What’s new on the PPP Knowledge Lab?

The PPP Knowledge Lab was launched a year ago with the goal of making resources on public-private partnerships (PPPs) more accessible to the PPP community and filling a gap in knowledge around infrastructure and PPPs. Emboldened with this goal, the world’s top multilateral development agencies came together to create a central platform of comprehensive information on PPPs. Resources on the PPP Knowledge Lab have grown tremendously since its launch.

What’s New on the Lab?

The Lab’s searchable document library of PPP resources averages 50,000 monthly downloads and the library has grown to include almost 3,500 documents on PPPs from Lab partners in seven different languages (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese). By consolidating these resources in one place, the PPP Knowledge Lab has truly become a platform for the PPP community to easily access any information  they might need on PPPs. 
 
The PPP Reference Guide was one of the top downloads from the Lab in 2016. The updated version of the Guide is now available online, and is the newest addition to the Lab. It includes in-depth coverage of PPP basics, the PPP framework, and the steps involved in the PPP process. The online version allows new reference materials to be added as they become available, keeping the guide always up-to-date.
 
The PPP Knowledge Lab also has a new homepage. Designed to enhance our users’ experience, the new homepage features easier viewing of new materials and improved site navigation. Check it out to see recently published PPP reports and tools from our partner organizations.
 
The Lab also highlights instances of MDB collaborations and partnerships, including most recently the Global Infrastructure Forum 2017. On the Global Infrastructure Forum page, you can find examples of joint MDB PPP projects, the Outcome Statement from the Forum, the summary of progress made since the 2016 Forum, as well as the recently-agreed MDB principles for crowding-in private sector financing.

New Partners

As the use of PPPs in infrastructure and demand for expertise in the area has grown, the Lab’s partnerships have expanded to include organizations beyond the founding multilateral development banks (MDBs). Each partner contributes a vast range of knowledge as well as regional and topical expertise in PPPs to the Lab. Read more about our newest partners’ key contributions to the PPP field:

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Public-Private Partnerships in OECD’s 35 Member countries represent approximately $0.8 trillion. OECD has developed international standards like the OECD Recommendation on Principles for Public Governance of Public-Private Partnerships to help governments get PPPs right by providing best practices based on member country experiences.

• The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

UNECE’s International PPP Centre of Excellence works to strengthen the impact of PPPs by putting people first in PPP projects. To support this goal, they have created the International Standards for People-first PPPs. On joining the Lab, UNECE said: “UNECE believes that this global platform supported by many multilateral development banks and now by the United Nations will grow even stronger and will be utilized by various constituencies around the world.” Check out the entirety of UNECE’s Article.

• The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

ESCAP supports governments in implementing measures to efficiently involve the private sector in infrastructure development. They do this by offering training materials for internal capacity building like their E-Learning Series on Public-Private Partnerships and by providing diagnostic tools like the PPP Qualitative Value-for-Money Toolkit to assess countries PPP readiness.

• The Global Partnership on Output-based Aid (GPOBA)

GPOBA is a multi-donor trust fund dedicated to the support of results-based financing (RBF) and output-based aid (OBA) approaches. Their publication OBApproaches: Output-Based Aid at Work in PPPs details how OBA and PPPs can work together to ensure that finance flowing from the private sector reaches those most in need.

• The World Economic Forum (WEF)

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the international organization for public-private cooperation. WEF’s Strategic Infrastructure Initiative provides a roadmap of best practices and actionable frameworks on strategic infrastructure development in their Knowledge Series Reports: Steps to Prioritize and Deliver Infrastructure Effectively and Efficiently and Steps to Prepare and Accelerate Public-Private Partnerships.

• The Global Infrastructure Hub (GIH)

​The Global Infrastructure Hub's goal is to increase the flow and quality of public and private infrastructure by facilitating knowledge sharing, highlighting reforms and connecting the public and private sectors. GIH’s key tools include the Global Infrastructure Hub Project Pipeline, a global database on infrastructure projects at all stages of project development, and a searchable guide on PPP Risk Allocation in PPP projects across sectors. 


We hope you will explore and familiarize yourself with the rich resources available on the PPP Knowledge Lab. As we continue to evolve to be the most reliable and up-to-date one-stop-shop of quality PPP information, please also share with us suggestions for resources or feedback.
 

Notes:

The PPP Reference Guide Version 3.0 is a joint product of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Global Infrastructure Hub (GIH), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the World Bank Group.

The PPP Knowledge Lab, created with funding from the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF), is a collaboration between the African Development Bank (AfDB), ADB, EBRD, GPOBA, IDB, IsDB, Multilateral Investment Fund, OECD, ESCAP, UNECE, WEF, GIH and the World Bank Group.