Factors Shaping Successful Public/private Partnerships in Information Technology

Research by: Xavier Duran

In October 2001, the CPSU was awarded a grant of £58,650 from the Department for International Development, for a six-month inception project, 'Factors shaping successful public/private partnerships in Information and Communications Technology'. The purpose of the study was to identify and inform public and private sector policy makers of the factors shaping successful pro-poor information society partnerships between business, government, the public sector and civil society. The inception phase was designed to lead to a substantive, twelve-month project thereafter.

To empower poor people culturally, economically, and socially via Information and Communications Technology (ICT) they must have access to the technology and be able to create and receive appropriate content through it. To achieve this, policies are needed which successfully stimulate investment in; appropriate infrastructure, and the provision of affordable, sustainable services and effective human resource development. Such pro-poor policies are often difficult to design, implement and sustain because on the one hand, the large investment needed for widespread ICT access is beyond the capacity of most agencies with poverty alleviation agendas while, on the other, market-driven strategies tend to focus on the most profitable areas of investment. As a result, equitable access to infrastructure and content is most likely to be achieved through partnerships between regional, national, and local government departments, public sector organisations, Community Based Organisations (CBOs), NGOs, the communications industry, and other private sector actors with an interest in developing widespread ICT networks accessible to poor people. Although this approach is widely accepted and often attempted, experience suggests that a balance of objectives and outcomes is often difficult to achieve and maintain in these partnerships, for various reasons including, hasty formation and a lack of mutual understanding of aims, constraints and working methods.

The study was planned to be conducted in two research phases. The inception phase (October 2001-March 2002) involved the development of a framework for understanding Public/Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the ICT sector, factors influencing private sector involvement, and the initial development of indicators for assessing the effectiveness of PPPs for addressing poverty. The 'Factors Shaping Successful Pro-Poor ICT Public-Private Partnerships: Inception Phase of a Study in Commonwealth Developing Countries' contains the major findings of the inception phase.

It was agreed with DfID that given the scarcity and short-lived nature of ICT PPPs found during the inception face and the impressive growth of new ICT PPPs, it was agreed that any future projects on the topic should allow more time for ICT PPPs to mature and for the study to collect more reliable information and to incorporate more ICT PPPs in the sample. Additionally, and as stated in the initial project formulation, any future projects on the topic should also develop a deeper conceptual understanding of the forms and functions of PPPs in the ICT sector, provide a survey of existing PPPs and test the indicators developed in the inception phase. In the light of this decision, the project did not move on to the substantive, second phase as originally envisaged.

The research team was composed by Allison Murray, Xavier Duran and Keith Yeomans. CPSU was working with two partners on this project, the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, Dhaka, and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was also supported by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, UK.

The findings of the inception phase were published in November 2002 in the following report: 'Factors Shaping Successful Pro-Poor ICT Public-Private Partnerships: Inception Phase of a Study in Commonwealth Developing Countries'.

The first phase of the study is published in the following report: 'Factors Shaping Successful Pro-Poor ICT Public-Private Partnerships: Inception Phase of a Study in Commonwealth Developing Countries'.