Africa is a continent of incredible promise that lacks much of the basic economic infrastructure (like easy access to inexpensive electricity) required for economic development. Historically, investments in building out such public infrastructure has been coming from sources like the World Bank and the United Nations - public entities willing and able to take higher risks with their investments provided by a broad range of governments across the world.
An additional source of investment funding is emerging, though, with great adoption of public-private partnerships (P3s). This article describes one organization putting together different teams and models to drive more construction of electric grid projects across sub-Saharan Africa. This is another example of how the P3 model can accomplish more than any of the individual parties can do on their own - exactly why we should be looking at it more and more as a model for helping deal with the infrastructure needs we are facing in the U.S.
“What can we offer up in this dawn of the new decade is a unique approach through public-private partnerships that can systematically develop a pipeline of projects,” says Ian de Cruz, who is the global director for the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030. “The projects must be sustainable, environmental and economic. This is a way that civil society, corporate investors and government can work together to achieve multiple impacts.”