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Governments around the world now understand that public-private partnerships (PPPs) can be an important option to help meet infrastructure and basic service needs while contributing to a reduction in poverty.  By bundling construction and service delivery, PPPs offer the possibility of improved accountability, greater innovation, and long-term efficiencies.  However, to get the hoped-for benefits of PPPs, public sector officials and managers need to develop and maintain skills and capacities to identify, assess, and procure PPPs – and, once the project is up and running, to manage the contract and regulatory requirements.  

Multilateral development banks and other institutions have long recognized this need. That’s why, several years ago, we began thinking about how to enhance professionalism among PPP practitioners around the world.  We brainstormed on ways that a certification program created with direct input from our institutions could transform emerging markets and developing economies by raising the quality of all PPPs.  Specifically, our goals included standardizing our institutions’ approaches, covering topics evenly, and assuring a sustainable delivery structure. 

Our vision has been realized in the new Certified PPP Professional (CP3P) credential and the PPP Certification Program Guide, which together provide the foundation for the progress we seek in PPPs.  Among other goals, this new effort defines a core set of skills PPP project team members need, and offers a common language for the PPP process that paves the way for shared understanding and appropriate expectations.  This is the first and most important step forward in creating and executing forward-looking, effective PPPs across sectors and regions.

Specialists involved in all phases of PPP projects – including public sector employees, advisors, and financial and legal experts, among many others – will benefit tremendously from pursuit of the CP3P credential. Individuals possessing the credential signal their expertise in PPP practice, which gives organizations employing these qualified professionals greater credibility in the marketplace by demonstrating the technical competence of those assigned to PPP initiatives. 

The PPP Certification Program Guide, which prepares students for the CP3P credential exam, is the new definitive resource on PPPs – a reference manual exhaustive in scope, meticulous in coverage, and unwavering in its attention to detail.  It stands apart from other PPP source materials because the Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the World Bank Group (WBG). hand-picked a core team of authors,  along with eighty peer reviewers,  who wrote and reviewed each section.  These writers and reviewers are PPP experts with both recent and long-term experience in private sector and public sector transactions across industries and regions.  Their broad and deep contributions to the PPP Certification Program Guide provide readers with access to materials, case studies, and other information that in some cases has never been published before.

The APMG PPP Certification Program, which includes the CP3P credential and the PPP Certification Program Guide, was developed by APMG.  It is an innovation of ADB, EBRD, IDB, IsDB, MIF and WBG. The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) provides financial support to this project. 

The unwavering efforts of many individuals made this program possible, and we would especially like to thank the World Bank Group’s Jyoti Bisbey (supported by  Elena Timusheva), who led the endeavour.  Steering committee members, including Trevor Lewis (ADB), Mathew Jordan-Tank (EBRD), Jean-Alexandre Blanchard (EBRD), Dennis Blumenfeld (MIF of IDB), Fida Rana (IsDB), Angelo Dell’Atti (WBG/IFC), and Clive Harris (WBG) provided the right guidance at the right time, representing their institutions’ perspective while understanding what was required to join forces for this initiative.

When our organizations banded together to support the APMG PPP Certification Program, committing time, expertise, and financial support, we did so believing that emerging markets and developing economies cannot afford to lose any more time in achieving their potential through PPPs. We back this approach to PPP education and training as a critical step forward that will usher in an era of even more effective, wide-ranging, and sustainable PPPs around the world. 

  • Ryuichi Kaga ADB
  • David Bloomgarden, MIF of IDB
  • Thomas Maier, EBRD
  • Francois Bergere, PPIAF
  • Dr. Walid Abdelwahab, IsDB
  • Laurence Carter, WBG

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