Public-private partnerships (PPPs) – or public-private alliances (PPAs) - are receiving increasing amounts of attention. There is broad acknowledgement across the public and private sectors that sustainable solutions to serious development issues require collaboration.  Additionally, the current economic conditions create an intensified desire to mitigate risk and to share resources and expertise.  Under President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. federal government has increased pressure to leverage the private sector in development initiatives.  Meanwhile, ten of the leading international development agencies are embracing some type of public-private partnership initiative, and corporations are looking to governments and on-the-ground partners to help them access new markets and to remove social barriers along the way.

The concept of working together in partnership or building alliances between the public sector, commercial entities and/or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is not new.  However, the current U.S. government administration’s mandate to increase and expand these types of partnerships also comes with a stronger emphasis on results that goes beyond just measuring the amount of financial resources leveraged.  The administration has issued a call for accountability and measurement of program results, mirroring a similar demand that has emerged from corporate philanthropists and other donors in recent years.   Furthermore, parties involved in these alliances – not just government agencies like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) but also participating nonprofit organizations, corporations and other donors – have begun to take a more critical look at the value proposition of alliances in the context of the developing world.  This pressure to demonstrate results is compounded by the very complexity of measuring partnership value. Partners and donors both struggle to measure not only how well a partnership is executed, but also how the alliance contributes to each partner’s desired impact (whether development or business oriented).  Furthermore, partners want to understand the incremental value of working in partnership.  Without knowing this, why partner at all?

The solution to these issues lies in adopting an outcomes-based approach to forming, operating and measuring the value of PPPs.  By focusing on outcomes, partners define success early, build alliances more likely to generate significant value, and more easily measure and demonstrate results.  Ultimately, the concepts presented in this paper will help potential partners generate higher value partnerships that will deliver relevant, measurable results through strategies that are more effective and efficient.

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