateral development banks (MDBs) and institutions that share the belief that more effective PPPs offer possibilities that have not yet been realized.  The program is an innovation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), and the World Bank Group (WBG), and is partly funded by the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF).  

One element of the APMG PPP Certification Program that distinguishes it is the PPP Certification Program Guide, a free, downloadable, and comprehensive body of knowledge on all aspects of PPPs. This PPP Certification Program Guide is a stand-alone resource on PPPs as well as a tool to support candidates’ work toward the CP3P credential; as such, it is a monumental contribution to scholarship on infrastructure and PPPs. The team that created and reviewed it includes several of the world’s leading PPP experts, hand-picked by the founding MDBs.  Together, the APMG PPP Certification Program, the PPP Certification Program Guide, and the CP3P credential build a foundation upon which PPPs, used in the right circumstances, can achieve their full potential.

The World Bank Group and PPPs

On our end, the World Bank Group is committed to helping governments make informed decisions about improving access and quality of infrastructure services, including the PPP delivery option when the circumstances are right.  This approach is further strengthened when governments can assemble robust data, build capacity, develop and test tools, promote disclosure, and encourage engagement with all relevant stakeholders. Information and guidance on each of these can be found at the PPP Knowledge Lab, an online platform developed in collaboration with the MDBs: https://pppknowledgelab.org/.

PPPs can address the World Bank Group’s twin goals by enhancing the reach and quality of the delivery of basic services.  When designed well and implemented in a balanced regulatory environment, PPPs can bring greater efficiency and sustainability to the provision of such public services as water, sanitation, energy, transport, telecommunications, healthcare, and education.  PPPs can allow for better allocation of risk between public and private entities. PPPs are one tool among others for infrastructure delivery; every country has its own unique opportunities and challenges, and as an institution we recognize that solutions need to be tailored to the context. 

My sincere thanks go to everyone who has made the program and body of knowledge possible.  This includes the forward-thinking MDBs and institutions that committed early on to this project, as well as the steering consultative committee, the World Bank Group and APMG project teams, the PPP Certification Program Guide’s authors, and the external review panel members. I’d also like to thank the candidates who will be pursuing the CP3P credential, because their work will help strengthen infrastructure around the world.   

I invite you to read my recent blog post, which discusses this in greater depth, at:

http://blogs.worldbank.org/ppps/worldwide-effort-improve-ppp-practice

Jyoti Bisbey

Jyoti is the Program leader of the PPP Certification Program on behalf of the MDBs (ADB, EBRD, IDB, MIF, IsDB, WBG and PPIAF).  She sits in the PPP Unit of the World Bank Group and is based in Washington DC.

Jyoti is currently leading the dialogue on PPPs in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan from the World Bank Group and previously in Brazil, Vietnam, Russia, Uruguay, Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya and Ethiopia.  Her work focusses on infrastructure project financing, financial viability assessments and structuring of PPP options.

Her recent achievements have been defining the private capital mobilization/catalyzation among development community; launching the Global PPP Certification program −‘CP3P’; financial recovery planning for Vietnam Electricity and; structuring PPPs in Irrigation toolkit. Jyoti specializes in Infrastructure Finance with an MBA from George Washington University and Mathematics in undergraduate, she has over 10 years of work experience in project finance transactions and PPPs.

See below for some examples of Jyoti's other work: