“The Value, Role, & Impact of Public-Private Partnerships in Africa"

FEEDS, FE3DS series

Remarks by Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders
International Affairs Advisor, AFRICARE
At
Robert H. Smith School of Business
Social Enterprise Symposium on Africa Public-Private Partnership Conference
University of Maryland
March 1, 2012

What is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP’s) and what value does this development paradigm have for Africa? Public-private partnerships (PPP’s) can take many forms, and can be projects and programs not just with the private sector. PPP's are one of the more innovative ways to address development, economic growth, unemployment and training (particularly for African youth, and women), and also can serve as a better mechanism to assist both African Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME’s), as well as a more propitious way to engage the dynamic African Diaspora. Traditionally, PPP’s in general are defined as an agreement (Memorandum or Contractual) for resources (financial and human, or a mix) between private and public sector entities. Organizations like the National Council on Public Private Partnerships (NCPPP) says a PPP exists through an “agreement [when] the skills and assets of each sector (public and private) are shared in delivering a service or facility for the use of the general public…including sharing the risks and rewards in the delivery of the service or facility.” (www.bit.ly/TNCPPP)

Although we are seeing a lot of improvements in the types of PPP’s, there remains a lot more room for improvement and creating non-traditional PPP's. For Africa, as long as donors have been in the development game there, many (not all) of the past development models have produced little-to-no sustainable success nor provided a lot of long-lasting results that fundamentally changed peoples’ lives and country challenges.

For Africa today, changing peoples' lives is so critical especially given the future demographics that are on horizon there. In using the year 2050 as a pivotal timeframe or value proposition year, let’s look at a few of the looming stats on Africa’s population and where the critical fault lines are, which will call for more and different types of development executed at a faster pace:

1. Africa will be the most populous Continent in the world, with a population of over 2.1 billion;

2. Youth workforce between the ages of 15-34 will be in excess of 1.1billion -- surpassing China and India’s workforce;

3. Between now and 2050, nearly 3 million new people become new entrants onto the Continent’s poverty matrix. (www.bit.ly/AFpop);

4. Africa will see its middle class continue to grow at a rate of 34.3% or more, possibly tripling its current 313 million middle classers. (www.bit.ly/Afmiddle);

Therefore What are the best development paradigms to assist the African public and private sectors, and its communities with these key demographic issues. PPP’s are a way to help, but we must get the right mix when creating them so they are not one-off wonders.

So let’s start with widening our PPP lens as to what a PPP is and be more creative about the players and the types.

Let’s Add Another P to the PPP Paradigm:

Innovation, Cutting-Edge Thinking, Adding New Players

Innovation – New partnerships need to be created, particularly with SMEs, MMEs (enterprises with less than 10 people), and the African Diaspora. A good example of this is the African Diaspora Market Place project, or ADM(www.bit.ly/AFdiaspora). ADM is a new partnership which includes NGOs, a U.S. private sector company and its foundation, and USAID focusing strictly on helping and providing grants to Diasporan SMEs.

Cutting-Edge Thinking – A number of creative programs are cropping up such as: the General Mills-USAID effort using PEPFAR-HIV/AIDS monies to increase capacity of African food companies(www.bit.ly/GenPep); International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) work with the Nigerian State of Cross River addressing hospital delivery services, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) work in Kenya on small farm holder horticulture projects (www.bit.ly/AF-IFAD).

Adding New Partners to the PPP Matrix - Stepping out of the traditional public-to-private sector framework, PPP’s today should and can look quite different. In fact we should be expanding the model more to include:

A.) Public Sector-to-Public Sector: Partnerships between in-country public sector entities or a public-to-public sector project where a cross-fertilization of budget resources among public sector entities can be used for a synergistic program. For example, Housing and Power Ministries could combine parts of their budgets to provide affordable, energy-efficient housing. In this case, the African public sector entities are both donor and stakeholder.

B.) Donor-to-African sub-sovereign: Donor partnerships that are directed to states/districts/parishes with in a country, or toward municipalities, or community governments – basically any governing body below Federal. Some donors are just beginning to look at this, particularly if there is good governance by local leadership.

C.) NGO-to-public sector: NGOs should begin to look more at working with any of the sub-sovereign public entities noted above, particularly in the area of community training – keeping in mind that partnerships also can include community in-kind contributions.

D.) NGOs-to-private sector: This is an area where Africare is leading the way as we have a number of private sector partnerships. Africare’s $1.5 million Coke Cola Company-funded South African HIV/AIDS clinic; our work with ExxonMobil to assist Chad women making shea butter; policy seminars with Chevron; and, a Benin water-sanitation project for schools with African vocalist Angelique Kojo, are just a few examples of innovative efforts, cutting-edge thinking, and adding new partners to the PPP paradigm.

What are the Positives of PPP and PPPP’s:

So maybe we need 4 P’s (PPPP) -- or a quadruple P -- instead of just three to describe these new kinds of partnerships, but what are the challenges to success? For success, the following elements are critical: the right mix of partners, risk-sharing, sufficient resources, agreed upon outcomes, leadership commitment, and above all stakeholder buy-in/contribution. What does this mean? Fundamentally, a positive outcome is unlikely if somewhere along the partnership link noted above there is (to use a common phrase differently) a value chain problem. For example my team in Nigeria and I moved some of our partnership efforts to the sub-sovereign level, meaning working with several of Nigeria’s states on specific sector development in both agriculture and education. In some cases we had great successes, and in others not because one or more of the links in the PPP value chain failed.

In the end, the partners have to believe in each other, know each other well, and be willing to make project adjustments as needed in order to move past the one-off wonders, and truly add more value and impact to the PPP development paradigm for Africa so that by 2050 sustainability can be achieved.

Black History Month 2012 Remarks by Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders

@UNACA-Africare Event 4 Rep Barbara Lee&Rosa Whitaker CEO Whitaker Group

"African American Women in Global Affairs, Culture and History"

Thursday, February 16, 2012
6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Welcome to this joint United Nations Association of the Capital Area (UNA-NC) -Africare Event. On behalf of Africare’s President Darius Mans, myself – the international affairs advisor, and Dr. Cynthia Carter, Chief Development Officer it is a pleasure to have you at Africare House. Africare would like to thank the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area, its president, Karen Mulhauser, and all of its members who dedicate their time and effort in advocacy for and educating about the United Nations and for its leadership in bringing all of us together this evening for this wonderful 2012 Black History event.

Let me just say a few words about Africare, although most of you are friends and know our dedication and history, but it is especially noteworthy during this Month – Black History Month (BHM) – which highlights the history of a people and provides a national platform for all of us to showcase what African-Americans continue to contribute to this great land of America, and our national fabric. You know Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about the “mutuality of inclusivity” – meaning that we are all connected, interdependent, and to use a techno phrase of today link-in®, to each other as people, as nations, and as organizations.

The UNA-CA and Africare share these same elements in common. Africare has dedicated 41 years in support of the people of Africa through it various programs in agriculture, health, water and sanitation with a specific focus on women and women’s leadership, the later point – women’s leadership - brings us to the theme of our program today. This evening we will honor two-dynamic, dedicated, and demonstrative women leaders, who are also both advocates, and trailblazers – the Honorable Congresswoman Barbara Lee of the 9th District of California, and Ms. Rosa Whitaker, CEO and President of the Whitaker Group, who has been a dear friend of mine for many years.

In this 86th year of celebrating the contributions of African Americans -- as this seminal activity began in 1926 as Negro History Week, and was changed to Black History Month in 1976 -- it gives both the UNA-CA and Africare the great pleasure to recognize two incredible African-American women leaders who are both symbolic and illustrative of the sentiments of BHM month – which calls for us to “honor the accomplishments of Black Americans in every endeavor [of life] throughout our history,” and I would add in our present.

This evening’s program begins with a welcome by UNA-CA President Karen Mulhauser & Africare’s own Dr. Cynthia Carter. Their remarks will be followed by an MLK Tribute by Howard Professor Dr. Anita Nahal, then presentations to our honorees, a befitting musical tribute by Ms. Loide Jorge, and closing remarks and vote of thanks respectively by Recardo Gibson and Abioye Oyewole.

Ten Questions for Dr. Robin Renee Sanders BY VALENTINE J. BRKICH

Article first appeared in RMU's Magazine



Graduate students earning master’s degrees and doctorates last month got an opportunity to broaden their global perspective, thanks to a commencement address from one of their own, ROBIN RENEE SANDERS D‘10.

The career diplomat and former ambassador to both Nigeria and the Republic of the Congo is currently on loan from the U.S. State Department, working as the international relations advisor and communication and outreach director for Africare, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the issues of food security, agriculture, health, education, and women’s empowerment on the continent.

We asked Sanders, a new member of the RMU Board of Trustees, to share some of her global perspective with readers.

WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT WORKING IN AFRICA?
I was proud to serve the American people in several African countries as a diplomat, as I believe that Africa is so important to the United States and to the American people.

WHAT DID YOU DO YOUR DOCTORAL THESIS ON AT RMU?
How various artifacts and cultural signs and symbols are used to communicate political and social issues about a particular culture.

HOW HAS YOUR RMU EDUCATION BENEFITTED YOU?
I came to Africare as its international relations advisor, but given my extensive academic experience in communications and information systems, they have asked me to also serve as their communication and outreach director. I could not have done that without the benefit of the doctorate from RMU.

I HEAR YOU SPEAK FRENCH, AS WELL AS SOME SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, AND ARABIC. HOW DID YOU COME TO BE MULTI-LINGUAL?
I studied these languages as part of my training as a diplomat.

LOOKING BACK ON YOUR CHILDHOOD, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?
Anything that I have become today or that I have done today is a reflection of the commitment to public service my parents taught me as a kid growing up in a military family. I learned to respect other people and their cultures as a part of living abroad with my family. The best part of anyone’s life is what they can contribute to society to help the next generation, and my time in the U.S. diplomatic corps has allowed me to do this, particularly in Africa.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO TODAY’S STUDENTS?
Live your passion and choose a career that will let you do that. I never saw my job as work, but rather as my passion.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR FREE TIME?
I am avid about sports and I like to not only watch sporting events, but I also try to keep active myself (squash, golf, dance, etc.). In fact the U.S. Embassy Congo-Brazzaville soccer club is named after me; the team is called "Les Sanders."

WHAT WOULD PEOPLE BE SURPRISED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?
That I love certain cartoons, particularly the old and new creative ones that have a message as part of the show. I really like “Kim Possible,” “The Wild Thornberries,” and “American Dragon,” and some of the olders ones like “Tom & Jerry.” I also love the arts and almost any cultural activity.

WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Jazz mostly. One of my favorite artists today is Asha, a fantastic Nigerian singer. The other is a cultural artist, Chief Nike Okundaye. In all my travels and in my fascination with the arts, she is one of the most profound and talented artists I have ever met.

HAS ANYONE EVER HAD A POSITIVE, LIFE-CHANGING EFFECT ON YOU?
Lots of people…and I always thank them for coming into my life, including President Dell’Omo and Dr. Fred Kohun, who encouraged me to graduate and also get my doctorate at RMU. In general, though, I give all accolades to my parents, as they have always been my biggest fans and supporters along with my two sisters and my aunt.

For me, life is about concentric circles, instead of just one circle. And I have been fortunate enough to have many circles of really good friends that have all contributed to my life in some way, as I hope that I have done in theirs.

Africa’s Food Security:Why Durban Climate Change Conference is Important-The Continent’s Symbiotic Food Security-Climate Change Relationship

A FEEEDS/FE3DS blogspot

The Durban Climate Change (CC) meeting of the Conference of Parties' 17th Session and 7th Conference of Paris (better known as COP 17 & CM7) is a follow on from Cancun (see 12/17/2010 The Africa Post , TAP) which did not move a lot of things forward on key environmental issues ranging from CO2 emissions (average CO2-eq per person is about 4tons per year), carbon sequestration (carbon credits), land and water resource management.*

The important fact that the Climate Change Conference is taking place on the African Continent for the first time should not just boil down to its mere presence in Durban, but just like key Sub Saharan African economies are emerging, Africa's emerging voice on climate change policy is vital to a number of future developmental areas, not least of which is food security – including all of its pillars from food production to improving the Continent’s ability to feed itself and using renewables to spur better agricultural energy use. However, do Africa’s agriculture, environment and energy ministers talk to each other? And, why aren’t more agricultural ministers included in the climate change discussion and vice versa? This needs to happen, but it is not – at least not regularly or in a comprehensive manner.

Most experts recognize that both food security and climate change are affecting the Continent more than any other region of the world. The food security-climate change linkage for Africa hopefully will be heavily on the table in Durban as these symbiotic impact indicators need to be addressed together. Food security specialists from development organizations and civil society (CSOs) to policy makers need to build climate change solutions into their programs. Africa climate change leaders and activists need not forget that the lack of progress on key environmental issues will continue to affect the Continent’s progress to resolve its food security challenges.

What are some of linkages and innovative ways to address these linkages? There are a number of positives noted below, which need to be more broadly implemented with country-specific adaptation on top of the need to create more new solutions. Some of the smart linkages that are being made connecting the symbiotic relationship between food security and climate change include:

-- Renewable options for water such as wind or solar-powered drip irrigation, including considering storage of power gained through battery innovative techniques like those being used by companies like AES in West Virginia;**

--Hybrid seeds that help crops withstand climate stresses such as drought, which can also lead to new usages for traditional crops such as protein-enhanced cassava ( I have visited donor-supported agribusinesses in Kano, Nigeria that adds cow peas to enhance protein in cassava flour);

--Localize agribusiness supply chain by using small farm holders or cooperative crops, reducing transport energy, and manufacturing costs; and,

-- Climate change-smart agricultural production, which helps reduce the impact on the environment such as bio-char (the process of burning plant-based remnants and making charcoal that is then used as renewable fertilizer in places like Congo, and Benin’s Songhai Integrative Farms). The Congo project also obtains carbon credits on CO2 emissions which also further helps overall energy challenges – not just in the country but over the long term for our global community.

These are just a few examples of the things being done that demonstrate the importance of focusing more on Africa’s symbiotic food security-climate change relationship. These global impact indicators -- food security and climate change (see2/3/11 TAP blogspot) -- should be addressed together to better identify solution-driven processes, usages, and outcomes, like those noted above, that respond simultaneously to the challenges of both these issues for Africa’s future and that will assist the people of Africa have a better enabling environment for overall development. African women small farmers from 10 countries calling themselves "Rural Women Assembly," demonstrated in Durban December 3, 2011, on just this point -- linking the affects of climate change on their ability to feed their families.***

What to Do?

The UN General Assembly this year called for improvement in sustainable energy by making 2012 the “International Year of Sustainable Energy,” with the goal of providing access to modern forms of energy, particularly for emerging markets and the developing world by 2030. But, if we do not improve our current efforts not only will this "sustainability" goal not be meet for Africa, but the food security-climate change symbiotic link will continue to be exacerbated as Africa’s population is expected to reach 1.9 billion by 2030, and 2 billion by 2050.**** Modern forms of energy use (some already noted above) must be link to addressing food security solutions.

Thus, we need to be more Food Security-Climate Change Smart through innovation, Africa-focused research and development like what is being done at Ghana’s new bio tech facility, and by expanding the discussion circle so that both agriculture and environment policy makers, CSOs and development entities begin to come together and share in the same international, regional, community, and village fora to address these two global impact indicators.



* See carbon footprint details @ http://bit.ly/carfoot
**Energy Now 11/13/11
*** AFP 12/3/2011 - Joe, Hood
****2050 population estimates from “This is Africa,” Sept/Oct edition 2011.

The Advocacy Initiative called FEEEDS/FE3DS®

There are several key global issues of our day that require constant advocacy and dialogue to ensure that we as a nation and as a global community are doing our utmost to make the world a better place for the next generations. I believe that some of these issues are: Food Security, Education, Environment-Energy, Economics, Democracy- Development, and Self Help, or FEEEDS.
What does FEEEDS/FE3DS® mean?
-- Food Security – meaning availability and access to not just food but nutritional food;
-- Education – representing the entire range of education from knowledge learning to knowledge management to knowledge usage, which also includes training, retraining , entrepreneurship (SMEs), and formal education;
-- Environment-Energy – enabling environments for communities to thrive, as well as a focus and realization of the importance of renewable energy and alternative energy resources;
-- Economics – enhancing living wages, and on the macro level, ensuring governments, and community leaderships manage budgets and tax payer dollars not only effectively, but efficiently in order to address social service needs;
-- Democracy-Development – linking these two symbiotic issues are key to improving life-quality, especially for people of color; and,
--Self-Help – realizing that identity for anyone provides self esteem, but for nations and people of color this also represents both power and empowerment.
In Pursuit of Change:
What and how do we proceed in communicating or educating our diverse world population (now@7 billion) on the challenges of these global human FEEEDS® issues? How do we overcome or shift the paradigms that have been pre-scripted for our families, our communities, and for some nations? There are things that are pre-destined, but the negatives on FEEEDS® are not; thus we can help change these negatives. Let’s begin with communicating and educating about the challenges:
Food Security Most of the world population, particularly of color, and especially women and children, fail to get enough nutritional food to eat every single day. Most of us have heard the adage that many things in life are about “quality not quantity;”thus, this adage also applies to food security. There is a lack of consumption of the key food groups not just daily, but at every meal for many global communities. What we seem to be missing is the focus on and access to good nutrition. The examples seen around the world in communities, particularly those of color are similar as regards to food security, with the seminal issue being: access to nutritional food.
The FEEEDS/FE3DS Enabling Platforms: What are they?
1.) Education: Although many global challenges are connected to FEEEDS/FE3DS®, the way forward on many issues is education, specifically training (also vocational), retraining, formal education, entrepreneurship (SMEs), knowledge sharing, usage and management, discussion, and creative and enterprising development and design solutions, particularly for youth and women. We need to think of education as our new Frontier Enterprise where dynamic development design strategies are created to respond to FEEEDS. Education is not static, and includes more than just basic and/or formal education.
2.) Environment-Energy: These two issues are linked, and we should focus on the need to improve both sectors. Simply put – they are symbiotic and affect quality of life. Here community is being used in the big “C” sense -- meaning at the family, local, state and sovereign levels. The environment is both where you live, and how you live in your community. Where one lives must provide an “enabling atmosphere” where one feels safe and confident to thrive as a person or a culture. We must also take the responsibility to treat the living nature around us with more respect. This includes using and advocating for renewable energy, particularly using alternative resources for daily living. Here knowledge sharing will be important even on the simple things like knowing which action is greener than another. Here is a simple test: Is plastic or glass recycling greener; is flying at night greener than day flying; and, is wearing organic cotton greener than wearing recycled bamboo? (answers appear at the end)
3.) Economics: Economics plays a key role in everything – personal, family, community, and government. If the economic sure-footing is not present then it detracts from progress, vision and future planning. Enhancing living wages, ensuring government leaderships manage budgets and tax payer monies effectively and efficiently to address social service needs – are part of the fundamentals. A reliable, stable economic environment is not only empowering, but powerful and is a pillar of both a strong government, and personal identity, where self-reliance and self-esteem are the order of the day.
4.) Development-Democracy: There is also a linkage of these two themes because democracy – as defined as transparent rules, regulations, stable institutions, and equal access to social services – are a “must-have” to develop communities and address global human values, and improve life-quality – all hallmarks of democracy.
5.) Self-Help: Self-help, a pillar of leadership, is the center-beam. Countries should not always want (or expect) outsiders to always provide, guide, direct, or frame (meaning explain and resolve through their world lens) what the responses to FEEEDS® are. These issues for many nations will need to be driven by country-specific self-help by way of innovative, creative, and sometimes culturally-specific means.

Green answers: Recycled glass over plastic requires less energy as recycled plastic continues to degrade in quality; flying during the day; organic cotton over bamboo (Source Washington D.C. NBC local news 9/25/2011).