PPP in the work of InWEnt

Global education for sustainable development

• Preparation and hedging of investments: German project developers and German manufacturers of wind power plants are very interested in investments in Brazil and Argentina. For that they need, among other things, Brazilian experts for starting up and maintaining wind farms. Brazilian experts are also needed for the planning and production of important system components, which increasingly are to be made in Brazil. So an extensive joint project of the then CDG and German wind power plant manufacturers began in 1999. Alone in 2001, more than 20 measures with more than 600 participants were implemented. The project activities ranged from training seminars to the transfer of suitable technological knowledge and conferences and dialogue measures, such as on the financing and planning of wind farms. Now, in the preparation and operation of wind power projects, experts given advanced training by InWEnt are employed in responsible positions. The courses developed during the advanced training project are to be offered to local universities for them to run of their own accord.



• Market development and support of export projects: The German private limited company Diehl & Schwiercz Wasser-, Gas- und Umwelttechnik [Water, Gas and Environmental Technology], of Dessau, developed a new drinking water treatment technology. This was tested successfully in South Africa, and the manufacturer planned to launch the product on that market. In South Africa, 12 million people have no access to clean drinking water. Diehl & Schwiercz found in the South African company Tikilogo a partner to sell its installation. Together with InWEnt, the German company developed an advanced training programme that prepared its South African partner for this task. The training in Germany and South Africa enabled Tikologo to market the technology as an independent service provider and train its service personnel to take over maintenance and repairs, carry out water analyses and optimise the process technology.



• Improving competitiveness: Quality and productivity must be right if companies and their products are to remain competitive in the global market. This goes for the individual company as well as the entire supply chain. That is why in our project Productivity Network for SMEs in Southern Africa (ProNet) we use the advanced training facilities of a German motor vehicle manufacturer purposefully to make the small to medium-sized enterprises in the region competitive. The company invests in the quality and expansion of its supply chain, and at the same time the strengthening of small businesses contributes to greater employment and opportunities of earning income.



• Secure market access by environmental and social standards: Observance of international environmental and social standards has long not been a luxury for big companies. It is the precondition for access to the major international markets. The situation is still different in many developing countries. There, national industry associations or foreign trade institutions often are the first to see the need to secure their international competitiveness by also fulfilling these norms. This business interest tallies with the political interest of development cooperation in sustainable development based on social and ecological aspects. From this point of view, InWEnt cooperates with the German-Peruvian Foreign Trade Chamber (Camperal) and the export promotion institution Asociaci—n de Exportadores (ADEX) in a project on Social standards and social responsibility of companies in Peru. Local companies in selected product sectors are supported by sensitisation and the transfer of know-how in social management systems in introducing the social standards demanded in Europe or in developing their own Code of Conduct for corporate social responsibility.

• the project corresponds to the developmental objectives of the BMZ;
• the project goals are attainable by advanced training
• the projectÕs target group matches our mandate (managers and young managerial talent)
• the private sector partner is able to make its own financial contribution.

• The currently prevailing implementation of the PPP idea at the single project level involves the risk that PPP will develop into its own type of development cooperation project, without gaining the character of a strategic reorientation. Commerce and industry must be incorporated more extensively in the work of the developmental institutions – which calls for a great deal of flexibility. PPP must not remain restricted to only one model, such as the BMZÕs PPP Facility.



• The private sector in the partner countries also must be included. PPP must not remain oriented one-sidedly on the support of foreign direct investment. Local investors must be given equal opportunities to take action – otherwise PPP results in further distortion of competition between North and South. Incorporating local commerce and industry will also make PPP an interesting model in the least developed countries, for these have so far not had a share of FDI worth mentioning.



• The institutions of development cooperation must go further in changing their self-perceptions. In the PPP context they still see themselves too much as application-processing institutions. They should in future perceive themselves much more as moderators of private sector engagement in developing countries.



• Moderation of private sector engagement also means working together with commerce and industry – and certainly also in critical dialogue – in influencing the general conditions for business activities. In contrast to the debate on PPP at the international level, this aspect is partly faded out of the German discussion.



• The demand for greater inclusion of commerce and industry tends to contradict the current focus of German development cooperation on a firmly defined group of countries and on one to three key sectors per country. That means that particularly projects in countries which are interesting from business viewpoints often cannot be implemented. This is where PPP projects should be allowed greater flexibility.