The Sustainable Water Fund’s Public-Private Partnership portfolio: Reflections through a partnership lens

This report is a reflection on more than 10 years of experience with public private partnerships (PPPs) in the Sustainable Water Fund (FDW = Fonds Duurzaam Water in Dutch) a programme managed by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and co-financed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Afairs (MoFA). Based on a scan of the portfolio and a desk review of related external documents, an analytical framework was developed to reflect on the FDW portfolio through a partnership lens.

Following analysis of the FDW's PPP context, the second section of the report presents the partnership typology that emerged from the refection exercises that were used to classify and assess the FDW projects. It includes the three types of partnerships that were defined and, with the help of case studies, elaborates on the main characteristics and features of each case. The overarching features of each partnership type and partnership processes are presented in Section Three and discussed (including commonalities and exceptions to type) with the general understanding that some programmes can combine features of more than one partnership type. This section also reflects on findings and lessons from the perspective of each major stakeholder – public institutions, the private sector, and NGOs. Section Four includes cases from FDW projects illustrating each partnership type and its characteristics more specifically. Finally, Section Five presents overall recommendations and findings with some suggested next steps for different stakeholders with a focus on replicability, best practices and emerging lessons that have been drawn from the refection exercise.