Financing development cooperation through public-private partnerships: a case study on the Aqua for All-Hydroponics Africa collaboration

The late 20th century has seen a rise of debates on the real effectiveness of international development cooperation programmes, at least in the way they were conceived and implemented starting from the first post-WWII decades. The main outcome of these ongoing discussions has been the urgency of a “paradigm change” in development cooperation, in order to enhance its social impact and increase the resources dedicated to it. In chapter two, which is about my conceptual framework, I discuss this change more in detail. It implies shifting from a model based on unilateral actions from governments, public society organisations or private actors, in favour of multi-stakeholder collaborations between these three categories of actors, to pool together their specific resources and expertise towards the achievement of development goals. Chapter three is dedicated to presenting the emergence of this new paradigm of development cooperation, as well as the historical reasons that led to it, and...Show moreThe late 20th century has seen a rise of debates on the real effectiveness of international development cooperation programmes, at least in the way they were conceived and implemented starting from the first post-WWII decades. The main outcome of these ongoing discussions has been the urgency of a “paradigm change” in development cooperation, in order to enhance its social impact and increase the resources dedicated to it. In chapter two, which is about my conceptual framework, I discuss this change more in detail. It implies shifting from a model based on unilateral actions from governments, public society organisations or private actors, in favour of multi-stakeholder collaborations between these three categories of actors, to pool together their specific resources and expertise towards the achievement of development goals. Chapter three is dedicated to presenting the emergence of this new paradigm of development cooperation, as well as the historical reasons that led to it, and how it is presently being implemented in the form of cross-sector collaborations. Of the latter, we will focus on the case of public-private partnerships and specifically on their application as instruments of blended finance, explaining the origins and the definitions of the concept and its potential advantages – as well as limits – compared to pure public or private development interventions. Chapter four will present a case study of a public-private partnership established between Dutch development agency “Aqua for All”, and Kenyan company “Hydroponics Africa”, for the realisation of a development project in the area of Nairobi and its surroundings. After introducing the project, we will evaluate the strong points and the shortcomings of Aqua for All’s approach to development cooperation in relation to the project at hand. This will be done by analysing the outcomes of interviews conducted with Hydroponics Africa’s CEO, directly involved in the elaboration and implementation of the partnership, as well as the people targeted by the project, to assess its results in terms of social impact.Show less

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Financing development cooperation through public-private partnerships: a case study on the Aqua for All-Hydroponics Africa collaboration