In November 1999, the Public-Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment (PPPUE) facility of the United Nations Development Programme and Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft (CDG) organised a conference in Bonn, Germany that brought together experts on public-private partnerships to discuss how these arrangements could expand urban environmental services such as water supply and sanitation, waste management, and sustainable energy.

The Conference included presentations on several very different types of PPP alternatives, illustrating the range of options available to problem solvers and municipal decision-makers. Among the presentations were descriptions of a joint venture waste management enterprise in Windhoek, Namibia; a water concession in Cartagena, Colombia; a survey of small-scale independent and community-based water supply and sanitation providers; and an overview of the opportunities and constraints facing PPPs in small to medium-sized utilities. Each of these presentations offers insights into a new way of doing business that has great potential for increasing the amount of capital and know-how available to meet one of the next century's greatest challenges: increasing access to basic services for the urban poor.

Conference participants also benefited from the viewpoints expressed by three municipal leaders, who described their cities' environmental infrastructure needs and their partnership experiences. The perspective of local leadership is critical, as private sector participation in the provision of public services will require substantial political will, local commitments and public sector capacity building.

Among the participants at the conference were a number of high-ranking officials from several donor countries, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. This high level and representative attendance demonstrates the relevance of promoting greater integration of private sector resources in traditionally public sector services and infrastructure. It also demonstrates a commitment within the international community to address growing urban environmental problems in an innovative way.

One of the objectives of the conference was to engage these experts in a discussion of experiences in facilitating or financing PPPs, and to set priorities for PPP development. A second objective was to explore ways in which to include the donor community in the PPP network that UNDP is developing through the PPPUE. This evolving network is reflected in the partnerships between UNDP and CDG for PPP training activities, and in the virtual on-line network of the PPPUE Global Learning Network, which boasts institutional partners ranging from Yale University to the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and the Centre for Sustainable Technology Transfer in China. Experts from donor agencies have an important and substantive role to play in this network, as the PPPUE facility is designed to help increase the impact and effectiveness of limited donor funds.

Solving the problem of chronic financial shortfalls that leads to inadequate levels of public services represents one of the biggest challenges in urban development around the world. The experts who attended the Bonn Conference recognise that the current challenges require a new level of co-operation and creative thinking, and they have demonstrated their willingness to make partnerships happen.

The following document contains the materials presented and discussed at the conference, and is intended to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on PPPs and to set the stage for future collaborations between donors, organisations, governments, and institutions dedicated to improving environmental services and urban living conditions in developing countries.

Roberto Lenton
UNDP
New York

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